Future Leaders Fellowships: round 9, business and non-academic

The application must be started by the fellow as a representative of the host organisation. A fellow can only lead on one application.

To host a Future Leaders Fellow your organisation must be a UK registered:

• business of any size
• charitable organisation
• catapult
• public organisation
• Agri-tech Centre
• eligible research organisation

Research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding cannot apply to host a fellowship through this application form. Fellowship applications for these organisations must be made through the UKRI funding service. This does not apply to Catapult centres, Catapult centres must apply for this competition through this application form.

Fellow Applicants

You must demonstrate the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to deliver the proposed project.

You do not need to hold a PhD, and there are no eligibility rules based on the number of years since your PhD. If you do not hold a PhD, you must be able to demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience or training.

Fellows are welcome from outside of the UK with the support of an eligible UK based Host Organisation. Researchers and innovators are eligible for a Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ category for future research leaders.

Future Leaders Fellowships offer flexibility to support outstanding individuals:

• from diverse career backgrounds
• returning from a career break or returning to research or innovation following time in other roles
• wishing to work part-time or in job shares to combine the fellowship with personal responsibilities

Fellows can spend up to 50% of their time (not funded by FLF) on other activities, where these activities are shown to benefit or be necessary for their career. Non-fellowship activities can include business-as-usual, Innovate UK grants or ongoing contracts. The duration of the fellowship can be increased to pro-rata the time spent on the fellowship back up to a maximum of 100% if requested.

If you are interested in submitting an application as a job share, please contact fellows@ukri.org.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £300,000 and £3 million
• last for a minimum of four years, with the option to extend for a further three
• carry out all its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit results from or in UK
• be based at, or have the support of, an eligible non-academic host organisation

Proposals are invited from all areas of research and innovation, including:

• the arts, humanities, and social sciences
• the seven technology families outlined in the UK’s innovation strategy
• applications that are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary

Research and innovation is considered in its fullest sense including business, creative, cultural, service and knowledge-based sectors.

The aim of this competition is to:

• support ambitious research and innovation to tackle difficult and novel challenges
• support excellence in innovation, including at interdisciplinary boundaries and across sectors
• develop, retain, and attract the next wave of research and innovation leaders

Your project must:

• deliver research or innovation above and beyond the standard activities of the organisation
• maximise the impact and influence of the proposed work
• include a clear programme of skills development, allowing you to fully develop your leadership potential through, for example, mentoring and professional development training
• have the full support of your host organisation

Your project can:

• be made up of a single programme of work, or multiple consecutive or concurrent projects led by the Fellow, known as a ‘Portfolio Fellowship’
• be altered once underway to react to changes in the research landscape or react to business needs

Intellectual property (IP)

All participants in the scheme and their Host Organisations are required to give due regard to the appropriate protection of any IP arising from the project. You must describe effective routes to exploitation which have the potential to achieve maximum benefit for the UK economy and wider society.

Watch Innovate UK Business Connect’s recorded webinar from February 2024 to learn about the UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships, and hear case studies from current Future Leaders Fellows working in businesses and Catapults.

UKRI will hold an online webinar on Monday 11 March at 11:30am; click here to register for a place.

Support questions can be directed to: FLFBusinessTeam@ukri.org