Even the smallest person can change the course of the future....Fellowship of....

I gave a talk yesterday at the UoN Research Staff Conference on my experience with fellowships and fellowship applications and I thought it might be useful to others so here is a version of that talk. ----BIG DISCLAIMER---The views presented here are based on my own experience of applying. I've never been on a selection panel. For advice from the other side do talk to your administrative support team.

Once upon a time in a galaxy not far from here there was a professor who felt their wisdom would help people.  “You all need nature papers to be successful getting fellowships.” He pontificated. – To this, one scientist put up their hand – “I don’t have a nature paper but I have had fellowships…”.  The professor replied, “well… yes… but no-one gets a senior fellowship without nature papers”. Again the scientist put their hand up, “but I have an interview for a senior fellowship next week and I still don’t have any nature papers”. To which the professor said “yes but I’m surprised they shortlisted you over people with nature papers”.

The scientist was me and I got that fellowship. 

Today I want to tell you my experience with fellowships and my 4 golden rules of applying for fellowships. I’ll give you some general advice about fellowship writing and interviews and I hope this will help you overcome the dark-side in a galaxy full of emperors!

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Why a Fellowship?

Good:

1. Independence of project – allowed me to keep a single line of research in all that time. - ownership of the project. – I don’t really mean on a legal IP level but I mean on a personal intellectual level – my decisions were my own.
2. Opportunity to learn new skills – for me I have no molecular background and wouldn’t be competitive for post doc positions if I was competing with other applicants…however the Newton International Fellowship was a perfect way to be self-funded with a project not too far from my track record but with a molecular focus (which was new for me) and within a department that is very strong in that field.
3. Opportunity to travel
4. Brilliant on a CV – it shows you can fund yourself.
5. Often a unique networking opportunity – at Nottingham we have a Fellowship Network that was set up a few years ago which runs occasional training or networking events for people with fellowships
6. Also excellent practice at selling yourself. – This is an essential skill for grant writing and job applications.

 
Bad:

1. It can be isolating depending on the lab you are in because you can be expected to work independently. – for me the trick to this has always been to know when I need help and ask for it.
2. Often requirement to travel – if you are single with no dependents this is much easier than if you have a partner (and more difficult if you have children to think about as well) – having said that it’s not impossible and friends of mine with kids have found the kids gained a lot from the experience too (and they thought initially they were using the kids as an excuse for their own resistance to change)
3. Requirement to travel – it is hard to move culture and it’s tiring starting from scratch every 2 years.  That said I learnt a lot and met a lot of people. I’ve seen how the ‘same technique’ is done in different ways in each place I’ve been.
4. Pension. Unfortunately I’ve now had two fellowships (and my PhD scholarship) where pension contributions are not realistic and not built into the program. So I’ve basically started my entire ‘adult’ life from scratch in May 2015 at the age of 34 with the NRF.

Mandy's Golden Rules of Fellowships

Rule 1):  You have to be in it to win it. It’s true. If you don’t apply you will definitely not get one.

Rule 2): You do NOT have to have a nature/science paper to be competitive. Of course it does help and if you are doing work that can get you a Nature or Science paper then of course do it! It also depends a little on the fellowship but I got my Marie Curie Fellowship with one first author article in New Forests (IF 1 ish at the time), one co-author paper which was accepted in Aust J of For research (even lower), one first author submitted to New Forests (but not accepted yet).
I then got the Newton Fellowship with my Plant Phys paper from my PhD which is still my highest research paper. Now I have the NRF – No Nature/Science papers in there…

Rule 3): You have to be resilient. For every successful fellowship I have on average 3 unsuccessful applications.

Rule 4): Ignore discouragers – If I listened to every person who told me ‘oh they’re very competitive, you’ll never get one of them’ I would not be where I am now. Refer to rule 1 (and then privately gloat when you are successful).

The story I told at the beginning was by no means the first time I’ve been told I’d never be successful, or that I need nature papers. I’ve learnt to be a selective listener. Take on board constructive advice (that means if someone says they think your project is rubbish, think about how you can make the description more clear, how you can sell it more – but ignore the unhelpful comments like you’re wasting your time applying, you’ll never get it, etc).

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So you've decided to apply - general advice

1. Assume it will take 3 months to write an application well. It is surprising how long it takes to get a project fine-tuned, within word count, and fill out budgets and all the little online sections.
2. Do not leave the online sections until the end. These are equally important.  Funders need to demonstrate they are meeting their own legislative requirements like having an impact on society, setting up international collaborations, hosting their fellows in appropriate labs etc. And don’t use the same text in two boxes no matter how similar you think they are.
3. Get as many people’s advice as possible – especially someone not an expert. If you find your supervisor is not getting back to you quickly, get someone else to read it in the meantime. You cannot afford to have your career wait on someone else. Your life is in your hands even when you think it’s waiting on someone else. (and keep harassing them…sometimes people genuinely forget with no ill intentions).
4. Try and have a week spare so you can take a break from reading it over and over and get fresh (er) eyes on it before you submit.

Now you've got an interview:

1. Celebrate! We don’t celebrate enough good things generally and getting an interview is a great step forward - it means you mastered the written application!
2. If you need to give a seminar make a draft quickly based on what instructions you've been given
3. Find at least one person who was successful the year before and meet with them – bring your seminar draft so they can give you some initial advice. – ask them what they were asked in their interview the year before. – preferably do this with two different people because it gives you a feel for the generic questions you are almost certainly going to get.
4. Then organise a mock interview.
5. If changes to your seminar are suggested, make them and then go back to the people who suggested it and check what they think. 

Once you get to this point and you've done your best it depends on the direction of the wind. So go home, relax and know you've given it your best regardless of the decision.  - Ok so I've never been able to relax after but I have had both unsuccessful and successful outcomes from interviews now and you learn from each one. I gave it my best on each and there’s nothing more you can do.
If unsuccessful, pick yourself back up and see what you can learn for the next one.  Ask for feedback…I've never found the feedback all that useful personally but I ask anyway – you never know.

The other thing is, the more applications I've put in, the more support I've had from mentors…and I get it now….everyone is busy but when they see someone pick themselves up and try and try again they can see you are motivated and that’s worth investing time in. (I’d venture to say, if you find people are consistently not supporting you, go somewhere else).
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When successful – Celebrate big time.  You now have one year before you need to start again (or two years if it’s a 3 year fellowship). Or even better it’s linked to a more permanent position - now you need to get grants but that’s a story for someone else to tell!