Required for the Leadership Fellows scheme.

 

The Head of Department Statement must be uploaded as a proposal attachment by the Approver/Submitter at the research organisation where the Fellowship/Leadership Fellow will be based, rather than by the applicant.

 

The Head of Department Statement should be a maximum of two sides of A4 in length and in an Arial font no smaller than size 11.

 

The statement should be completed by the Head of Department or other relevant Senior Manager (if the proposed Fellow is the Head of Department then the statement should be completed by his/her line manager).

 

The Head of Department should briefly outline the process by which they have identified the Leadership Fellow to be a research leader, or potential future research leader, suitable to apply for a Fellowship. It should outline previous institutional support for the Leadership Fellow and detail the programme of leadership support that will be undertaken during and after the Fellowship/Leadership Fellow period. The support should be appropriate to the career stage and nature of the Fellow’s research but could include, for example, various combinations of:

 

• allocation of a place on a leadership development programme or other training and development support aimed at developing leadership capabilities;

 

• significant additional support for research time/sabbaticals to enable the Leadership Fellow to enhance their research leadership;

 

• awarding of institutional research development funding to support development of the applicant’s world-leading research profile;

 

• allocation of funded PhD studentships for supervision by the Leadership Fellow in areas relevant to the Fellowship research (these will be studentships funded from other sources, including AHRC BGP/DTP/CDTs if appropriate, as studentship funding cannot be sought under the Leadership Fellow scheme);

 

• clustering of research groups or development of departmental/institutional research strategies in relation to the applicant’s research area;

 

• supporting knowledge exchange activities involving the applicant or providing a platform for the Fellow to take part in high profile public engagement activities;

 

• support for networking activities, inter-disciplinary or international collaborations

 

• provision of specialist technical support for the Leadership Fellow’s research and/or to sustain its legacy

 

• nominations for high profile prizes, awards or positions in the field.

 

These are just examples and it will be for Research Organisations to make a convincing case as to how they have identified the applicant as a research leader (or potential future research leader) who will receive specific support from the Research Organisation. The statement should indicate how that support has been assessed, has been provided so far and will be provided in the future.

 

The provision of institutional support is an important assessment criterion under this scheme. Poorly supported applications may not be accepted and any that are accepted as merely meeting minimum requirements are unlikely to be funded.

 

If the applicant is committing less than 100% of their time to the Fellowship, the Head of Department should outline any teaching, examining and administrative commitments that will continue alongside the award. Fellows must be released from duties for the time specified and must not be expected to take on additional work within the institution once an award has started.

 

The Head of Department Statement should be a maximum of two sides of A4 in length and in an Arial font no smaller than size 11. It should be attached to the Je-S proposal by the approver/submitter at the Research Organisation rather than by the applicant.