External fellowships at Kew
External fellowship opportunities you can bring to Kew, co-developed with Kew researchers to support your postdoctoral ambitions.
As well as Kew’s own fellowships, there are also fellowships from various funders that you can apply for and bring to Kew. In most cases the fellowship application is co-developed between Kew staff and the applicant. Details of some schemes are given below.
How to apply
The key steps towards a fellowship application are:
- Identify alignment between Kew’s mission and your work. How would your work contribute, and how does it draw on Kew’s expertise, infrastructure and collections?
- Identify the appropriate fellowship scheme from a funder, either from those listed below or from other schemes not listed*
- Locate a Kew member of staff who may be able to co-develop a proposal with you. Kew staff can be located via the Science staff directory or via published papers in your field of interest. For humanities or social science projects, please contact planthumanities@kew.org.
- Contact the relevant researchers, if possible 9-12 months before the application closing date for the fellowship scheme. Be aware that internal grant review processes require a draft application to be ready 8 weeks before the deadline, and that an excellent proposal will take at least 8 weeks to be drafted. Larger proposals (over £50,000) will require more extensive internal review, so more time should be allowed for this.
- The Kew researchers will evaluate the calibre of the candidate and project, how well it fits with Kew, the likelihood of it being funded, and their capacity to support a proposal. If this is positive, they will work with you to develop and submit an application.
*For example, some countries have fellowships that enable postdoctoral research abroad, such as the Postdoc.Mobility fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
Fellowship schemes
- A joint scheme with the same conditions; apply to the British Academy for AHSS and the Royal Society for STEM
- Length: 2 years
- £12,000 research costs and £8000 relocation costs (BA) or £280,000 (RS Newton), plus salary
- Includes training and development
- For researchers zero to seven years after their PhD*
- Applicants must be working outside the UK before applying and not be a UK citizen
- Natural sciences (RS Newton) or humanities and social sciences (BA)
British Academy International Fellowship website and Royal Society Newton International Fellowship website
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship – European
- Length: 1-2 years
- For researchers zero to eight years after their PhD*
- For researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe (including the UK) from another part of the world
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship – Global
- Length: 2-3 years
- For researchers zero to eight years after their PhD*
- The first 1-2 years a non-associated Third Country, followed by 1 year in Europe (including the UK)
- Only for nationals or long-term residents of the EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries
UKRI Future Leader Fellowship
- Length: 4 years, extendable for another 3
- No limit on funds
- Institution commits to paying a higher proportion of the salary in later years
- All fields funded by UKRI
- Extensive support for career development
- Round 11 is now open. Deadline 16 June 2026
- Note: internal Kew applicants should follow an internal selection process – see KewNet.
NERC Independent Research Fellowship
- Length: 5 years
- No limit on funds
- Eligible immediately after a PhD*
- Environmental science, ecology, systematics and other fields in the NERC remit
- Next deadline: 16 June 2026
BBSRC Fellowship
- Length: 3 years
- No limit on funds
- No PhD required; applications from research technical and innovation professionals are welcome
- Biological sciences (see the BBSRC remit)
- Next deadline: 22 April 2026
AHRC Early career fellowship in cultural and heritage institutions
- Length: 1-2 years
- Up to £312,500 of funding
- For researchers zero to six years after their PhD*
- To conduct research at UK cultural and heritage institutions
- Can include a short period of research or technical assistance
- Arts and humanities (see the AHRC remit)
University Research Fellowship
- Length: 8 years
- Up to £1.87 million of funding
- Can include staff and PhD students
- Includes a training and development programme and mentoring
- For researchers three to eight years after their PhD*
- Any area of natural sciences
Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship
- For early career scientists who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances, such as caring responsibilities and/or health-related conditions
- For researchers zero to six years after their PhD*
- Otherwise the same as the University Research Fellowship
Early Career Award
- Length: 5 years
- £400,000 plus salary
- Covers 1 staff, salary and research expenses
- For researchers zero to three years after their PhD*
- Research that benefits human health, life and wellbeing (see the Wellcome Trust remit)
Career Development Award
- Length: 8 years
- No limit on funding
- Covers fellow’s salary, 4 staff, research expenses, but not PhD students
- Includes training and development
- Applicants must have completed one or two substantial periods of research after their initial research training
- Research that benefits human health, life and wellbeing (see the Wellcome Trust remit)
Royal Commission 1851 Research Fellowship
- Length: 3 years
- £10,000 plus salary
- Includes training, development and mentoring
- Can be finishing a PhD or up to 3 years after*
- Fellows should normally change institutions
- Science or engineering
ERC Starting Grant
- Length: 5 years
- Up to €1.5 million
- All areas of research
- For researchers two to seven years after their PhD*
*Note: for all fellowships that specify a length time since an applicant’s PhD, this does not include career breaks. Where applying immediately after a PhD is allowed, it is generally possible to apply if you have passed your viva with minor corrections before the application deadline.
Check out other routes to a postdoctoral role
Project postdoc roles
Postdoctoral posts offered as part of a research project. These already have funding in place, and are advertised through the Kew jobs page. Please visit this page regularly to see new positions.
Kew Research Fellowships in Plant and Fungal Science
A four-year fellowship programme for up to five early-career researchers a year