Group Leader Research Fellowship Sponsorship Scheme at UCL

About us

The Research Department of Structural and Molecular Biology (SMB) is a world leading academic centre that promotes multi-disciplinary research at the interface of structural, computational and chemical biology, pioneering multi-disciplinary approaches aimed to bridge across the scales of biology, and methods to integrate disparate data across the disciplines (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/structural-and-molecular-biology/).

About the opportunity

We invite Expressions of Interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships that will enable them to establish an independent research group in SMB, via a tenure-track like process (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/structural-and-molecular-biology/research-fellowships). Fellowships include: Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, MRC Career Development Award, CRUK Career Development Fellowship, ERC Starting Grant, Royal Society URF, Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, EPSRC Open Fellowship and similar awards. We run two selection rounds per year. The closing day/time for this round is Monday 13 October 2025, 23:59 BST.

We welcome applications with research focus on Structural and Molecular Biology with particular interest in the areas of Engineering Biology, Integrative Biology – including Omics and Computational Biology – and Microbiology.

About you

Prospective candidates will have an exceptional track record appropriate for their career stage and have to demonstrate their potential to attract competitive fellowships. Following application, selected candidates will be invited to give a research seminar and attend an interview with the Fellowship Panel via an online platform on Tuesday 11 November 2025. Successful candidates will be invited to visit our Research Department, with opportunities to meet staff, students and current fellows informally and engage in short meetings with selected group leaders. Eligibility: Candidates should confirm their eligibility for specific fellowships schemes and will be required to provide evidence of eligibility to work in the UK before commencing any fellowship offered. For information on documents to submit and to apply, please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bioscience s/structural-and-molecular-biology/fellowships-application-process.

What we offer

Successful candidates will receive substantial support for the preparation of their Fellowship applications including mock interviews. Candidates who are successful in securing a fellowship will receive laboratory and office space, access to state-of-the-art equipment and access to research students from a range of PhD programmes. We will provide bespoke mentoring and continued professional training throughout your fellowship. For informal enquiries, please contact the SMB fellowship coordinators at smb-.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality.