Fellowships are awarded only to advanced students of chemical research who have shown outstanding merit, to pursue their work in universities or other places of academic research in the United Kingdom. The award of a Ramsay Fellowship is regarded as one of high international distinction. Among chemists in the British Commonwealth, the Ramsay Fellowships have a unique status.
During the tenure of their Fellowships, the Ramsay Fellows have the benefit, as occasion arises, of the advice of members of the Ramsay Advisory Council. The interest of the Trust in its Fellows continues after their Fellowships expire. Fellows have the opportunity annually of meeting each other at a dinner given in their honour by the Ramsay Trust. Thus the Ramsay Fellows remain members of a fellowship in the wider sense.
Eligibility Criteria
Preference will be given to candidates who have been born within the Commonwealth and who have graduated with distinction in chemistry from a university within the Commonwealth. In exceptional cases, the Trustees may award a Fellowship to a candidate whose academic distinction has been gained outside the Commonwealth.
Candidates will be expected to have had training in research leading to the possession of a PhD, preferably of a British university or its equivalent, and to show evidence of their ability to initiate and pursue a programme of independent research. Candidates cannot be considered unless they have submitted their PhD thesis by the 31 December following the deadline for receipt of applications. Great emphasis is placed by the Advisory Council on both the quality and the originality of the research proposed. The Advisory Council also looks for evidence of mobility, either at pre- or post-doctoral level, or in the selection of the candidate’s proposed place of work.
An award of a Ramsay Fellowship will be based upon a proposal by a candidate to do specified work at a specified place, both to be approved by the Advisory Council. With the approval of the latter, the specified place may be varied from time to time. Generally, it will be a university or other place of academic research within the United Kingdom but, on the recommendation of the Advisory Council, exceptionally may be outside the United Kingdom. The Advisory Council will look particularly favourably on applicants proposing to undertake their studies within the top-rated Department of Chemistry at UCL. Preference will also be given to early-career candidates.
Offered Benefits
Trust will contribute 50% of the Fellow's total salary costs up to a maximum of £17,500 per annum, with the balance of all other costs to be paid by the co-sponsor. In addition, a grant of up to £1,000 per annum may be requested by the Fellow for (non-travel) research expenses which can be shown to be essential to the research work being undertaken.
