Our Fellowship scheme aims to build research capacity in hearing research, by supporting the career development of the UK’s most talented new ‘investigators’ towards becoming independent scientists.
For this year’s scheme, we are working with the Dunhill Medical Trust to fund these fellowships.
The fellowship supports salary and project costs for 3 years, up to a total of £225,000 (increased from 2024).
It’s designed to support post-doctoral researchers as they begin to make the transition towards establishing themselves as an independent researcher in the field, analogous to the MRC’s Exploration career stage.
Research areas
Applications are invited in any of the following areas:
Including, but not limited to, medical devices, pharmacological treatments, genetic or cellular therapies – treatments should aim to prevent hearing loss, restore auditory function or silence tinnitus. This can include treating hearing loss within the context of dementia.
Including research to improve the measurement of auditory function or tinnitus, (including in the context of dementia) or to develop models of human hearing disorders, including tinnitus.
Applications with a focus on understanding the mechanisms of age-related hearing conditions, or how ageing affects the auditory system, are especially encouraged, and will be considered for joint funding.
Projects should bring tangible benefits closer for people who are deaf, have tinnitus or hearing loss.
Summary of the fellowship
Value
Up to £225,000
Duration
Usually 36 months
Eligibility
The applicant should be an early career investigator who has the desire and potential to become an independent scientist in the field of hearing research. They must hold a PhD and can be based at any UK university or research institute, but must not be a permanent employee.
The award should support progression towards an independent research career.
Deadline
Monday 28 April 2025 (5pm)
In the last round of funding (2024), we received 9 applications and awarded 2 Fellowships.
Application procedure
All applications should be submitted via our online grants management system, Flexi-Grant. There is further guidance on Flexi-Grant about how to complete your application. Please contact us if you have any problems using Flexi-Grant.
If you have any questions about the scheme, please contact us at least three working days before the deadline so that we have time to help you.
Please note
As part of the application process, you are required to obtain approval to submit from an authorised representative at your institution.
We will not extend the deadline to allow you to secure this approval, so please allow plenty of time for this.
See the Flexi-Grant user guide (below) for more details.
The call and guidelines and our standard terms and conditions (subject to review) can be downloaded below:
- Fellowship call and guidelines 2025 (PDF 221 KB)
- Fellowship Grant sample application form (PDF 161 KB)
- Fellowship Grant standard terms and conditions (PDF 517 KB)
- Flexi-Grant user guide (PDF 614 KB)
Selection procedure
Eligible proposals will be reviewed by at least two (ideally three) external referees in the field, who are asked to rate the scientific value and feasibility of the project. They are asked to assess the proposal against the following criteria:
- Relevance to people with hearing loss or tinnitus/potential to lead to significant benefit for people affected by hearing loss or tinnitus in the short- or long-term
- Novelty and originality/likelihood of leading to significant new understanding
- Quality of background information and preliminary data provided
- Appropriate project design, methodology, analysis and ethical considerations (for research involving people or animals)
- Feasibility – timescale and budget
- Proposed Fellow – expertise and resources, evidence that research idea is fellow’s own and significantly different from sponsor’s research interests
- Adequate justification of costs requested
All external peer reviewers must agree to abide by our conflicts of interest and confidentiality policy for peer-reviewers.
If necessary (depending on the number of applicants), the reviews and original proposals will then be considered by our Future Leaders Review Panel who will rank the proposals and shortlist candidates for interview.
Interviews for the Fellowship will take place in September 2025 – the final date will be confirmed with all applicants once it has been set. Short-listed candidates will be informed no less than 2 weeks before the interview date and given further instructions for the interview then. All applicants, whether successful in being invited for interview or not, will receive anonymised feedback from the external reviewers at this stage.
Interviews will be conducted by the Future Leaders Review Panel. All members of the panel must agree to abide by our conflicts of interest and confidentiality policy for panel members, at all stages of the assessment process.
Following the interviews, the panel will make funding recommendations to RNID and the Dunhill Medical Trust. Applicants will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible following the final decision and feedback from the panel meeting will be provided.
Future Leaders Review Panel
- Professor Brian Moore, University of Cambridge (chair)
- Dr Morag Lewis, King’s College London
- Professor Walter Marcotti, University of Sheffield
- Dr Deborah Vickers, University of Cambridge
- Dr Rebecca Dewey, University of Nottingham
- Dr Leila Abbas, University of Sheffield/Rinri Therapeutics
- Dr Magdalena Sereda, University of Nottingham
- Dr Juan Fons, King’s College London
- Professor Victoria Bajo Lorenzana, University of Oxford
- Professor Jennifer Bizley, University College London
- One additional panel member to be recruited
- Additional members from the Dunhill Medical Trust Advisory Panel to be confirmed
Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) and open access publications
RNID is a member of the Europe PMC Funders’ Group. We support open access publications and require RNID grant-holders to make their publications open access.
Read our open access publication policy for more information and visit the Europe PMC website.
Contact us
Get in touch for for more information about the fellowship scheme.
- [email protected]