Please read ‘Are you eligible to apply for a Fellowship’ before applying, and if you have any questions or enquiries, please contact us.

Please check for current Research Technical Professional Fellowships that are relevant for you. You can find a list of current opportunities here.

If there are no opportunities listed, or those that are listed are not relevant to your skills and experience, please register your interest by completing this form. After you have done this, there is no need to proceed to the next stage – we will contact you as soon as a relevant opportunity arises. Please note that we cannot guarantee when this may be – it entirely depends on the availability of sponsorship. We therefore advise you to continue seeking alternative paths for your return to your career and update us should you no longer wish to retain your interest by emailing djmft@surrey.ac.uk.

The next step of the application process is to download, read and complete a series of forms. These forms are bespoke for each position and will be made available to you when an opportunity becomes available.

Your eligibility and suitability are initially assessed using the information submitted to us in the forms.

If you fit our eligibility criteria, one of our Fellowship Advisors will arrange a telephone interview with you to talk through your CV, your career break, your desire to retrain, your field of interest and assess your future employment prospects. This step allows us to confirm whether or not you are eligible and suitable for a Research Technical Professional Fellowship.

Only the preferred applicant will be invited to complete the next stage. If several applicants apply for the same position, there may be an interview at this stage involving the Sponsor (the organisation funding the Fellowship) in order to select the preferred applicant.

You will now be asked to write a draft proposal that explains the retraining programme you wish to undertake. You will receive guidelines on how to write and present your proposal, indicating the order of the sections and the required content in each.

In most cases, your proposal will be developed in an iterative process between you, your supervisor and your Fellowship Advisor, and both will provide feedback and suggestions. There may also be an informal interview at this stage to help you prepare.

A first draft proposal should be submitted to your Fellowship Advisor three months after your eligibility has been confirmed.

Your retraining programme must be challenging but achievable within the timescales of the Fellowship. This is your opportunity to acquire the technical and professional skills and knowledge that will put you back on a par with colleagues who have not taken a break from research.

A more formal interview will now take place involving the Sponsor, the Chair of our Awards Assessment Panel and senior representatives from the Trust. The interview is an opportunity to discuss in detail your background, the proposal and your future employment prospects.

The interview is in place to help you and you will be given guidance on the questions likely to be asked. Further guidance around the interviews process can be found in Guidelines for Fellowship interviews.

A final decision will then be made on the appointment of the successful applicant.