MOBILITY

MOBILITY will recruit six outstanding postdoctoral researchers through an open, transparent and merit-based process aligned with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for Recruitment. Reflecting the programme’s themes of Discovery, Understanding and Engineering, fellows will be appointed to five-year positions (3+2 years) and selected through a rigorous process supported by external peer review and gender-balanced panels.

Applicants will propose their own research projects within the Molecular Biodiscovery remit, with appointments based solely on excellence and research potential. Molecular biodiscovery focusses on investigating life at the molecular level for societal and economic benefit. Specifically, it seeks to discover the molecules relevant to health and disease in humans and plants, understand their molecular mechanisms and engineer interventions.

Degree Requirements

By the application deadline, applicants must hold:

• A first degree in their area of specialism.
• A higher degree (e.g. PhD) relevant to their research area, or an equivalent qualification.

Career Stage

There are no formal seniority requirements for this fellowship.

As the fellowship is designed to support training and career development, applicants:

• Must not hold a permanent research position.
• Should demonstrate how the fellowship will contribute to their future career development.

Nationality

The MOBILITY Fellowship is open to researchers of all nationalities.

MSCA Mobility Rule

Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, study, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months during the three years immediately before the application deadline.

The following are not counted towards this limit:

• Compulsory national service.
• Short stays, such as holidays.
• Time spent applying for refugee status under the Geneva Convention.

The target group of MOBILITY will be post-doctoral researchers aiming to transition into research leadership. The program will offer a five-year fellowship to early career researchers to support the development of their independent research programme and career development.

It is envisaged that MOBILITY fellows will develop proposals for prestigious national and European fellowships schemes, such as ERC Starting grants, UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, Wellcome / MRC Career Development Awards etc, as part of their career development training and longer-term career prospects.

Applicants are free to propose research projects in any area within the scope of Molecular Biodiscovery.

Applications must:

1. Align with one of the MOBILITY programme pillars: Discovery, Understanding, or Engineering.
2. Identify the University of Birmingham department that best fits the proposed research.

• Biosciences (Biosystems and Environmental Change, Structural and Molecular Cell Biology, Microbiology, Plant Science and Food Security)
• Chemistry
• Engineering (including Chemical Engineering)
• Health Sciences (Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing and Midwifery)
• Infection, Inflammation, and Immunology (Immunology and Immunotherapy, Inflammation and Ageing, Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes, Biomedical Sciences)
• Medical Sciences (Birmingham Medical school, Cancer and Genomic Sciences, Cardiovascular Sciences, Metabolism and Systems Science)

The program will support six postdoctoral fellowships offering five-year employment contracts. Fellows will receive a salary well above the national average for similar positions in the UK (80,400 Euros per annum).

Fellows will also benefit from the University of Birmingham’s comprehensive employment package, which includes:

• A generous annual leave entitlement (40 days annual leave per year, including 8 bank holidays and 7 closed days. If necessary, fellows can purchase up to 10 extra days of additional leave).
• Paid parental leave, including maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave, aligned with UK statutory rights and University enhanced provisions.
• Additional paid leave options, such as compassionate leave, carers’ leave, and time off for dependants.

You must complete an application through the University of Birmingham online portal. Templates are provided below for specific uploads which are also required as part of the application. If these templates are not used, your application may be rejected.

• HR portal

Downloadable documents

• Application guidance
• CV template
• Ethics declaration checklist
• Motivation letter
• Application form

Application documents will be added once the call is live.

Upon appointment, each fellow will write a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP), with the MOBILITY programme director, their supervisor and another member of the MOBILITY team within the first three months of the fellowship.

The PCDP will define the fellow’s research plan, publication strategy, and career development activities both regarding scientific and non-scientific skills. The PCDP will be responsive to the fellow's experience and adjusted throughout the fellowship. Dedicated review meetings will be scheduled every 6 months with the PCDP team.

MOBILITY Fellows will also have access to a wide range of professional development opportunities to help them build skills in leadership, supervision, project management, grant writing and research commercialisation. Training will be supported by experienced supervisors, mentors and existing researcher development programmes across the University.

Fellows will form a cohort and will be encouraged to connect through regular networking events, peer-learning activities and Action Learning Sets. They will also have access to one-to-one career coaching and can use the Vitae Researcher Development Framework to help plan and review their professional development.

Career Development Partners

• Precision Health Technologies Accelerator Ltd (PHTA)
• Biochemical Society
• Elsevier (Cell Press – Cell Metabolism)
• University of Birmingham Enterprise Ltd
• Moderna TX
• UCB Pharma S.A
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Qualcomm (Edge Impulse)