Solo and Twin Fellowships

A: A Fellowship is an opportunity focused on personal career development, often involving research. Within LEAP we have a number of fellowship schemes which may be suited to people from different backgrounds or who wish to gain different benefits from being a Fellow.

The funded Solo and Twin Fellowships are an opportunity for an individual or a pair to undertake a short (between 3 and 12 months) research project which aligns with the Hub’s research themes. They will have Fellow status until September 2026. During this time they will have the opportunity to focus on their career development and work on towards personal goals related to their Digital Health expertise.

A: The Hub’s Research Funding call focuses on collaborative research consortiums and this is a crucial aspect of the assessment criteria. Research funding applicants can also apply for larger amounts of funding and projects are able to run for a longer duration.

For the Solo and Twin Fellowships, the linked research project is an important aspect of the application however there is less emphasis on building collaborative consortiums. Prospective Fellows can work with partners on their projects but the level of involvement may be lighter touch. The linked research project should present an opportunity for the prospective Fellow(s) to learn and grow while still linking back to the Hub’s research themes and regional focus.

A: Before beginning an application, you will need to consider why a Fellowship would be beneficial to you. Some key factors might be:

• Career development and mentoring
• Training and learning
• Pursuing new goals and challenges
• Expanding your professional network

If considering applying for Twin Fellowship, you’ll need to think about who you will apply with and how you work together and complement each other as Fellows.

You will also need to be realistic about the time that you can devote to a Fellowship. You will need to have a discussion with your line manager about how it will fit with your current role.

You will also need to consider what your linked funded research project could be:

• What is the question that you want to answer?
• How does it fit with the Hub’s research themes?
• Who will you need to work with to answer the question?

 A: International applicants are welcome to apply, provided the Host Institution for your application is one of the LEAP university partners.

The Hub has a regional focus that centres around the South West of England and Wales and applicants will need to consider this when framing their application (e.g. it is suggested in our Assessment Criteria that applicants may wish to include collaborators from Wales and the South West).

A: To be eligible, Fellows will need to be employed throughout the project period. If the PhD student is employed on a part-time fixed term contract alongside their studies, they could be eligible for this funding scheme.

We would advise including a letter of support from the Director of their CDT programme (or similar) to confirm that they are happy for them to undertake this and it will not interfere with their studies.

A: Yes. If you require help to find a Host Academic, please contact leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk with details about the prospective Fellow(s) and the research project proposal.

A: Yes, however the Fellow’s employment contract must continue beyond the period that the salary is being costed for. 

A: Yes, NHS can claim estates and overheads using dispensation rates. If the NHS Trust does not have agreed rates for Estates and Indirect Costs, the dispensation rates should be used; these are published periodically on the UKRI Funding Assurance Programme webpage.

A: A linked funded project is a project that you plan and cost into your Fellowship application.

A: No, Fellowship proposals should not be linked to a proposal submitted to the LEAP Research funding call.

A: Yes. We recognise that effective, impactful, research in Digital Health regularly involves multidisciplinary collaboration. You should therefore ensure that the project team includes the appropriate skillsets to deliver the research.

A: Yes, indeed many engineers and computer scientists publish in those venues. Wherever published, the publications themselves should be describing new findings in engineering and computer science, rather than the straightforward application of well-known techniques. Publications may also be describing insights beyond computer science and engineering.

A: Yes, and indeed there is a long tradition of qualitative research within health, social sciences, engineering, design (HCI) and computer science.

A: If your project involves work with human research subjects (whether patients, students, members of the public, professionals, other research, via social media, face-to-face or online) then it will require ethical review either by the lead institution or by an NHS organisation. The proposal should set out plans for ethical review and explain how this is accommodated in the timeline. Where the proposed project will be operating under an existing ethical permission, the reference number and review body should be stated in those plans.

A: All projects are required to generate publishable new knowledge, so commercialisation cannot be a sufficient or primary goal in itself, although moving an idea towards successful commercialisation can certainly be one of the objectives.

A: As described above, Hub projects are required to produce publishable new knowledge in engineering and physical sciences (including computer science). It may be difficult for a purely evaluation project to achieve these outputs, however if the evaluation methodology involves novelty and rigour (e.g. could be publishable in, say, a HCI venue) then this may be possible.

A: As described above, Hub projects are required to produce publishable new knowledge in engineering and physical sciences (including computer science). It will be difficult for a commercialisation project to achieve that, since the knowledge generated is likely to be proprietary rather than publishable. However, regulation is itself a research field, and some of the challenges around the regulatory approval of new technology (such as AI) could indeed create publishable insights – it is up to the proposal to explain that potential.

A: Yes, projects including NHS partners will likely be very competitive. Projects can certainly address the priorities of NHS partners and they can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in decision-making. EPSRC rules do allow the costs of NHS organisations to be included in the bid costing, and it will be the responsibility of the Host organisation to ensure that the requested funding passes to NHS partners, as agreed. A letter of support is required as part of the application describing the nature of the involvement and any costs sought, waived or contributed.

A: Yes, projects can certainly address the priorities of charity partners and they can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in project decision-making. Due to EPSRC funding rules, companies and charities must:

• Declare themselves as a project partner, submitting a letter of support explicitly describing any in-kind (e.g. staff time for advisory or research participation, access to data or facilities) or cash contribution to the project. All such contributions must be itemized and approximately costed within the letter. Project partners cannot receive funds from Hub beyond expenses of participating in the research, such as travel to research meetings.

OR

• Declare themselves a subcontractor, in other words a third party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, or a third party organisation, who is subcontracted by the host organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. As guidance, any such subcontract should be less than 40% of the value of the total funding requested. The subcontract will be subject to the procurement rules of the Host Institution, including compliance with any relevant Subsidy Control legislation, and so should be discussed with the Host institution before submission. The reason for the subcontract should be clearly described and justified in the proposal so that it can be peer-reviewed. If the Subcontractor is contributing time or other in-kind support beyond the work in the subcontract, this should be described clearly in a letter to accompany the proposal, so that it can be peer-reviewed.

Charity organisations can also receive research outputs and arising IP from the projects, such as licenses for software and for necessary background IP – the Host institution is encouraged to make those available to charity partners in due course at minimal or zero cost. A letter of support is required as part of the application describing the nature of the involvement.

A: Yes, projects can certainly address the priorities of companies and future plans for products and services. Companies can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in project decision-making. Due to EPSRC funding rules, companies can either:

• Declare themselves as a project partner, submitting a letter of support explicitly describing any in-kind (e.g. staff time for advisory or research participation, access to data or facilities) or cash contribution to the project. All such contributions must be itemized and approximately costed within the letter. Project partners cannot receive funds from Hub beyond expenses of participating in the research, such as travel to research meetings.

OR

• Declare themselves a subcontractor, in other words a third party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, or a third party organisation, who is subcontracted by the host organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. As guidance, any such subcontract should be less than 40% of the value of the total funding requested. The subcontract will be subject to the procurement rules of the Host Institution, including compliance with any relevant Subsidy Control legislation, and so should be discussed with the Host institution before submission. The reason for the subcontract should be clearly described and justified in the proposal so that it can be peer-reviewed. If the Subcontractor is contributing time or other in-kind support beyond the work in the subcontract, this should be described clearly in a letter to accompany the proposal, so that it can be peer-reviewed.

The Hub encourages appropriate involvement of industry in the projects through one of the models above – therefore the details of the proposed arrangements should be detailed in the application and will be assessed as part of peer review. For the avoidance of doubt, the relationship with the industry partner is the responsibility of the lead institution, including compliance with UK Subsidy Control rules and internal/external procurement rules.

A: Yes. EPSRC rules allow for the reimbursement of necessary expenses of attending meetings.

A: This is possible but preferably partners from Wales and/or the South West of England need to be involved as well. Some research can be conducted overseas or outside the region but you will need to demonstrate how the project will link back to Wales and South West England and what benefit the project will bring to the region. This will need to be clearly communicated in the application.

A: Yes. Please send the following information to leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk:

• Your name and the organisation that you work for
• A summary of your proposal
• Details about any partners that you’ve already identified
• Information about the support/contacts you are looking for (please be as specific as possible)

We will do our best to match you with a suitable contact.

If you are interested in offering support to projects, please get in touch with details about the type expertise that you/your organisation are able to provide.

A: Companies are very likely to be important to achieve impact and benefit to the public/patients from the research. Regardless of the company’s role in the research project, they can receive research outputs and arising IP from the projects, such as licenses for software and for necessary background IP – the Host institution is encouraged to make those available to industry partners in due course so that impact is achieved.

Although the expectation is that all research results are published, companies can request a short delay in order to seek protection for IP. We encourage that conversation to happen between the company and the Host institution at an early stage.

A: Equipment can be included up to £10k.

A: Yes, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria outlined in the call guidance.

A: Yes, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria outlined in the call guidance.

A: No but the Hub can provide the in-kind cost for negotiating match funding. Other non-staff costs associated with the work that you want the researchers-in-residence team to do should be included in the main staff costing and justified.

If you are interested in offering support to projects, please get in touch with details about the type expertise that you/your organisation are able to provide.

A: Outside of the letters from the Host Academic, Host Institution and from the Fellow’s organisation, it will be up to project teams to consider what they want to demonstrate with the letters of support submitted to the panel and peer reviewers. They could be used to evidence need, to demonstrate financial backing, or indicate endorsement from senior members of an organisation (or a combination of the above). The letter of support could come from a project team member/academic if you felt that strongly demonstrated the organisation’s support of the proposal.

A: Yes, it is a good idea to include letters of support if you want to demonstrate need or if there’s a significant contribution.