The Dean’s Prize Award 2026
This Faculty-run programme offers up to two years of funding for researchers who are looking to apply for significant external funding in the near future, including prestigious individual fellowships or other significant external research funding.
The award is open to people from a range of backgrounds who focus on biological, medical and health and care research including:
- applied health and care researchers;
- pure science researchers;
- technologists;
- methodologists (for example, biologists, mathematicians, statisticians, epidemiologists, health economists, bioinformaticians, qualitative methodologists and computer and data scientists);
- engineers.
About the Dean's Prize
This distinguished award is part of our programme focused on promoting and developing researcher careers across disciplines. The Dean’s prize offers up to two years of support for research activity and personal development, bridging that difficult career gap towards research independence. We recognise that outstanding applicants from different fields may have varying backgrounds and diverse career paths.
Our aim is to appoint excellent researchers on a clear path to applying for externally funded, prestigious fellowships (or equivalent significant funding) from UK and international or national funding bodies. Examples of these funding bodies include UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), European Research Council, The Wellcome Trust, and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Funding
We are offering a salary plus up to £10,000 per annum support costs for two years. Applications for external funding will be expected by the end of the first year or early in the second year.
Award holders will be expected to secure substantial funding for their research and complete research outputs of international excellence.
Eligibility
The award is available to outstanding researchers from a wide range of backgrounds engaged in biological, medical and health and care research. They will be well positioned to make an application to a fellowship or other external significant funding awards in the near future, to enable them transition to research independence. This includes:
- Research technologists, engineers and methodologists with exciting and novel ideas for methodology and technology development aiming to advance technology and methods in life/health sciences and research methodologies in applied health and social sciences.
- Applied health and care researchers.
- Pure science researchers.
These backgrounds cover many disciplines relevant to all researchers in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH). The award is open to internal candidates and those applying from outside the University.
If awarded, we expect your Dean's Prize to commence before 1 January 2027. However, we will consider small variations to this on an individual basis. This must be discussed with the Fellowship Academy before you apply.
Post-PhD experience
While flexible, in broad terms, we anticipate applicants will typically have three to seven years of post-PhD experience. However, we understand that not everyone's circumstances or research career pathways are the same. You may have taken time off for maternity or paternity leave, or changed research direction, for example. You can provide details about this in your application.
Support for health and care professionals
For practicing health and care professionals, which may include but not be limited to, nurses, allied health professionals, medical doctors, dentists, clinical practitioners, social workers and social care workers, the University will support basic salary for a specified full-time equivalent (FTE), with the remaining FTE salary reflecting clinical or care duties covered by the most appropriate NHS partner of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) or other employee organisation.
Any clinical or care-related component of the salary needs to be agreed in principle by the relevant NHS Trust, MAHSC Partner, or organisation before you apply.
Support for medical doctors
For medical doctors, The University of Manchester will support a basic salary up to 0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE), with the remaining 0.5 FTE covered by the most appropriate NHS partner of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC). You will most likely be approaching or have just reached the end of your clinical specialist training, and recognise the need for a further period of up to 24 months following completion of clinical speciality training to maximise your momentum for applications at an intermediate/clinician-scientist fellowship level.
For other health and care professionals, the FTE split can be discussed.
When is the best time to apply for a Dean’s Prize award?
These awards are competitive, so we encourage people to consider an application at the best point in their career. This is likely to be when you are on an upward trajectory in terms of research-related outputs, building collaborations and developing ambitious, robust and timely research plans.
The review process will consider your potential for developing competitive funding bids and the added value of the time and resources the Dean’s Prize offers. It is likely that successful candidates will have clear intellectual links to current Faculty members to benefit from appropriate mentorship, advice and support.
How to apply
Applicants must outline:
- their experience to-date;
- their research plans for the duration of the Dean’s Prize;
- how the proposed award will support their career development in the near future.
Reviewers will be asked to assess an individual’s academic achievements, potential for future success, proposed research rationale and plans and links to staff in FBMH as well as external collaborations that might support future funding bids.
The application process involves two stages. Stage 1 involves the submission of an expression of interest form. If you are shortlisted at this stage, you will be invited to submit a full application at Stage 2.
Stage 1: Expression of interest
Interested candidates should download and complete our expression of interest form. Applicants can submit one application form.
Completed expression of interests should be submitted by email to FBMHFellowshipacademy@manchester.ac.uk by noon, 1 April 2026. Please provide both a PDF and a Word document version of your application.
Expressions of interest will undergo a stringent review process with reviewers from Schools relevant to each application. You will be notified whether you have been shortlisted to submit a Stage 2 application the week commencing 11 May 2026.
Individual feedback will not be provided for successful or unsuccessful candidates after Stage 1.
Stage 2: Full application
If you have been shortlisted at Stage 1, you are now eligible to submit a Stage 2 application. At Stage 2 there is more scope for applicants to detail their plans and how they support their development and progression towards obtaining external funding.
Stage 2 applications should be submitted by the week commencing 8 June 2026. The exact deadline will be communicated soon.
All applications will be reviewed by academic staff at The University of Manchester and further discussed at a panel meeting chaired by the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Associate Dean for Fellowships and Individual Awards. The panel will select applicants for an interview.
We expect to notify applicants by July 2026 whether they have been invited for an interview or not. Interviews will take place in September 2026, and outcomes are expected to be communicated shortly after.
All applicants who submit Stage 2 applications will receive individual feedback.
Dean's Prize information session
Discover more about this fellowship opportunity at an online information session run by Professor Jo Dumville on 5 March.
Video: information session recording
Watch a recording of an information session that took place on 24 February 2026.
Got a question?
If you have any questions, please contact: