Applications for the Norman Lockyer and RAS Research Fellowships

Applications for the Norman Lockyer and RAS Research Fellowships

The RAS funds several schemes for promising young scientists to be employed as Research Fellows at UK universities. This page holds details for the Norman Lockyer and RAS Research Fellowships, which are similar in many respects. There is also a separate RAS-Daphne Jackson Fellowship scheme.

Not every fellowship is available every year. If more than one fellowship is available at the same time, it is possible to apply for them separately or several simultaneously. A call for applications is issued each time a vacancy arises, including the deadline for receipt of applications.

Applications for this year are currently closed. Please check back here in early autumn for details of how to apply for next year's Fellowships.

Conditions for both Fellowships

Applicants may be of any nationality, however, employment will be through the host institution. The applicant is therefore asked to indicate their UK residency status so it can be confirmed that they will be able to work at the institution concerned.

The fellowships are awarded for a period of up to three years beginning on 1 October in the year of the award (or within 6 months thereafter).

The award is in the form of a grant to the institution at which the fellow is based. The RAS will fund only directly incurred costs, and not overheads (including bench fees or 'full economic costs'). Applications must be certified by an authorised person at the host institution, confirming acceptance of this condition.

An additional £2,000 per annum may be claimed for costs incurred in attending meetings and conferences or for other items related to the research. The RAS will also meet the cost of Employers National Insurance contributions and make an additional payment, where appropriate, to a Fellow's personal pension plan.

Norman Lockyer Fellowships

The Norman Lockyer Fellowship is awarded to enable an outstanding researcher to devote the majority of their time to research on an astronomical topic, including solar system and planetary science. They are named after Sir Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), pioneering solar astronomer and discoverer of helium.

The fellowship is available every three years, with applications sought in the years 2016, 2019, 2022 etc. for fellowships starting in the following year.

The fellowship is open to those who hold a doctorate from a recognized institution of higher education at the time of taking up the award. Applicants must normally be 30 years of age or younger on 1 October of the year of appointment. Exceptions to the age limit may be made only in cases of e.g. maternity leave, career breaks, serious illness etc. Please enquire before applying.

The RAS pays fellowship salaries on the UCU single pay spine from points 30 to 36 inclusive. In addition to the salary we will accept claims for National Insurance at normal rates and the employer pension contribution at 16% of the salary. We will also reimburse sums up to £2000 per year for travel and incidental expenses , if claimed with justification. If the host university, as employer, wishes to pay at spine points above 36, that extra expenditure must be found from their own funds.

RAS Research Fellowships

The purpose of the RAS Research Fellowships is to enable outstanding candidates to pursue research in the UK in the disciplines advanced by the RAS i.e. astronomy, solar system science, geophysics and closely related branches of these sciences.

The RAS has funded at least one RAS Research Fellowship each year since 2010. Applications are generally due each autumn for positions starting in the following year.

Applicants must either:

  • Hold a recognized PhD degree or equivalent obtained after 1 October five years before the start of the fellowship (e.g. 1 October 2012 if applying in 2016 for a fellowship begining in 2017), or
  • have taken the PhD viva voce examination by the application deadline and expect to be awarded the PhD degree before the Fellowship start date.

Exceptions to these limits may be made only in cases of e.g. maternity leave, career breaks, serious illness etc. Please enquire before applying.

Only one RAS Research Fellowship may be held in the same university (as listed by UCAS) at any one time. See below for details of current RAS Research Fellows.

The RAS pays fellowship salaries on the UCU single pay spine from points 30 to 36 inclusive. In addition to the salary we will accept claims for National Insurance at normal rates and the employer pension contribution at 16% of the salary. We will also reimburse sums up to £2000 per year for travel and incidental expenses , if claimed with justification. If the host university, as employer, wishes to pay at spine points above 36, that extra expenditure must be found from their own funds.

Current and Past RAS Research Fellows
NameInstitutionResearchDates
Dr Joanna Eberhardt (Barstow)University College LondonNature vs Nurture: the effect of stellar irradiation on atmospheric evolutionOctober 2016 - September 2019
Dr Peter WyperDurham UniversityExplaining the Onset of Explosive Magnetic Reconnection in the in the Solar Corona & its Links to the Generation of Solar Energetic ParticlesOctober 2016 - September 2019
Dr Emma ChapmanImperial College LondonDetecting and constraining the Epoch of Reionisation using foreground removal and state-of-the-art simulationsOctober 2015 - September 2018
Dr Ben RozitisOpen UniversityProbing solar system processes using extreme asteroidsMarch 2016 - February 2019

Dr David J E Marsh

Kings College London

Precision cosmology of axions and moduliOctober 2015 - September 2018

Dr Richard Parker

Liverpool John Moores University

The Origin of the Galactic Field

March 2014 - March 2017

Dr John Armitage

Royal Holloway, University of London

Deciphering the sedimentary record: tectonic vs climate change

September 2013 - August 2015

Dr Sarah Badman

University of Leicester / Lancaster University

The Goldilocks hypothesis of planetary magnetospheres: discovering a balance between internally- and externally-driven dynamics at Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn

March 2013 - February 2016

Dr Nick Wright

University of Hertfordshire

The Dynamics of Young Star Clusters

October 2012 - September 2015

Dr Baojiu Li

University of Durham

Cosmology, Dark Energy Theories (Theoretical, Phenomenolgical, Numerical & Statistical Studies)

February 2012 - January 2015

Dr Aline de Almeida Vidotto

University of St Andrews

Interaction between Exoplanets and the Winds of their Host Stars (Numerical Modelling & Magnetic Shield)

October 2011 - September 2014

Dr Caitriona Jackman

University College London / University of Southampton

Energy Release from Magnetospheres

January 2013 - December 2013

Dr Benjamin Davies

University of Cambridge / Liverpool John Moores

Mapping the Star-Forming History of Galaxies

November 2010 - October 2013

Dr Thomas Kitching

University of Edinburgh

High Precision Dark Universe Cosmology with 3D Gravitational Lensing

January 2011 -September 2011

Current and Past Norman Lockyer Fellows
NameInstitutionResearchDates

Dr Rowan Smith

University of Manchester

Uniting theory and observations of star-formation

September 2014 - September 2016

Dr Adam Christopherson

University of Nottingham

Constraining the Universe using Non-Linear Cosmological Perturbation Theory

October 2011 - September 2014

Dr Mark Swinbank

Durham University

Spatially Resolved Studies of Young Galaxies

October 2008 – September 2011

Dr Roberto Trotta

University of Oxford

Precision cosmology and astrophysics with CMB and other data sets

April 2005 – March 2008

Dr Jane Greaves

Royal Observatory Edinburgh

Searching for the signatures of extrasolar planets

October 2001 – September 2004

Dr Clare Parnell

University of St Andrews

How does the Solar Magnetic Carpet Heat the Corona?

October 1998 – September 2001

Dr Alastair Rucklidge

DAMTP, University of Cambridge

Convection in Sunspots

October 1995 – September 1998

Dr Iossif Lapidus (deceased)

IoA, University of Cambridge

n/a

December 1992 - December 1995