Supporting our Research Staff
Flexible Research Fund (FRF)
This scheme provides cash funding to the investigators on successful grants. The funding may be used flexibly to support the investigators research activity. The extent of the funding is related to the value of the award and is only on overheaded grants. FRF supports our research staff in developing strong and independent research teams and can be associated with the grant to increase the chance of success. Examples include enabling the academic to collect proof of concept data supporting future grants, to build collaborations by attending a conference; to visit potential industry partners; to provide additional consumables funding; to undertake a training course; to extend the stipend of a PhD student; or to purchase a piece of research equipment.
Research Support Fund (RSF)
This scheme supports staff to win large grants which must be >£1M and fully overheaded. The scheme provides funding for PhD studentships (3yr home fee and stipend) which support the research project, increasing the chance of success and supporting our staff to build ambitious research programmes. The number of studentships provided to the investigators is dependent on the size of the award.
As an example, Dr Tarek Anous (below), a senior lecturer in the Centre for Geometry, Analysis and Gravitation has been awarded a PhD student to support his research team associated with his new UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship entitled The materials approach to quantum spacetime. Dr Anous comments “This is an incredible opportunity to assemble a group of researchers dedicated to tackling important problems about how our universe evolves, from the smallest to the largest scales.
New Talent Research Enabling Scheme
To support new lecturers and senior lecturers rapidly establish their research groups, all new 'Teaching and Research' staff joining the Faculty of Science and Engineering are awarded a PhD studentship upon submission of their first overheaded research grant at Queen Mary (subject to quality and size of proposal). Typically these first grants are to schemes such as the New Investigator Awards (NIA) where the provision of a PhD student helps to ensure the success of the research project. Additional start up packages are dealt with on a case by case basis.
As an example, Dr Marc Roth, a lecturer in the Centre for Fundamental Computer Science, after submission of the NIA has been awarded a PhD scholarship for the project Motif Counting in Higher Order Structures. Motif Counting describes a family of computational problems that arise in the context of large-scale network analysis, and that have found numerous applications in data mining, bioinformatics, genetics, and artificial intelligence. Marc's project investigates the complexity and the expressive power of Motif Counting problems that arise in higher arity structures (such as relational database systems) and their implications for the theoretical limitations of higher order graph neural networks.
PhD Studentships to support PCE
The Faculty of Science and Engineering supports various schemes to provide PhD studentships which are part funded by international government schemes such as the China Scholarship Council (CSC). In the case of CSC, staff eligibility to host a PhD studentship is related to an individuals existing research funding. In addition, every School in the Faculty of Science and Engineering has the flexibility to propose additional staff to supervise a CSC PhD studentships based on consideration of wider factors related to our commitment to People, Culture and Environment (PCE), and associated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
PhD Studentships to support Industry Engagement
The Faculty of Science and Engineering at Queen Mary is pleased to offer a suite of opportunities for our academic staff to collaborate with industry and the 3rd sector by supporting PhD studentships. The level of support depends on the IP/licensing arrangements, type of partner and the level of commitment. If you are an external organisation interested in sponsoring a PhD studentship to build R&D collaboration then please do get in touch with the particular research centre/academic staff and our Business Development team.
Mentoring of new Research Staff
New Research Staff are partnered with a School mentor to provide guidance and support concerning research and career development. Dr Elena Torlai Triglia (below) is a lecturer in the Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics who joined our Faculty in February 2024 as a strategic hire and is mentored by a senior colleague in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences.
"Having a supportive senior mentor has been invaluable. My mentor helped me settle in QMUL, gave feedback on my grant applications, guided me through the features of the UK funding system, and provided lots of advice on what to prioritise."