Mid-Career Researcher Incentives Pilot Scheme

• Principal Investigator (PI) must be a mid-career researcher within one of the Social Sciences Division departments. - MCRs include individuals in academic positions at or above Associate Professor level or fixed-term researchers meeting specific criteria determined by their department.  - Selection of eligible candidates will be at the discretion of individual departments, which are encouraged to nominate their most suitable candidates. (More scenarios in FAQs)
• It is expected that each department will have an allocation cap of £25,000 for this pilot scheme throughout its lifecycle, to ensure parity.

Although the division is offering this pilot scheme to all departments, it will be at the discretion of each department to determine how they wish to promote it to their faculty members. For instance, a department may choose to limit participation to specific options, such as Research Assistance or Administrative Support, exclusively.

The PI must get in touch with their departments as the first point of contact should they wish to apply to this scheme, the departments can then support them to apply for one of the following options (depending on what the department is offering).

1. Request funding for research assistance to help them write large grant applications.
2. Request funding for EA/administrative support so they can focus on writing grant applications.
3. Request a teaching buyout of up to 0.4 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) for a duration of up to 10 months, in departments that can/ will support such buyouts. a) In order to facilitate the teaching buyout, the departmental research office can liaise with their Graduate offices to ask for a pool of Graduate Teaching Assistants available in their departments that can cover for them during the buyout period. If their department does not maintain a GTA pool, the PIs are responsible for seeking a GTA as their replacement. b) Alternatively, in cases where a department receives applications from 2 or 3 PIs from within the department to apply for the pilot scheme in the same round, the department may also choose to hire a Lecturer at 1 FTE to provide cover for all of them during the departmental teaching buyout period, however, priority will be given to ‘Graduate only’ departments to hire a lecturer as it is more difficult for those departments to find GTAs.

In addition to the options above, the scheme may also be used to supplement existing departmental incentives schemes that support MCRs to apply for large research grants if the departmental schemes comply with the terms & conditions of UKRI Talent & Research Stabilisation. In such scenario, the departments must liaise with the Senior Research Facilitator, Social Sciences Division before submitting applications.

Note: For College buyouts, departments will need to coordinate directly with the Colleges; the Division will not facilitate these arrangements.

1. Applicants must get in touch with their Department to confirm their eligibility and which options (out of the 4 offered) are supported by the Department.
2. Application form (in Annex A) must be submitted on IRAMS by noon on 12th November 2025.
3. The application form must not be more than 2-sides of A4, using 11-pt Arial font.
4. The applicants must ensure they submit their large grant applications within 1 year of receiving funds from the pilot scheme.
5. A Divisional Panel consisting of Senior Researchers across the division will review the applications and allocate funding competitively.
6. Applications will be accepted bi-annually, with deadlines announced via the SSD Funding Digest and mailing lists.

- Eligibility and Justification

• The applicant must be a mid-career researcher. See FAQs for more detail.
• The application must clearly justify the requested support (Research Assistance, Administrative Support, Teaching Buyout, or supplement Department scheme) and explain how it will enable the preparation and submission of a large grant application (£400,000+ FEC, lasting three years or longer).

- Feasibility

• The proposed project must demonstrate a realistic plan for grant submission within 1 year of receiving the funds

- Support from the Department

• Applications must include confirmation of departmental support from the HAF and the HoD, demonstrating how the department will facilitate the requested support (e.g., liaising for teaching buyouts) to ensure the success of the grant application process.

Successful applicants will be required to:

• Submit a one-page summary report on their grant applications, detailing progress/outcomes, within 6 months of receiving the MCR Incentives funding.
• Additionally, a report (not more than 300 words) on how the pilot scheme fund enabled the researcher to secure a large grant and the impact of the fund on their research trajectory and grant application success rates within 15 months of receiving the funding via MCR incentives scheme.

The Social Sciences Division will provide additional resources to enhance participation in the scheme:

• Training and Workshops: grant writing workshops, proposal development, and stakeholder engagement will be available.
• Targeted Advertising: Opportunities will be promoted via the SSD Funding Digest, EDI channels, RSOs Teams channel, and mailing lists.
• Research and Impact Facilitation: Applicants can access tailored advice and support from the Research, Impact & Engagement Team, Social Sciences Division.

For more information, please contact the Divisional Research Facilitation Team at research@socsci.ox.ac.uk

1. What is the maximum funding available per department? It is expected that each department will be allocated not more than £25,000 throughout the lifecycle of the pilot scheme. However, this may vary depending on availability of funds.
2. Who is defined as a mid-career researcher? While there is no particular definition of a mid-career researcher, they are generally considered to be those who have progressed beyond the early stages of their research careers. They can be either on permanent roles (APs) or fixed-term roles. There is no requirement of a certain number of years post-PhD, but it is expected that MCRs must have completed significant postdoctoral research and demonstrate research leadership.
3. Who decides whether an academic is eligible as a mid-career researcher? Departments have full discretion to determine eligibility based on their criteria. In cases where the department has doubts about the eligibility of the candidate, they can contact the Division for advice. Additionally, the divisional panel will also consider the eligibility of the candidate at evaluation stage.
4. How does the teaching buyout process work? PI is responsible to ensure teaching replacement is sought. They can get in touch with their departmental academic office, and find a suitable replacement via the departmental GTA Pool or in case, more than one Associate Professors from the same department are applying, the department may choose to hire a Lecturer who can be a replacement for them. In case of college buyout, the departments are responsible to liaise with the College and the Division will not be involved in the process.
5. I am a mid-career researcher with joint appointment between two departments within Social Sciences Division. Am I eligible? Yes, you are eligible to apply. It is expected that you will apply via the department where your %FTE is higher. In cases, where appointments are split equally between two departments, the PI may choose to submit application via either department, but not both at the same time. The host department (for this scheme) must be clearly stated in the application form. In addition, the PI must inform both the departments of their application and outcome.
6. When can I apply for the scheme? Fixed bi-annual deadlines. Round 2 deadline: noon, 12th November 2025.
7. Are there any particular large grant schemes that this pilot scheme targets? There are no particular large grant schemes that this pilot scheme targets. The main aim of the MCR incentives pilot scheme is to ensure mid-career researchers are provided with the opportunity to apply for large grant applications such as (but not limited to) ERC Consolidator, ESRC Responsive mode: research grants.
8. Can I hire an external grant writer?
   No, this scheme does not support the cost of hiring external grant writers or agencies.