The Fellowship Programme supports people who improve computational practice across research disciplines and act as ambassadors for better research-software practice. The Institute for Research Software selects around 20 Fellows each year, including up to three people based outside the United Kingdom.
The 2027 Fellowship runs for 15 months and combines an activity budget with mentoring, cohort learning, monthly community calls, study groups and participation in the annual Collaborations Workshop. Fellows use the programme to organise or attend activities such as workshops, training, community-building and policy work.
Benefits & funding
- Each Fellow receives a flexible £4,000 budget for activities that advance research-software practice during the 15-month Fellowship.
- Support includes a mentor, cohort-based learning, monthly community calls, study groups and attendance at the annual Collaborations Workshop.
- The budget cannot pay salary or compensate time spent developing software, and computing equipment is not an eligible expense.
Eligibility
- Applicants may be at any career stage and from any professional or academic background, including people without a formal software background who support research, training or research infrastructure.
- Applicants may be based in any country; up to three places are available to people neither based in the United Kingdom nor associated with a United Kingdom organisation, subject to possible fund-transfer restrictions that the Institute does not list by country.
- Applicants outside the United Kingdom or without formal affiliation to a United Kingdom institution or office must explain how their plans foster international collaboration or benefit United Kingdom research culture, and how they will handle time-zone, language or long-distance travel challenges.
- No degree, age, gender or stated minimum work-experience requirement is published.
Can you apply?
Open to all applicants
No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.
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Application process
- 1Review the eligibility, shortlisting and Online Selection Day criteria linked from the official application page.
- 2Complete the online form and submit a link to a voice-over slide screencast of no more than six minutes, with a 15-second production allowance; where video is not possible, an 800–1,000-word written application may be accepted with a brief explanation.
- 3Use the suggested structure of one minute on who you are professionally, one minute on your work and four minutes on your Fellowship plans.
- 4If shortlisted, attend the Online Selection Day for assessed group activities before final decisions are made.
Program timeline
Applications open
10 August 2026
Launch webinar
20 August 2026
Application deadline
5 October 2026, 23:59 GMT+1
Shortlist confirmed
3 November 2026
Online Selection Day
12 November 2026
Fellows announced
9 December 2026
Fellowship starts
1 January 2027
Fellowship ends
31 March 2028