My winning proposals: An STFC and Royal Society double hit

The astronomer who won one prestigious fellowship at the third attempt, but accepted another

Top tips:

• Good bids need to be honed, and rejections can be thought of in that light—what can be improved on next time?
• Running applications through several drafts and iterations is often a wise way to proceed.
• Practice is the key to interviews and presentations; it is especially important to practise the transitions between sections in project presentations.
• The key to early-career bids is finding a balance between ambition and realism.

The UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Ernest Rutherford Fellowships and the Royal Society’s University Research Fellowships both offer five years of support to early-career researchers of any nationality looking to establish independent research programmes in the UK.