Research Secondments

We support flexible, short-term (6 months) discipline-hopping secondments within our Centre, supported by the Wellcome Trust’s Institutional Strategic Support Fund. The aim of the scheme is to support applicants wishing to develop their interdisciplinary research skills and build their CV, such that they are able to submit one or more Fellowship applications in the future.

Secondees will work on an appropriate seed corn project starting from 1 February 2022, exchanging their knowlegde and skills working with other academic colleagues in the wider group, while under the supervision of a TREE Research Fellow.

Secondments are suitable for applicants at PhD, post-doctoral or lecturer level, who wish to develop their research career at the interface between quantitative disciplines (such as mathematics, physics or informatics) and biology, biomedicine and clinical sciences. Successful applicants will relocate to TREE – based within the Living Systems Institute at Streatham – for the full length of the secondment. We might be able to offer a flexible work environment for example remote working to accomodate people's needs when a formal request is raised.

Secondees will have the opportunity to work on exciting interdisciplinary projects (click here to see details of previously funded seed corn projects) under the guidance of some of the University’s leading scientists and will receive further training and mentoring from existing Centre research fellows, as well as members of the Centre’s core leadership team. Secondees will be partnered with an appropriate seed corn project, and will have their salary covered by TREE for the 6 month period as well as any appropriate project or training spend as required.

Flexibility to work to the seed corn schedule is required. Secondees must get agreement from their PI that they can commit this time to the project before commencement. 

Applicants are invited to send a CV, a personal statement and letters from academic leads (or equivalent) confirming their agreement to the secondment if successful. Further, Lecturer-level applicants will need to provide a letter from their Director of Education confirming they will be released from most teaching duties so that they can focus on the secondment.

All applications should be submitted to tree@exeter.ac.uk - the deadline for the application is 1 Dec 2021.

Personal statements should describe:

• your current areas of research interest/expertise;
• the key research skills you seek to develop;
• the biological, biomedical or clinical areas you would like to focus on;
• the specific Fellowship scheme(s) that would subsequently be targeted.