The Researchers at Risk Fellowships Programme being delivered by the UK National Academies and in partnership with the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), is now open for applications. The Fellowships will support researchers at risk to continue their research in the UK for up to two years.
The first priority of the Programme will be as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exposed Ukraine-based researchers and their dependents to direct threat. The Academy hopes to open the scheme more widely when possible, subject to funding.
The Programme aims to complement the work already being done by UK institutions, including through their existing cooperation with Cara as members of Cara Universities Network, offering fellowship awards of up to two-years to researchers at risk with funding of circa £37,000 per year.
The programme is receiving £3million of funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The Nuffield Foundation, an independent charitable trust, is contributing £0.5 million towards the scheme.
For further enquiries, contact researchersatrisk@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
Professor Julia Black, President of the British Academy, said:
“I am extremely pleased that researchers at-risk in Ukraine will now be able to apply to our Researchers at Risk Fellowship programme. In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is an urgent need to support researchers from Ukraine to find safety for themselves and their families and continue their work. These Fellowships provide a means of doing just that."
“We are proud to work on this with our colleagues at the Council for At-risk Academics (Cara) and thank the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Nuffield Foundation, for their generous financial support. In time we hope to secure funding to broaden access to the scheme and support all at-risk researchers wherever they may be based.”
Stephen Wordsworth CMG LVO, Executive Director of the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), said:
“UK universities have a long tradition of offering sanctuary and support to their colleagues around the world whose livelihoods and dreams are being destroyed. Since the ‘pre-announcement’ of this important new Programme, many have wanted to find out more about it, so they can offer safe places and new opportunities to their Ukrainian colleagues. Now that it is being launched, I am sure that many will follow up, quickly; and, like others, I hope that it will become a permanent part of our response to tragedies like these, broadening out to offer all academics who are in danger a chance to come here to continue their work in safety and to enrich our cultural, scientific and intellectual lives, as their predecessors have done.”
Professor Sir Keith Burnett, Chair of the Nuffield Foundation, said:
“The Researchers at Risk Fellowship programme will provide safety and solidarity for academics and their families whose lives and livelihoods are at risk from the conflict in Ukraine. The Nuffield Foundation whole-heartedly supports this endeavour, and we are grateful to the British Academy and to Cara for their swift action to get the programme up and running so that academics at risk can continue their valuable work from the UK.”
For general enquiries about the Researchers at-Risk Fellowships, contact researchersatrisk@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
For media enquiries, please contact Naomi Clarke at the Academy of Medical Sciences Press Office at naomi.clarke@acmedsci.ac.uk.