University Of Edinburgh early career researchers receive University’s most prestigious fellowships

Some 33 academics have been announced as the latest Chancellor’s Fellows, a five-year tenure track that invests in researchers delivering cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and innovation.

World-leading research
The cohort’s range of research includes Scotland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, how medical data could predict an individual’s asthma risk, and the future of conversational information assistants such as ChatGPT and Siri.

Other focuses for the new fellows include investigating processes of regeneration to boost healthy aging, exploring the reasons why the NHS has failed in some areas, and using the James Webb Telescope to study the origins of the universe’s biggest galaxies.

We are delighted to welcome this latest cohort of Chancellor’s Fellows, who join over 450 Fellows we have recruited through this scheme over the past decade. Their transformative projects will help us deliver our ambitious goals for research and impact in the areas of future health and care, tackling the environmental crisis, and harnessing data, digital and AI for social and economic benefit.

Professor Christina Boswell
Vice-Principal Innovation and Enterprise
Next round
A new round of applications for the next 30 Chancellor’s Fellows will open in June 2023.

The funding uplift from the Scottish Funding Council following the University’s strong REF2021 results will partly fund both sets of fellows.

The University was committed to ensuring the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion informed the appointment process.

Nearly 60 per cent of the new cohort are female and 19 per cent are from ethnic minority groups.

Future vision
The University has awarded Chancellor’s Fellowships since 2014. They are designed to help the most promising academics advance from the early stages of their career to more senior roles, and to empower their ground-breaking research.

They are for academics with a vision for future leadership in research and innovation, which may straddle leading a major area of research, forging new industry partnerships, or research-led teaching innovations.

The new fellows will be supported to achieve their research and leadership ambitions through a tailored programme that helps them realise their research, innovation and leadership ambitions.