Rachel Williams
Professor Rachel Williams held an EPSRC Engineering for Growth Fellowship on building advanced materials to treat vision loss. She is based within the Department of Eye and Vision Sciences in the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences.
What type of fellowship did you have?
I was an EPSRC Engineering for Growth Fellow between 2014 and 2019.
What is the aim of your research?
My research is based on the design and development of advanced materials for medical applications. Specifically, I have led research on strategies to develop innovative ways to modify materials and their surfaces to treat sight threatening conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, retinal detachment and surface ocular disorders. This has involved developing materials to replace the vitreous that have an increase emulsification resistance, developing hydrogel contact lenses that are antimicrobial to reduce corneal infection and building peptide hydrogel scaffolds for cornea tissue engineering applications.
Why did you choose to undertake your fellowship with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences?
I was already in Liverpool when I applied for my fellowship. For me Liverpool was an excellent place to be since I had developed a close working relationship with clinical colleagues in St Paul’s Eye Unit in LUHFT while also having an established research group within the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences.
What made you want to apply for a fellowship?
I had a successful academic career and I saw a fellowship as an opportunity to get 5 years to dedicate my time to my research with minimal teaching load. This allowed me to take a new tack in my research underpinned by a new idea around the design of a peptide hydrogel for several different applications in ophthalmology. Having dedicated time and a research group including two five-year PDRAs funded under the fellowship allowed me to produce a substantial amount of data on the fundamental material science leading to several spin off MRC grants to develop the peptide hydrogel for specific applications.
Which fellowship scheme did you choose and why?
The EPSRC has an open fellowship scheme for academics at different stages of their career including Established Career fellowships that are highly competitive. The Engineering for Growth Scheme was devised by the EPSRC in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering as a way to demonstrate the importance of innovation in engineering as a way to help the UK recover from the recession. One of the themes was advanced materials which fitted with my research expertise. Since it was a specific call I hoped that it would be slightly less competitive than the open fellowship scheme so I might have a better chance of success.
How did you go about writing your application and preparing for interview?
I had a strong idea that I wanted to develop which gave me a good starting place. Since I already had experience of writing EPSRC grants this gave me an advantage on how to start. I was also given a lot of help because this was a specific call there was help offered by the central University research policy group. My application went through multiple drafts improving with each iteration. I also had several mock interviews. I remember the first one being a terrible experience and a realisation of how far off prepared I was.
Were you successful on your first attempt?
I was successful at my first attempt. I know this is very unusual – I was just very lucky!
Was there anything that surprised you about the whole fellowship application process?
I don’t think it surprised me as such – but you do need to know that they really are very competitive and so you need to have a really good idea, you need to make sure that it really is novel and you need to be able to make the case that you are absolutely the right person to deliver on your idea.
What are your top tips for someone thinking of applying for a fellowship?
Established (or senior) fellowships are a bit different from early career ones. Your track record is very important and you need to be able to show that you have some leadership in the field already. It is an opportunity to be able to spend more dedicated time on research and so it is important to be able to make the case that you have a new idea that needs this time to make a substantial step forward in the field. For my own career it has had a number of benefits. Firstly, it has provided me with research output that has underpinned four MRC awards. Secondly, it provided me with very good interactions with both the EPSRC and the Royal Academy of Engineering because they want to look after their fellows and this has led to other opportunities to be involved in national research strategy. Thirdly, it has significantly enhanced my reputation nationally and internationally in the field. Fourthly, it has boosted my career in the University.