Important Dates for the 2023 studentship call

What are ISIS Facility Development Studentships?

ISIS wishes to co-fund PhD studentship projects that benefit ISIS. Studentship projects can be within any of the science areas studied by neutron scattering or muon spectroscopy at ISIS and should have a strong science case, but they must be focused on benefits to the ISIS facility. These benefits may include facility infrastructure development (including software), staff development or to further realise the benefits of a project previously funded by this call.

Projects should provide evidence of how the ISIS facility will benefit beyond the lifetime of the project, including evidence of the wider applicability of the project within the community beyond the immediate PhD student project. Letters of support, direct and in-kind contributions from the science and/or industrial community demonstrating the wider applicability and impact of projects are encouraged. It is recommended that you contact Martin Owen-Jones (isis-studentships@stfc.ac.uk) ahead of submitting a proposal to discuss the nature of your facility benefit. Proposal reviewers will wish to know that the project can reasonably be carried out within the duration of a studentship, and that other resources required for the project (e.g. any significant capital or resource costs required) are available from other sources.

Joint ISIS-Diamond studentships

ISIS is keen to encourage studentships jointly with Diamond. Projects in collaboration with the Diamond Light Source and partly supported by Diamond must be applied for via the DLS studentship process found at Diamond PhD Call: Timeline - - Diamond Light Source. The ISIS facility studentship form cannot be used for joint proposals; please see the section 'Joint ISIS and Diamond projects' below for further details.

How many studentships are available?

ISIS will make available funding for approximately 6 half studentships, together with up to 2 joint with Diamond. Projects in collaboration with Diamond Light Source and partly supported by Diamond must be applied for via the DLS studentship process.

Eligibility Criteria

ISIS Facility Development Studentships are co-supervised by a UK university or ISIS partner academic and an ISIS staff member. Any academic belonging to a UK university or ISIS partner with the authorisation to supervise PhD students may apply as the university supervisor. An ISIS staff scientist must be a co-applicant and co-supervisor, and play a full and equal role in the studentship project and supervision, including the interviewing of potential candidates. Any applicants who have received previous awards must ensure that a closing report on any previous studentships has been submitted to ISIS (isis-studentships@stfc.ac.uk) before applying for a new award.

The student must spend at least one year of their time ​at ISIS (at RAL for joint ISIS-Diamond studentships), in addition to normal short trips for experiments, during their PhD (in a schedule to be arranged by mutual agreement between the ISIS and university supervisors). Standard PhD progression qualifiers (1^st / 2^nd year reports etc.) may be used to assess the degree of interaction with the ISIS facility. If it is deemed insufficient interaction has occurred, STFC reserves the right to withdraw funding. 

Students will be asked to present their work at ISIS student meetings during their projects. A final report on the outcomes of the project and its impact, together with a student leaving report, will be required at the end of the project.

What will ISIS provide?

ISIS will provide up to 50% funding for each studentship. Matching funds from other sources must be secured by the applicant.  The student will need to be registered at the host university, and ISIS will make payments to the university to cover the ISIS portion of the stipend and fees on receipt of invoices from the university. ISIS (STFC/UKRI) will set up an agreement with the host university which specifies a schedule for the invoices and payments to the university to cover the ISIS contribution to the studentship, together with other details of the working arrangements for the studentship.

Up to £2000 per year per student for travel and consumables will also be available for research training expenses including the cost of travelling to and from the Rutherford Laboratory. These funds are to be claimed against actual receipted expenditure provided by the student and will not be paid directly to the University.

ISIS will provide additional funds for ISIS Facility Development PhD students to help cover their costs while they are located at the Rutherford Laboratory. PhD students may claim up to £3000 over the course of their PhD either for a single extended visit or split up as is appropriate. This money is payable for any additional costs incurred during extended times at ISIS (short visits for experiments are covered by normal ISIS travel & subsistence reimbursement for UK or partner-country users). The ISIS supervisor must provide a letter of support for the claim, which must be submitted to the user office - with evidence of the increased costs - using a standard non-staff expense form. Funds will only be paid directly to the student, and not the host university, and a maximum of £3000 can be claimed over the full duration of the PhD.

How long are the studentships for?

Studentships can start at any time after the award but should be filled within 1 year of the award and can be for a maximum of 4 years.

How to apply?

The completed application form, together with a 2-page project description of the science project and the facility development component, and an additional 1-page description of the PhD program, training, risk management and outline time plan for the project. These documents, together with any letters of support should be emailed to Martin Owen-Jones (isis-studentships@stfc.ac.uk) by 4pm on 6 September 2024. Project description must fit within the 2+1 page limit (not counting supporting letters) and must contain the following headings:

Within 2 pages:

• Background Background information of the proposal including why it is timely and interesting, and the goals of the project.
• PhD Project The scientific project to be undertaken by the PhD student should be described and must include details of risk management and the critical pathway of the research program.
• Benefit to ISIS/Utilisation How the project will either benefit the facility or profitably utilise facility development previously funded under this call and must include details of wider use beyond the immediate research team.

• Descrption of the training and support that the student will receive
• Any major project risks and how they will be mitigated
• Outline time plan for the PhD project (e.g. a simple GANTT chart)​

Letters of Support Letters of support from researchers and/or industries within the field should be included. Demonstration of a wide potential user base and significant interest in the proposed development are essential.

Previous Project Outcomes Proposals from applicants who have previously received an ISIS Facility Development Studentship must include an additional page in their proposal submission listing the outcomes from the previous award. This must include the status of the facility development component of the project and its usage; it should also include the current status of the science project and any publications, presentations, and further grant applications arising from the original award.

Certain information (applicant and institution, general project description) may be made public by ISIS for successful proposals.

When should applications be made?

The deadline for applications for this call is 4pm on 6 September 2024.​

Selection criteria for ISIS to provide funding

The criteria for assessment are listed below and guidelines for marking issued to referees and panel members are given at the end of this document.

The quality of the science (50%). External referees chosen from the ISIS facility studentship referees panel will carry out assessment of this criterion (/50). Exceptional proposal will be expected to show world leading / ground breaking research with high potential impact academically and/or industrially, likely to result in publication in very high impact general journals and/or top-rated journals for individual fields, or be of strong industrial significance. 

The quality of the benefit to ISIS and the ISIS community (25%). Appropriate development projects will be of wider use to the ISIS community beyond the immediate PhD project and may focus on any aspect of ISIS including software, infrastructure and staff development (/25). Unfeasible projects, or those of unclear or poorly defined benefit to ISIS will be rejected. Letters of support from institutions other than that of the applicant(s) demonstrating the significance of the project to the wider ISIS community are encouraged and should be included in the application. The appropriate ISIS group leader will assess facility benefit. Continuation proposals must identify how the facility will benefit from new proposal, including any future development and a previous project outcomes report as described earlier. 

The quality of the PhD training (25%). What will the student undertake during their PhD and how will the combination of ISIS and University resources provide a rewarding and beneficial experience for the student (/20). The proposal must contain a description of the PhD timeline, risk management and training with appropriate milestones highlighted. Members of the ISIS facility studentship panel will carry out assessment of this criterion. 

Submissions from applicants who have had a previous facility development studentship must include a further additional page in their proposal submission listing the outcomes from the previous award. This will be taken into account when evaluating the new proposal.

Joint ISIS and Diamond projects proposals should be submitted to the Diamond call for studentships only. Full details of the Diamond sub​​mission process can be found here Diamond PhD Call: Timeline - - Diamond Light Source. 

Projects that provide benefits across both the Diamond and ISIS facilities may also be funded and are welcomed. These proposals must meet all the criteria for ISIS-only proposals, are expected to have PhD supervisors from the University partner, the Diamond Light Source and the ISIS facility and will be reviewed as part of the Diamond and ISIS Review Panels composed of Diamond and ISIS staff. Successful Diamond and ISIS supervisors will then be invited for interview by a Review Panel, again composed of Diamond and ISIS staff, and Studentships awarded on the basis of these interviews (please note, typically only Diamond and ISIS supervisors will be interviewed). Interviews will focus on the selection criteria detailed above, the training provision for the PhD Student and the role of the Diamond and ISIS supervisors to the PhD project. 

Proposals seeking joint Diamond and ISIS supervisors should be submitted to the Diamond call for Studentships only. The request for joint Diamond and ISIS supervision must be indicated on the application form and in the case for support. Joint ISIS and Diamond proposals should be via the online Diamond proposal form and the science case must comprise a three page project description. Joint ISIS and Diamond proposals should clearly demonstrate why it is a joint proposal and of the three pages, half of one page must detail the X-ray aspects of the PhD project and half of one page must detail the neutron aspects of the PhD project. 

ISIS and Diamond recognise that strong partnerships between the institutions are facilitated by joint projects and therefore joint proposals will be considered favourably by the committees from ISIS and Diamond. 

Accepted projects will be funded 1/4:1/4:1/2 ISIS:Diamond:University (1/3:1/3:1/3 funding ratio is also possible). ​

Proposals will be sent for external review and to the relevant ISIS group leaders. Once scores from reviewers and group leaders have been received, a selection panel consisting of ISIS staff and members of the ISIS user community will score the PhD program, assess the referee and group leader scores and comments, and then rank the proposals for potential funding. In addition to the above selection criteria, ISIS will seek a breadth of science areas and partnering universities when making a final decision on which applications will be supported, and will also be concerned regarding diversity of successful applicants. Scoring guidelines for referees, ISIS group leaders and panel members are given in the appendix to this document.

The panel will meet to review proposals soon after the application deadline, and applicants will be informed by the end of November 2024, after which a list of funded project titles and PIs will be published.

Proposal information:  

Applicants should provide the information requested on the application form. The description of the research project should take into account the selection criteria given above and should be a maximum of 2+1 pages (3+1 pages for continuation proposals).

Certain information (applicant and institution, general project description) may be made public by ISIS for successful proposals.

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