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[brit wannabe]

Anybody knows something first hand about these fellowships?
Are the Fellows considered as Faculty, or are held in low regard?
Can they apply for the same grants that faculty (lecturers, readers)
apply to? What I'm wondering is if these are more or less desirable
than a lecturer position or a US tenure track.

thanks.

[Anon in UK]

I think they are considered to be prestigious and at my previous university they lead to a permanent lecturer position. At first I thought they were similar to a postdoc, but the people who were shortlisted for the fellowship at my previous university were already quite well established (approx. at least five years out of their PhD, with a book and several peer-reviewed articles - again RAE requirements are crucial at this stage). I think you are usually hired jointly by a department and a research centre recognised by a UK research council, so you would be considered a faculty (staff) member, although you would probably not be teaching as much at first. I'm not sure how this would fit into the US academic picture, but I think in the UK context it is a great chance to establish your research without a heavy teaching load.

[brit wannabe]

Anon in the UK, thanks for your input. Indeed you describe my situation.
I got my PhD five years ago etc. It does lead to a permanent position. My main concern, being very unfamiliar with the UK system, is whether I will be considered on par with the faculty and not as a sort of adjunct as in my current untenured position in another country which sounds similar , in theory, to the RCUK fellowship, but  in practice people consider us as postdocs of sorts.  What kind of power do Professors and Readers have over Lecturers and Academic Fellows? Would I be able to apply independently for grants and to supervise graduate students?  (I know I can ask this to them directly but I'd rather gather as much information as possible beforehand.). Thanks again.

[britpostdoc]

How you are treated depends on the dept. My dept had never had a postdoc before and treated me more like a postgrad. I quietly insisted on my rights eg to attend faculty meetings, apply for grants, be listed alongside faculty etc etc. More than anything else it was about being kept in the information loop and things are much better now for me and for other postdocs that have come along.

However other friends of mine doing postdocs elsewhere are regarded as integral members of their dept. They supervise postgrads and get plenty of funding opportunities. I think the more prestigious your postdoc (and the RCUK ones are pretty gold-plated) and the more prestigious your institution, the better chance you have of being treated like an equal.

And remember in the UK the distinction is between permanent and non-permanent rather than between tenured and non-tenured. Since your fellowship leads to a permanent job (unlike my postdoc) you're on the right side of the divide (even though you may be at the bottom!)

[ack]

Be careful about the notion of a "permanent" post in the UK, though.  It sounds like an easy path to security, and often it is.  However, it has been decided that my department will be closed - so much for my permanent post.  The point is that this sort of thing is happening a lot in the UK, much more than in the US.  The context, of course, is the RAE and the funding crisis.  You *must* learn about these issues before you decide that moving to the UK is the right decision.  If I had known five years ago what I now know about this system, I never would have come here - being on tenure track would have been far preferable for me.  Now I'm trying to get back to the US, and I haven't been invited for a single interview, despite having done very well at publications.

[brit wannabe]

Thanks for the input, britpostdoc and ack.  

Indeed I've heard about departments closing.  Mine has got top RAE rating,
in a large, highly ranked growing university, but the number of students has been decreasing. I don't think it's likely to be closed, but I will ask about the prospects of the dept when I interview.

Anyway, isn´t the University under obligation to move the permanent staff
to another dept  if a dept is closed?

[ack]

Obligation my arse.  The governance of universities in the UK is much more managerial than is generally true of universities in the US (though I know the trend in the US is in that direction as well).  In other words, the vice-chancellors do what they want, and senates are pretty much powerless.  Yes, people are sometimes moved to other departments, but a significant number are simply fired.  (To be fair, you often have a couple of years to find another job, and redundancy payments are quite generous, or so I am told.)  

Anyway, if the RAE rating is good, then it's probably a safe move.  The other primary item of concern is finances, usually meaured by income/expenditure ratio.  This is the main reason my dept. is being closed - we don't bring in enough money, because of low RAE rating, insufficient foreign students, and no grant overheads.  Again, a good RAE rating should mean finances are okay, but perhaps worth checking.  The whole business here is really much more like a business - if your unit is weak, it gets axed.  This is easy to do, because programs are structured differently here: students generally take courses only in their subject, so if you get rid of, say, a chemistry program it doesn't have significant implications for the needs of students on other programs.  

In general, the finances of many universities here are very poor and getting worse.  With the introduction of top-up fees, enrollments are declining.  The government recently made it harder for potential foreign students to get visas, so money from that source is declining as well.  Some people predict that about 10% of universities here will almost certainly be closed in the next 5 years, and some others will be vulnerable as well.  

When I compare it to the SLACs I attended and taught at in the US (as a visiting asst prof), I find the atmosphere very unpleasant (even before my own dept. was slated for closure).  But you seem confident about the department you are headed to, so perhaps things will work out.

[Anon in UK]

A useful (but sensitive) thing to find out or think about is whether the teaching side of your post is mainly financed out of funds based on fees paid by foreign students (as opposed to regular funds for the department). This would be likely if you're asked to teach at MA level, but not necessarily. If this is the case, your post can be less secure in the future. Research council funding for research centres is also not automatic and you should probably check the details of your contract to see how your appointment is divided between department and centre, and what the conditions of a permanent position are.

[anRCUKfellow]

I am an RCUK fellow at a good British university and find that I am being treated really well and probably better than other junior faculty. I have no teaching load, have been given start up money, access to graduate students (at least one maybe more) and all the senior faculty have been incredibly supportive.

I think it depends on the department you are going to more than anything else... The fact the RCUK is an effect tenured is huge as many successful research fellows on group leader grants are in danger of falling off the funding ladder if they have a lean couple of years. I have seen that happen to two friends and its heart breaking when they become a 'temporary' lecturer loaded with teaching or even worse post-doc in someone elses lab again.