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Issac Bianco: I heard about it in the first year it was running and it was a rumour circulating
in UCL, so that's how we caught wind of it. And then I looked on the Wellcome Trust
website to find out details about the application process.
Marie-Jo Brion: The application procedure was actually really good, because to start
with a very small initial application, to know whether or not the Wellcome Trust was
interested, and it gave me a chance to get collaborators on board and to develop an idea
but without sort of having to spend months on it.
Andrew Wood: It was a little bit daunting because there was fairly scant information
on exactly what was required of applicants and what sorts of things would be looked upon
favourably, and so I called the Wellcome Trust and emailed various people asking them for
advice, and generally got the impression that there were no hard and fast rules as to what
the ideal applicant would look like.
Rebecca Holmes: The application process was fine, the interview was more worrying than
it actually was at the time. I found it quite helpful and useful, the kind of questions
that I got asked.
IB: The interview was actually fine, it was not as worrying as I thought it was going
to be. People were pretty friendly.
M-JB: I think it's a tough experience for newly graduated PhD students but it's, I
think, a good start into the research process.
Shelley ***: The interview was challenging (laughs], but the main point for me was to
demonstrate my commitment to a career in science and that set me the road that I'm on now
and I'm very grateful for that opportunity.
RH: When I first heard I'd got it, it felt really nice, a reinforcement that I could
carry on with the ideas that I was having now in terms of feeling like you've been
validated in terms of your ideas and your science and as a scientist.
IB: Some of the feedback I got from reviewers who read my proposal is that the Wellcome
Trust are looking for fairly ambitious research proposals, and I think this is kind of also
reflected in the duration of the fellowship: it's four years funding.
AW: I guess imaginative projects, think big.
M-JB: I got the feeling that the Wellcome Trust is looking for people who specifically
want an independent career path, you know, sort of want to spread their research interests
and their collaborations from where they're based in their PhD, to give people opportunities
to develop their own ideas and to establish their own links internationally, and to fund
people who are interested in going and physically experiencing different institutions and learning
from them and building their career.
SC: The Fellowship itself I think is without a doubt the best possible scheme for an early-stage
researcher. I think it's an absolutely outstanding scheme and I'm hugely grateful for the opportunity.