Scheme overview
The key goal of the Schmidt Science Polymath program (“the program”) is to encourage the best “polymath” scientists to expand their research portfolio by exploring new lines of research that are substantively different from their ongoing and proven research activities.
The program will offer long-term research support to academic staff who have recently achieved tenure or an equivalent status (within the past three calendar years) with remarkable track records and highly promising futures. Instead of focusing on specific research ideas, the goal for the program is to bet on people, their special talents, and their teams – aligning with Schmidt Futures’ overall people-focused approach.
Oxford is invited to submit 2 nominations to the Schmidt Science Polymath program. The MPLS and MSD divisional offices are running an internal selection process to identify the University’s nominations.
Please note that Schmidt Futures will review all nominations received and invite eligible and promising candidates to submit to the next application stage. It should therefore be noted that being selected through this internal process does not guarantee an invitation to submit a full application to Schmidt.
Funding available
Awards will consist of USD $500K per year for up to five years to support part of a research group.
These grants are intended for the exploration of new ideas across disciplines that use new technologies and insights that are generally too new or risky to garner regular support. They are not intended to relieve the researcher of pursuing other grants to continue their mainstream work, nor be large enough to fully support a modern lab.
Eligibility
- Have achieved tenure or an equivalent status* within the past three calendar years (between 1st January 2020 and 1st September 2023).
- Have a remarkable record of accomplishment in area(s) of science and engineering.
- Have a demonstrated history of pursuing and publishing results in more than one field.
- Demonstrate a need for additional funding to enable new experiments, explorations, or shifts in research directions.
*Typically within the University of Oxford academic staff that hold the title of Associate Professor and have passed their Initial Period of Office are considered to be equivalent in status to the “tenure” definition for this call. If you would like to discuss your eligibility, please contact your departmental research facilitation/grants team or the relevant divisional office team (see Contact section below).
The three-year window is intended to reflect a period of a candidate's career, not their position in many universities, so eligible candidates should have received tenure or a permanent faculty position for the first time at any institution within the past three years.
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to look at current Polymaths profiles on the Schmidt website to inform their nomination. This is a highly competitive award: fewer than 5% of nominees were selected as awardees last year.
Internal coordinated bids process (deadline: 12 noon, 11 August 2023)
Candidates should self-nominate by uploading the following as a single PDF on IRAMS by 12 noon, 11 August 2023:
- Case for support template (found on IRAMS)
- Short CV (maximum 2 sides of A4)
Assessment criteria
Applications will be assessed based on:
- The quality, impact, and innovation displayed in the candidates work.
- The candidates’ track-record of generating insights and impact in more than one research field
- Demonstration of how the candidate proposes to use the award to expand their research portfolio
Contact
For queries on the internal coordinated process:
MPLS-based staff: contact research@mpls.ox.ac.uk
MSD-based staff: contact research@medsci.ox.ac.uk
