Development Opportunities

The DO Fund

The Engineering Researcher Society runs annual Development Opportunities (DO) Fund, the thirteenth round is now closed, but we hope to announce the next round in late 2025. 

The DO Fund offers a limited number of flexible bursaries, in 2025 this was up to £400.  The DO Fund can be used in a variety of ways to advance your professional development, so be creative!  

As an example of how the DO Fund can benefit your career, we received great news that Dr Richard Hodgkinson was awarded an EPSRC fellowship, as described in this press release.  Richard's fellowship application journey included a visit to a collaborator, which was enabled by the DO Fund in 2019.

See the 2013-16 DO Fund Review for examples of what has been funded and see this poster for some feedback from successful applicants.

Thinking of applying for a research grant?

There has often been a perception that research staff are not eligible to apply for grants as a principle investigator or co-investigator. This actually depends on the rules of the funder and there are many cases where research staff are eligible to apply. For more information, see the Faculty of Engineering policy statement 'Eligibility to apply for research grants' (this is now very old, please let us know if you see more up to date information!).

Learned Societies Funding

The Learned Societies Fund (LSF) was managed at departmental level, eligibility rules were set by each department.  The funding was designed to allow those who are not able to obtain support for attending learned society meetings from their sponsors.  We don't have information on whether the LSF is still running now the faculty has moved to schools and under the current financial conditions. Contact your school administrator for information.

*Please let us know your experiences with LSF. Information on availability of funding and whether the LSF is being replaced by a different scheme is unclear*

More about ERS development activities

Since forming in 2011, the ERS has grown and thrived within the Faculty of Engineering with many notable achievements including:

Public Engagement Competition, supported by the ERS, ran in 2015 and 2016 and offered funding of up to £500 to develop a public engagement exhibit / prototype / resource. The overall winner was awarded a prize of £250, a trophy and a certificate.

SEED: Sheffield Engineering Enterprise Development Project Awarded £25,000 funding Supporting 10 researchers with an innovative idea for a research project and/or collaboration

Direct input into the training and development programme for the Faculty of Engineering

Highly successful 2-day residential training events: Discover Your Potential The Professional Researcher

PRINCE2: provided funding for a number of researchers to gain Practitioner level certificate

Courses including: Grant Writing CV Media Training Career Development

• Organised guest seminars including VITAE, UKRSA and UCU

• Training and conference bursaries

Since the inception of the ERS, there has been significant progression in provision for research staff development, see the Researcher Development Pages for more information.  Also take time to read the regular Think Ahead email newsletters to see the latest opportunities.  The ERS works with the Think Ahead team to develop the training available and also runs occasional seminars on specific topics, please get in touch with suggestions for training needs and seminars.