College welcomes the fourth cohort of Junior Research Fellows

Imperial's ever-popular Junior Research Fellowship Scheme has just welcomed its fourth cohort of 21 new Fellows to College, taking the total number of scientists supported by the scheme to almost 80. This year's Fellows are working in areas that include neurodegenerative disorders, neglected tropical diseases, algebraic geometry, electromagnetic waves, synchrotron X-rays, optoelectronics, quantum mechanics and general relativity. They include researchers already working at Imperial, as well as those from external institutions including CERN and the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Tokyo. The Fellowship scheme was set up in 2009 to help early-career researchers make the transition from postdoc to independent investigator by providing them with a competitive salary for three years and by encouraging them to build their research careers without any obligatory teaching or administrative duties. For the first time this year, the scheme has received funding from the Wellcome Trust for one Fellow in addition to the 20 posts supported by College. Champion of the scheme and Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Professor Maggie Dallman said: "Even though the Fellowships are now in their fourth year, it is no less exciting to welcome this new cohort of talented and promising fellows to the scheme. It was my dream to create a new community of the brightest and best at College and give them the freedom to focus on their research.