Guidance for Fellowship Applicants
Please click the ‘Download guidance’ button below to access this guidance as a checklist in a Word document.
Download guidanceFellow is the Physiological Society’s senior category of membership. It is a high-level designation which is awarded to long-standing members to acknowledge their invaluable experience, extensive knowledge, expertise, and commitment to the discipline.
In recent years, the Society has strengthened its application process. It is therefore critical that each applicant be confident they are at the right juncture in their career to apply and have the time to provide the committee with robust evidence.
Fellow Eligibility & Application Checklist
You must:
- Hold Full Member status for at least ten consecutive years postdoctoral prior to the year of nomination.*
- Obtain letters of support from two referees who are Full Members of the Society (with their membership in good financial standing). One must be a Fellow of the Society. Referees can submit letters by filling in this form.
- Provide a high standard of evidence you have met three of the six Fellowship criteria (below), and rank these criteria starting with your strongest first.
- Provide a copy of your up-to-date CV.
*Please note that members are entitled to apply for a one year waiver of their subscription fee for a career break or maternity leave during which time they retain all the benefits of their membership.
Referee Eligibility & Letter of Support Checklist
Please ensure:
- Both referees are Full Members of the Society.
- At least one referee is an existing Fellow of the Society.
- If not a Fellow, your second referee is of an equivalent standing holding a senior level position: e.g. Professor, Senior Research Scientist.
- One referee is outside the candidate’s current workplace to ensure independence of opinion.
- Each referee must provide a short (less than 500 word) letter of support by filling in the form on this page.
Criterion & Supporting Statements Checklist
Have you?
- Chosen only three of the below following six criteria?
- Ranked them in order with your strongest first?
- Provided specific, detailed and compelling evidence against each one demonstrating how you meet it?
- Ensured that each of your three statements does not exceed 2000 words?
*Where more than one bullet is listed against a criterion only one must be successfully achieved.
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Top Tips
So What?
Do not forget to highlight the IMPACT of your achievements.
Publication lists do not tell a story
- Curate your publications and decide which you believe to be the top papers. Use those to demonstrate the impact of your research.
- Select those papers where you have made the most significant practical / intellectual contributions to the work.
Metrics can be helpful
A strong scholarly impact narrative will use impact metrics such as H-index and citations alongside other indicators of quality to provide evidence of substantial contributions to your field.
How have you gone above and beyond your day job?
Tell the Committee what makes your accomplishments exceptional. For example if you have sat on a committee you need to be able to demonstrate tangible benefits of you having served on that committee.
Highlight seniority
Make sure you detail your senior responsibilities, especially those you have held for the longer-term. For example, line management duties, budgetary responsibilities, technical specialism and strategic influence within organisations.