MRC/Welsh Assembly Government Fellowship
This competition is now closed for applications and is only available for reference purposes.
- Purpose
- Eligibility
- Nature of the fellowship
- Research support available
- Application procedure for the WAG fellowship
- Timetable
- Contact
Purpose
To enable MRC-funded PhD students to undertake a three-month Fellowship at the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The fellowship will allow unique access to a Parliamentary and policy-making setting and support the MRC’s objective of encouraging the dissemination and application of research.
Eligibility
All MRC-funded PhD students who have completed their first year are eligible to apply.
Nature of the fellowship
During his/her time in WAG, a MRC/WAG fellow may be involved in a number of policy related activities. These may include participation in projects, drafting reports contributing to Assembly Committees and participating in Ministerial events. The topic of the fellowship and the activities involved will be determined by liaison between the fellow, WAG and the MRC, depending on the research interests of the fellow and the relevance and timeliness of the topic to government.
The fellowship will involve:
- identifying and liaising with a wide range of interested parties including business, academia, regulatory bodies, non-governmental organisations and government departments;
- drafting concise briefing materials;
- Presenting reports;
- responding to enquiries from internal and external sources.
There may also be opportunities for fellows to organise seminars to inform or disseminate their work, in WAG or elsewhere. In all cases, fellows will be encouraged to interact closely with people and activities at the Assembly. Fellows will have similar interaction with interested parties outside WAG. Access to relevant conferences, workshops and seminars will be arranged and fellows may also be able to draw on training facilities provided by the WAG.
Fellows will be required to abstain from any party political or lobbying activity and generally to uphold the principles of the WAG, including a commitment to confidentiality, during their time with the office. All provisionally-selected candidates must sign a declaration to this effect. They MUST also receive security clearance from the WAG security authorities, as a condition of finally taking up the fellowship.
Research support available
The successful applicant will receive a fully-funded three month minimum extension to their PhD award; payment of their maintenance stipend will continue while based at WAG. If they do not live within reasonable daily travelling distance of WAG in Cardiff, MRC and WAG will look at their travel and accommodation needs on an individual basis and cover excess costs up to a maximum of £2,000.
Application procedure for the WAG fellowship
Applicants should submit:
- A brief summary on the WAG subject area, Chronic Conditions Management. This summary should be no longer than two sides of A4 using size 12 font and should demonstrate:
- why you think this subject would be of particular parliamentary interest
- how the training you have received and your research to date will enable you to carry out this work
- your ability to write in a style suitable for a parliamentary (rather than an academic) audience.
- A copy of your curriculum vitae.
- A supporting letter from your PhD supervisor or Head of Department, confirming that a three month placement at WAG can be accommodated without adversely affecting your PhD programme.
Before preparing your summary you may want to consider examining the 'POST style' of writing, which is from a similar Parliament based competition. All of POST's publications can be viewed at http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/
Timetable
One fellowship per year will be awarded. Email applications to email students@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk by 6th March 2009. Late applications will not be accepted.
A panel consisting of MRC and WAG personnel will assess the applications.
Start date of placement will be any date after September 2009. This is to be agreed between the applicant, WAG, the applicant's supervisor and university, and the MRC.
Contact
Please send any questions to students@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk or WAG’s contact Andrew.Privett@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK to discuss any general aspects of the scheme.