BioFAIR Fellowship Programme

Why you should apply

As part of the 2026 cohort of BioFAIR Fellows, you will help shape the strategy and direction of BioFAIR’s People Commons. Fellows help identify priorities and bottlenecks, and reach into communities that would otherwise be disconnected. As part of our mission, BioFAIR seeks to drive adoption of the FAIR principles and open data, and build excellent research data management capabilities across the UK life sciences. This change starts with the people who can lead it, so if you are excited about the chance to embed FAIR best practices amongst diverse communities of front-line life sciences researchers and directly support them with their data management needs, then you are the type of person we are looking for.

The benefits of becoming a BioFAIR Fellow include:

Shape the future: Help us establish FAIR research data management as a vital capability for organisations doing data-intensive life sciences research, professionalise data stewardship skills across the UK, and help develop the vision for BioFAIR services and infrastructure for years to come. Provide input that will shape the emerging Data and Methods Commons, so that they provide the capabilities that researchers really need.

Be a role model: Stand amongst your peers, advocate for good FAIR data practices, and embody a practical, hands-on, supporting role for data managers and data stewards across the UK.

Support a FAIR transformation: Many research organisations around the UK struggle to manage, share and reuse their research data, and to adopt the FAIR principles themselves. As a BioFAIR Fellow you can make use of your expertise to create a step change in data-driven research.

Create dedicated specialist time: Use BioFAIR funding to carve out some of your time to prioritise outreach, engagement, and your own learning and development. Make space for the specialist activities – such as developing data management best practices, data stewardship, and peer support – that you don’t typically have time for in research projects.

Engage at key events: Deliver training, attend conferences and events, and speak to a range of researchers to gain breadth in your understanding of typical data management problems. Attend training courses for your own development. Gain access to a BioFAIR travel and training fund to support you with the budget to represent BioFAIR at key events.

Join the team: Become part of the growing community of BioFAIR Fellows who together form the BioFAIR People Commons. Help set the direction for this team, as well as build a positive culture within BioFAIR. Exchange ideas and expertise, and learn from your peers and colleagues working on similar research data management challenges.

Lasting status: BioFAIR operates a ‘once a fellow, always a fellow’ policy. Fellows will retain access to support from the BioFAIR Hub team and remain part of the community even once their funding ends. Fellows can use their experience and expertise to provide input to the BioFAIR BioCommons and other digital infrastructures, and will have the chance to act as role models and mentors to future fellows.

What we are looking for

We are seeking applicants with the capability, capacity, and institutional support to act as Ambassadors for BioFAIR – embedded research data management experts who can work within their research communities to promote FAIR, and can support the adoption of good data management, curation and stewardship. We are looking for individuals who can come together as part of a wider BioFAIR team and get hands-on, driving up the FAIR-ness and reuse of research data across UK research performing organisations, and tackling the data management challenges faced by researchers through the transfer and adoption of established solutions. We are hoping to bring together an amazing team that can lead the culture change BioFAIR aims to deliver.

Ambassadors should be individuals who are:

●      Recognised or emerging experts in data stewardship, data curation, or research data management within the life sciences

●      Experienced in enabling FAIR data, and addressing some of the barriers to this, especially in the context of open, reproducible science. You might, for example, be supporting your organisation with their data management plans, deposited datasets in a domain repository, applied community metadata standards or ontologies (or be part of developing them), or curated data for long-term reuse.

●      Passionate about supporting others, including early-career researchers, technicians, and project teams

●      Experienced in working across disciplinary or institutional boundaries and able to identify and respond to diverse community needs

●      Committed to open science and FAIR principles and enthusiastic about shaping the future of research infrastructure in the UK

We particularly welcome applications from individuals with strong domain knowledge in areas such as, but not limited to, the following:

●      Genomics and transcriptomics

●      Proteomics and metabolomics

●      Environmental and ecological sciences

●      Biodiversity and taxonomic research

●      Synthetic biology and biotechnology

●      Health data research (within ethical and regulatory limits)

We aim to appoint a diverse cohort in terms of geographic location, institutional setting, scientific focus, and career stage.

Key attributes we are looking for in an applicant:

Strong collaborative mindset, with examples of participation in cross-institutional or national initiatives

The potential to contribute meaningfully to a shared team mission, including shaping the direction of the People Commons

A demonstrable track record in enabling FAIR data and/or supporting good research data management

Practical experience supporting researchers through training, consultation, or helpdesk-type services

Evidence of ability to engage and influence peers, including in interdisciplinary and cross-sector settings

Scope of the Fellowship Role

Each BioFAIR Fellow will work part-time (0.2 FTE) over 12 months to deliver activities aligned with the following areas of focus. Applicants should describe how they intend to contribute to these, including how they will allocate their time and prioritise activities based on local community needs.

BioFAIR Fellows are expected to contribute not only to their local community but to a set of shared programme outcomes that, taken together, deliver measurable impact for UK life sciences data management. Fellows will have the opportunity to co-develop shared outcomes with each other and the BioFAIR hub during their fellowship.

Activities in scope

Community engagement and needs identification

Connecting with research groups and facilities in your region or scientific domain

Surfacing community-specific requirements for FAIR data management, standards and services

Supporting FAIR data management and stewardship

Helping researchers plan, organise, describe and document their data for FAIR reuse

Supporting the adoption of community metadata standards, ontologies and persistent identifiers

Supporting researchers (both inside and outside your own institution) in depositing and sharing data

Training and skills development

Designing and delivering training sessions

Supporting BioFAIR learning pathways and national training resources

Promotion of FAIR principles and open research

Advocating for good data practices at institutional and national level

Contribution to BioFAIR coordination and infrastructure

Collaborating with other fellows and the BioFAIR Hub

Contribution to the design of, and feedback on, the BioFAIR Data Commons and providing input to the Methods Commons

Participating in evaluation and reporting activities

Collaboration with aligned national initiatives

Engaging with ELIXIR-UK, the Software Sustainability Institute (SSI), etc.

Contribution to shared People Commons outputs. For example:

Contributing to a shared library of FAIR data management guidance, templates and best-practice examples

Producing case studies or lessons-learned summaries that can be shared across the BioFAIR community and reused by other researchers and institutions

Contributing to a community needs report that maps common data management challenges, gaps, and priorities across scientific domains and regions

Participating in cross-fellow coordination, including regular check-ins with the BioFAIR Hub and peer-learning sessions with the wider cohort, including previous fellows

Activities out of scope

Capacity building that is purely focused within your own institution, and without a component for sharing lessons learned

Generic outreach activities not focused on FAIR data management

Standalone research projects or Research Assistant posts

Development of entirely new databases and standards (or software tools)

Infrastructure procurement (outside of coordinated BioFAIR plans)

Roles with no community-facing activity

Who can apply

To be eligible for a BioFAIR Fellowship award, you must be an individual based at a UK research organisation that is eligible to receive UKRI funding. The funding will be awarded to your host institution, which must confirm:

●      The institution will host and administer the funding

●      Funding will not be used to cover purchase of equipment

●      You are able to dedicate 0.2 FTE of your time to the role (or pro-rata part-time equivalent) for the next 12 months, and that your institution is aware this is not a permanent role

●      You will be supported in delivering outreach and engagement activities

Eligible organisations

●      UK higher education institutions (HEIs)

●      UKRI-recognised independent research organisations (IROs)

●      NHS bodies or relevant government-funded research entities

●      Eligible third-sector research organisations

For further guidance, see the UKRI’s full list of research organisations eligible for UKRI funding.

Eligible applicants

You may be in roles including:

●      Research software engineer

●      Data steward or data manager

●      Data curator

●      Bioinformatician

●      Technical specialist

●      Researcher focused on data

●      Platform or core facility staff

●      Technician with data management responsibilities

You must:

●      Be employed by an eligible UK research organisation

●      Have relevant experience in FAIR data and research data management, including for example teaching, using and developing resources that promote FAIR principles, especially as applied to the management, sharing and reuse of research data

●      Be able to commit around 1 day per week for 12 months (or pro-rata part-time equivalent)

●      Have institutional support for active participation

Career stage

This opportunity is open to early-career, mid-career, and established professionals. It is suitable for those pursuing both academic and non-academic technical careers.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to ensuring that our committees, panels and boards are inclusive, diverse and representative of the UK Life Science Research community.

We are committed to the principle of providing equal opportunities for all.

We strongly encourage applications from:

●      Underrepresented groups in research infrastructure roles

●      Applicants with non-linear careers or career breaks

●      Those based in under-resourced regions or institutions

●      Applicants with part-time contracts or caring responsibilities

●      We recognise that diverse ideas, experiences, backgrounds and perspectives are fundamental to successful research and technical development.

In this application process, we collect information about your age, gender (including previous gender identity if applicable), disability, ethnic origin and sexual orientation as part of our equality monitoring procedures. Data collected from your application form is used to assess your suitability for the role and, as appropriate, make arrangements for appointment. Special category data collected as part of our equality monitoring procedures is used to provide anonymised data and reports to ensure we maintain and promote equality of opportunity across our recruitment practices. As appropriate, it may also be used to ensure reasonable adjustments are made to recruitment processes in relation to any disability, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. Our full privacy statement can be found here https://biofair.uk/privacy-policy/

If you require reasonable adjustments to apply, please contact: contact@biofair.uk

Funding available

• Each Fellow will receive funding equivalent to 0.2 FTE over 12 months (direct costs: salary plus on-costs, maximum claimable £20,000)
• Contribution to Indirect costs at 25% of direct salary costs (maximum claimable £5,000) 
• A BioFAIR Flexible Fund will be available to support attendance at key events and learning opportunities.

What the funding will support

BioFAIR funding will support:

•  Salary costs for 0.2 FTE of time (buy-out), including employer on-costs
• Participation in BioFAIR coordination and review meetings
• Development and delivery of community-facing activities, including events, training, and documentation
• Contribution to shared team outputs, including data management and training resources and evaluation reports
• Travel and subsistence to attend BioFAIR-relevant events and training, available through access to a shared “Flexible Fund”. Requests for travel and training from this fund will be reviewed against BioFAIR and UKRI policy and subject to prior approval with the BioFAIR Hub.

What the funding will not support

Please note, this fellowship does not meet UKVI requirements to provide visa sponsorship.

• Disconnected or purely theoretical work without direct community engagement
• Full-time positions or additional FTE beyond 0.2
• Equipment or capital purchases
• Recruitment of new staff for independent research or technical projects
• Institutional overheads or indirect costs beyond what is permitted by UKRI infrastructure rules

Timeline

• 1st July 2026: Call opening date
• 7th August 2026, 16:00: Application deadline
• No later than Friday 28th August 2026: Invitations to selection and development day sent out following panel review
• 16th September 2026: Selection and development day
• From 1st October 2026: Fellowship cohort appointed and onboarded

How to apply

Applications should be submitted to opportunities@biofair.uk by 16:00 BST on 7th August 2026. 

The application should be a single PDF file containing the following. 

• One optional supporting testimonial (max 1 page)
• Completed Application Form (template provided)
• Institutional Letter of Support
• Résumé for Research and Innovation (maximum 4 pages)
• Proposed Activities Plan (maximum 2 pages)

Assessment process

Applications will be reviewed by a panel comprising:

BioFAIR Hub representatives Independent domain and technical experts, and advisors from aligned national initiatives A BioFAIR Fellow

All applications will be assessed using the following criteria:

Expertise and track record (40%)	Contributions to the generation of new ideas, methodologies or knowledge, and demonstrable experience in FAIR research data management and researcher support.
Collaboration and impact (30%)	Evidence of the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships; through collaborative working and demonstrated potential to contribute to a national, distributed team.
Relevance and alignment (20%)	Alignment of the proposed activities with the programme-level outcomes of BioFAIR, including a summary of how individual activities will contribute to shared cohort outputs and the wider BioFAIR Data Commons.
Proposed delivery (10%)	Clear and feasible activity plan, with appropriate focus areas, engagement strategy, and outcomes.

Team-first approach

The final recommendation aims to create a cohesive team made up of a balanced, inclusive cohort of the best applications, bringing the potential to add value across the breadth of BioFAIR strategy and emerging activity. As part of this approach, and where applicants are of comparable quality within the above assessment criteria, the following measures will be considered:

• Diversity of research performing organisations and institutional settings
• Scientific focus, to ensure coverage of the opportunity remit
• Geographic coverage to ensure that, as far as possible, resultant ambassadors are distributed evenly across the UK
• Gender balance

Final Selection

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a development and selection day on the 16th of September, 2026, in Glasgow. Applicants will be notified of outcomes by late August 2026, with onboarding activities commencing immediately after selection.