Daphne Jackson Trust and Fellowship Scheme
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The Daphne Jackson Trust is the UK’s leading organisation dedicated to realising the potential of returners to research careers following a career break of two years or more taken for a family, caring or health reason. Through our unique Fellowship programme, we have over 30 years’ experience of providing part-time, paid Fellowships to enable individuals to return to research careers with confidence.
Founded in 1992 in memory of Professor Daphne Jackson, the UK’s first female professor of Physics, the Trust has helped over 480 individuals return to research careers; ten have reached professorial level. Originally, the Trust focused on STEM-based research, but over recent years, we have widened our remit to include the social sciences and, more recently, Arts & Humanities. We currently have four Fellows within the Arts & Humanities disciplines, with a strong demand for more.
The Trust’s Fellowships are normally two or three years in length and based at universities and research institutes throughout the UK. Fellows undertake a challenging research project and a retraining programme. We award up to 25 fellowships each year. The Trust has no independent income and was not set up with an endowment, so we rely on funds from sponsors and donors to meet the costs of the Fellow’s salary and the Trust’s support costs.
We have always enjoyed strong support from the UK research councils and, under the overarching umbrella of UKRI, the Trust is now in a position where we receive robust recurrent funding from all seven of the research councils, to maximise our contribution to the UK research ecosystem. In addition to UKRI, our sponsors include universities, learned societies/professional institutions, industry and charities.
Lastly, the Trust has also established itself as a source of expertise within the policy arena with regard to returners and EDI. Examples include contributions to work undertaken by the Department for Science Innovation & Technology; the Royal Society Diversity Steering Group; the Science Council Diversity Group; and the Commons Science & Technology Select Committee. We are also supporting members of a number of relevant All Party Parliamentary Groups. In 2023, the Trust was the recipient of the Royal Society’s Research Culture Award for its outstanding contribution to the culture of science and research. This prestigious award demonstrates the Trust’s remarkable efforts in championing equality, diversity and inclusion within the research community. Over the last two decades, the Trust has saved over 1,250 years of research expertise and talent being lost from the sector. Ten former Daphne Jackson Fellows are now Professors – a rate which is five times higher in the Daphne Jackson cohort compared with the national average. For every £1 invested in a Fellow, they secure nearly £2 in future research funding.
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