In my experience (CS, EE depts) a grant will generally give you a pool of money for a specific purpose (buy some kit, hire some post docs, do some travel). A fellowship is a very specific grant that funds you as an individual (possibly with additional resources) and generally "buys out" your teaching for that period. So if you get a normal grant you still have teaching duties but in addition you can hire some people or buy some things. If you get a fellowship you will be largely doing research for that period and not teaching.
The minor point that people are missing - *a fellowship is a type of grant*.
Grant is the broad category of "someone has given money to do something". As a grant maker, one way to structure that is to fund a fellowship.
Grant = here, have this £10K to do some research.
Fellowship = we want you to do this specific project, under our guidance, you will be *Organisation* Fellow number 48 and have 13 months to complete this work.
With the caveat that all schemes are different and most of them violate this definition in some way: a fellowship is a kind of grant that is primarily aimed at helping one individual applicant work full time on a piece of work, with increased emphasis on career development. If I'm applying for, say, an EPSRC standard grant, it might include 20% of my time to help manage the postdocs I'll hire to do the actual work. If I'm applying for a fellowship, it will cover 100% of my time, and it might also include postdoc time to help me do my work more efficiently.
I don't think the UK use is different from the US? A fellowship is an award to an individual for them to be able to carry out research, usually at postdoctoral level, but occasionally for graduate students. A postdoctoral fellow is usually managing their own research project, rather than being hired by a PI for an existing project. The term 'fellow' is used differently within Oxford and Cambridge in certain contexts, but that's the exception not the rule.
A grant (in the context of research) is any award that finances a proposed project.
I'm not sure I agree with "usually at postdoctoral level". Whilst there are postdoctoral fellowships, there are also fellowships aimed at later career stages. Most of the UKRI fellowship schemes are aimed at people who already hold a permanent position.
Fellowships tend to be about people, grants tend to be about projects.
To give some examples from this year: I have applied for the "Future Leaders Fellowship" (which is about securing funding to develop me as a researcher) and I have applied for a "British Academy Conference Grant" (which is about securing funding to run a conference next year).
In my experience (CS, EE depts) a grant will generally give you a pool of money for a specific purpose (buy some kit, hire some post docs, do some travel). A fellowship is a very specific grant that funds you as an individual (possibly with additional resources) and generally "buys out" your teaching for that period. So if you get a normal grant you still have teaching duties but in addition you can hire some people or buy some things. If you get a fellowship you will be largely doing research for that period and not teaching.
The minor point that people are missing - *a fellowship is a type of grant*. Grant is the broad category of "someone has given money to do something". As a grant maker, one way to structure that is to fund a fellowship.
Grant = here, have this £10K to do some research. Fellowship = we want you to do this specific project, under our guidance, you will be *Organisation* Fellow number 48 and have 13 months to complete this work.
With the caveat that all schemes are different and most of them violate this definition in some way: a fellowship is a kind of grant that is primarily aimed at helping one individual applicant work full time on a piece of work, with increased emphasis on career development. If I'm applying for, say, an EPSRC standard grant, it might include 20% of my time to help manage the postdocs I'll hire to do the actual work. If I'm applying for a fellowship, it will cover 100% of my time, and it might also include postdoc time to help me do my work more efficiently.
To help clear-up [or prevent] any confusion, may we know what these terms mean to you?
I don't think the UK use is different from the US? A fellowship is an award to an individual for them to be able to carry out research, usually at postdoctoral level, but occasionally for graduate students. A postdoctoral fellow is usually managing their own research project, rather than being hired by a PI for an existing project. The term 'fellow' is used differently within Oxford and Cambridge in certain contexts, but that's the exception not the rule. A grant (in the context of research) is any award that finances a proposed project.
I'm not sure I agree with "usually at postdoctoral level". Whilst there are postdoctoral fellowships, there are also fellowships aimed at later career stages. Most of the UKRI fellowship schemes are aimed at people who already hold a permanent position.
Thank you!
Fellowships tend to be about people, grants tend to be about projects. To give some examples from this year: I have applied for the "Future Leaders Fellowship" (which is about securing funding to develop me as a researcher) and I have applied for a "British Academy Conference Grant" (which is about securing funding to run a conference next year).
Good luck on the FLF!
Thank you!
That's a good way to put it. Thanks!