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Royal Society announces third cohort of Career Development Fellowships

Eight exceptional early career researchers have been announced as the third cohort of Royal Society Career Development Fellows (CDFs), a four-year postdoctoral research fellowship that aims to support the retention of researchers from underrepresented backgrounds in UK STEM academia.

This year’s cohort will take up their positions at seven universities across the UK, including, for example, Cardiff University and Queen Mary University of London. Their research ranges from making AI systems more culturally aware, fair, and safe for African users, to using fossils to help us understand the effects of past climate change on ecosystems and better protect biodiversity for future generations.

Funded by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, the scheme offers four years of funding up to £690,000 per research fellow, mentoring and support to help researchers who have recently completed their PhD to establish independent research careers in UK academia. In addition to their fellowship funding and support from ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, the award holders will have access to networking and mentoring opportunities supported by the Black British Professionals in STEM (BBSTEM) network.

The scheme has been developed following cross-sector roundtables and Royal Society-commissioned reports (PDF) which looked at trends across 11 years of Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) data and benchmarked the Society’s early career fellowships (PDF) against the eligible applicant pool.

This process identified a need for interventions across the academic pipeline to support researchers from Black or Mixed Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black heritage backgrounds, particularly researchers making the transition from postgraduate to early postdoctoral stages.

The scheme is currently offered as a pilot with researchers from Black heritage. If successful, the pilot may be broadened to researchers from other underrepresented groups.

Sir Paul Nurse, President of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, said:

“I am delighted to welcome this latest cohort of Career Development Fellows.

“These exceptional scientists demonstrate the depth and diversity of early career research talent that exists in the UK.

“Supporting outstanding early career researchers to pursue ambitious and original ideas is essential to the future of science. ºìÌÒÊÓƵ is proud to provide the long-term funding and support that helps to nurture exceptional talent.”

Professor Robert Mokaya OBE FRS, President of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ of Chemistry and member of the Career Development Fellowship Selection Panel, said:

“This Fellowship scheme is very much needed. It is vital that we address the systemic issues causing too many talented young scientists, from Black and other underrepresented backgrounds, to leave academia early. A diverse scientific community will help the UK to maximise its scientific innovation and creativity.

“I am certain that those supported will be research and academic leaders of the future.”

The Career Development Fellows awarded in 2026 are:

Dr Tesfahiwet Yemane Abraha
Imaging geothermal systems for clean energy and critical metals recovery
University of Oxford

Dr Akeem Hart
Unlocking the low-energy universe: enhancing reconstruction and astrophysics potential at DUNE
Queen Mary University of London

Dr Cassius Morrison
How did past severe ecological perturbations affect terrestrial ecosystems?
University of Leeds

Dr Shamsuddeen Muhammad
Mitigating cultural biases of LLMs in African languages with deliberative alignment
Imperial College London

Dr Paul Nderitu
Multimodal longitudinal foundation AI models for ocular and systemic disease
University College London

Dr Ivy Ng'iru
Advancing systems based risk assessment for sustainable agriculture in the UK & its global supply chain
Cardiff University

Dr Alexandra Oppong
Experimental and computational approaches to model and modulate hyperinflammatory responses in adults with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
University College London

Dr Ethan Taylor
The earliest stellar systems: new constraints on the nature of dark matter and galaxy formation
Durham University