WOMEN and those early in their academia career who are passionate about robotics and artificial intelligence were among those successful in their applications for a RAICo Fellowship.
The RAICo Fellows programme is specifically designed to provide women, early career researchers and PhD researchers with invaluable experience in working with the nuclear sector and understanding the pathways to commercialise their research.
The second round of the Fellows programme was open to early career researchers and women. A separate Junior Fellows scheme closed earlier after the first round was oversubscribed. RAICo Fellows receive £20k awards, while Junior RAICo Fellows are awarded £5k.
In the first round of applications RAICo made awards to two Fellows and 11 Junior Fellows. Applications from the second round, which closed at the end of April, are in the process of being reviewed.
The second round applications were welcome from everyone who is within five years of completing their PhD and working as a member of academic staff or as a postdoctoral research associate at a UK research institution.
But RAICo found that in academia a number of women have a career break and return to work after five years, so it extended the offer to women to apply for the Fellowships even if they were beyond this five-year period.
The University of Manchester is one of the four collaborating organisations within RAICo and it led on inviting applications for the Fellowships.
Previous opportunities with RAICo had traditionally had strong representations from Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham, Glasgow, Strathclyde and York – and these universities continue to produce applicants for the scheme and other collaborations with RAICo.
The latest round of the RAICo scheme also saw applications from researchers for both the £5k and £20k awards from Lancaster University, Queen Mary University, London, Bristol University and Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
Dr Jenn Jones, Nuclear Robotics Programme Manager at the University of Manchester, said: “RAICo Fellowships present an exciting opportunity to widen the diversity of our RAI community.
“We encourage applications from women and early career researchers to bring new technologies, ideas and voices to the collaborative programme.
“It was great to see an increase in applications from women and early career researchers as well as those from many different universities in the latest Fellowships programme.”
By joining as RAICo Fellows, participants contribute to expanding research expertise within RAICo, forge connections with academic partners, and translate cutting-edge research into practical solutions for nuclear decommissioning challenges.
Dr Kirsty Hewitson, Director of RAICo, said: “RAICo is delighted to support Fellowships focused on women and early career researchers. We recognise the importance of diversity and hope that these awards foster further collaboration and inclusion across the field of robotics.”
