UK: Innovation Fellowships in Healthy Ageing 2024-25

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of commercial innovation, supporting the development of tech-enabled products and services that contribute to healthy ageing. Researchers will also have the opportunity to engage in training, support and mentoring to help them translate their skills, explore new career opportunities, and connect with other talented researchers.

About The Innovation Fellowships: Accelerating researchers’ careers

• Zinc’s work focuses on unlocking and accelerating the potential of exceptional talent. This includes supporting researchers from different disciplines and career stages to explore research-based opportunities in ventures. Ventures are research-rich environments that provide unique opportunities for scientists to apply and advance their skills. The experience has helped them understand the needs and opportunities for researchers to develop skills and experiences in mission-led innovation, while helping grow the science base in ventures and generate significant economic and social impact.
• As such, Zinc’s Innovation Fellowships are designed to:
  • Offer researchers hands-on, immersive experience in relevant, impactful ventures
  • Extend their skillsets, strengthen their entrepreneurial mindsets and grow their networks
  • Accelerate research impact and advance scientific knowledge for economic and social impact
• They’re excited to be building on the learning from the last five years – as well as a very successful Innovation Fellows programme in 2023-24 -, through a new round of postdoctoral Innovation Fellowships in 2024, focused on healthy ageing, in partnership with the Dunhill Medical Trust.
• These will allow researchers from any disciplinary background to build the knowledge and experience they need to apply and advance their skills in innovation for healthy ageing.
• Through a 6-9-month programme, Fellows will work in-house with Zinc and the network of ventures, learn from each other as part of a cohort, and receive training, mentorship and guidance to support their personal and professional journey. They will work with successful applicants to make sure the placement project(s) they work on align as closely as possible with their skills and/or interests.

Why apply?

• This is an exciting opportunity for researchers to experience first-hand what it takes to build a mission-focused start-up from scratch, and to build science-rich products and services to improve outcomes for people in later life.
• The role will provide the opportunity to:
  • Get a different sort of ‘industry’ experience. This won’t be like joining a big corporate organisation, public sector body or government department. The early-stage start-ups provide a fast-paced, creative and experimental environment and aim to respond at scale to important issues. This is a chance to gain commercial experience in a supportive, research-led environment where the primary focus is on addressing complex health and care challenges. You’ll be working directly with entrepreneurs and their teams, and have the opportunity to contribute your own ideas and thoughts throughout the process.
  • Develop or deepen your knowledge and understanding of early-stage innovation and the role of research within that. As well as learning on the job, you’ll have unlimited access to content delivered in the Zinc venture-builder programme.
  • Build or consolidate your understanding of product/service design approaches (e.g. design thinking) in a mission-focused but commercial context. Zinc’s approach to product development is grounded in principles of design thinking and human-centred design. These approaches are useful in many different contexts. Fellowships offer a chance for those new to these ideas to learn more about them, and for those who know them well to apply them in the particular context of mission-focused commercial venture building.
  • Lead on or participate in research with ventures. The Fellowships provide opportunities to conduct and disseminate creative, applied, design-led research for and with the ventures they develop. This might provide an opportunity to gain experience in new methods or approaches (e.g. participatory or action research), or to apply methods you already know well in the new context of early-stage innovation.
  • Work in a multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral environment. You’ll work with a diverse range of people across disciplines, domains and sectors. Importantly, you’ll also join a cross-disciplinary cohort of Innovation Fellows.
  • Join a supportive team from similar backgrounds to your own. Most of the Zinc R&D team have done PhDs and postdoctoral work before moving into innovation. They know the opportunities and challenges in this area, and are here to help make sure you have a positive experience with them.
  • Broaden your network and create unique new partnerships. Engaging with both researchers and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds will help you build productive relationships beyond your own organisation and area of research. These might form the basis of future research partnerships, as well as supporting your personal and professional development more widely.
  • Make a meaningful contribution to the development of brand-new businesses, products and services designed to improve people’s lives. If you’re passionate about healthy ageing, you’ll be excited by this chance to shape new products and services that aim to add more years of high quality to later life.

Who can apply?

• This opportunity is open to researchers at any career stage post-PhD, but they particularly welcome applications from early career researchers (you must have submitted your PhD thesis by September 2024). Whatever your academic or professional background, it is essential that applicants have a strong interest in innovations to improve the quality of later life. Where relevant (e.g. for applicants on permanent or fixed term contracts elsewhere), applicants will need to obtain permission from their current employer to join the programme. Please note, this opportunity is only open to UK-based applicants with a right to work in the UK.
• Evidence of the following skills, background and attributes will also be prioritised:
  • You have (or will soon have) completed a PhD in any discipline. Applicants from any career stage are welcome to apply.
  • You have a strong interest in enhancing your knowledge of early-stage innovation commercialisation and the role of research within that. No significant previous commercial experience is required.
  • You are keen to work in a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral environment and to translate the skills and knowledge gained in academia to a commercial context.
  • You are committed to spending at least 6 months working in-house with Zinc/ventures.
  • You have a strong interest in later life innovation.
  • Ability to plan and execute high-quality applied research: You have experience in designing and implementing projects in non-academic settings.
  • Flexibility and ability to respond positively to changing circumstances: you can adapt scientific rigour to a fast-paced, agile entrepreneurial context, working to tight and often-changing deadlines, and apply recommendations based on ventures’ commercial needs. You are excited to fully immerse yourself in this dynamic context.
  • Team player: You can work with the Zinc team and Founders of the ventures in a positive and constructive way.
  • Effective and proactive: You are organised and hands-on, and able to use initiative to make decisions. A positive, “can-do” attitude is essential.

For more information, visit Zinc.