STEM and research careers

Evaluation of Royal Society Research Professorship Scheme

02/02/2022

The Careers Research and Advisory Centre was commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the Research Professor scheme, the Royal Society’s premier research award which provides long term support to world-class researchers of outstanding achievement and promise. Previous award holders include Nobel Laureates and Presidents of the Royal Society.

To evaluate the Research Professors scheme, we conducted a short survey of those who have held a Research Professorship and undertook much more detailed interviews with many award holders. Issues considered included current processes of selection, administration and delivery of the scheme, the relevance and fit of the scheme in the current research landscape and context, and the extent to which the aims of the Research Professorship scheme are being met.