Fellowship Features

• 2-year program.  Fellowship start date – August 1, 2025
• Annual salary: $60,000(minimum) with full benefits for full-time/12-month position.
• Collaborative, innovative, well-funded research projects and faculty mentors with a commitment to excellence in innovation, mentoring, and research.
• Academic career professional development, including programs to support training in mentorship, grant writing, academic communication, pedagogy, academic leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship, financial project management, and career exploration.
• $1,500 travel award to support attendance at national or international academic conferences.
• Cohort retreat focused on academic job search skills: workshops to develop application materials and presenting research seminars.

• Eligibility:
  • PhD conferred prior to cohort start.
  • Current UGA postdocs are not eligible to apply.

Scholar Selection Criteria

• Evidence of excellent research training, productivity, and integrity
• Pursuit of innovative and rigorous collaborative research
• Potential to bring unique experience, expertise and perspective to the research environment
• Potential and commitment to pursue an academic career

Program Activities

Faculty-mentored research (85% effort): Scholars will engage in research projects under the mentorship of UGA FFIRE faculty mentors. Available research project(s) are described on the FFIRE Faculty Mentor website, and the scope of work will be detailed in the offer letter. In general, research activity will include engagement in conceptual design of the research project, execution of experiments, data collection, data analysis, and communication of results through peer-reviewed publications and presentations.  Research activities will also include collaboration with and mentorship of other researchers, as appropriate to the research team.  

Professional development (15% effort): Scholars will engage in one-on-one professional development activities with their faculty mentors, including regular research progress meetings and development and ongoing evaluation of Individual Development Plans. Additionally, scholars will participate in academic community activities including research group meetings, research seminars, communication with collaborators, and research presentations at national and international meetings.  To ensure effective faculty mentoring, FFIRE faculty mentors must submit detailed mentoring plans and participate in annual mentoring-the-mentors training workshops.  

Scholars will participate in formal and informal academic career professional development programming offered by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Informally, FFIRE scholars will meet with the program director for monthly peer mentoring discussions to identify challenges, update research and IDP progress, and build community. Formal professional development programming that all FFIRE scholars have the opportunity to participate in: 

• grant writing workshops 
• training in pedagogy and instructional support
• training in effective mentoring approaches 
• responsible conduct of research training 
• academic leadership skills and opportunities 
• training in entrepreneurship and academic-industry partnerships 
• academic job search information and support 
• academic job search document development: cover letter, cv, research and teaching statements 
• professional development retreat

FFIRE scholars are also encouraged to participate in additional professional development programming and community building activities offered by the Office of Research, including the annual industry-focused Career Day, monthly drop-in “Coffee and Conversations” in the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and social events organized by the Postdoctoral Association. With the exception of the retreat, all of the professional development programming listed for FFIRE scholars is open to all UGA postdocs. 

Contact for questions: opa@uga.edu