Faculty for the Future Fellowship (Schlumberger Foundation)

Faculty for the Future is the Schlumberger Foundation's fellowship for women from developing and emerging economies who are doing doctoral or post-doctoral research in science, technology, engineering or mathematics at a university abroad. It is one of the largest privately funded awards a Sri Lankan woman researcher can access: grants are made against actual eligible costs up to a maximum of USD 50,000 a year for a PhD — roughly LKR 16 million — and up to USD 40,000 a year for a post-doc, and they are renewable through to completion, subject to satisfactory progress and continued funding. The host institution can be anywhere abroad; in practice fellows are spread across universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Canada and Australia. The programme's purpose is deliberately narrow and it shapes every part of the selection. The Foundation is trying to increase the number of women in senior academic and research positions in their own countries, so it wants applicants who already have teaching experience at home and who commit to going back to a university or research institute there. If you are a demonstrator, lecturer or research assistant at a Sri Lankan state university and you want a doctorate abroad without giving up your post, this is close to purpose-built for you. Two hard limits catch people out. Master's programmes are not eligible at all — this is PhD and post-doctoral funding only. And applicants who hold dual citizenship with a developed country are excluded, regardless of where they live. Applications typically open in early September and close in early November, more than a year before the funded year begins.