Data Impact Fellows 2027-28

Are you an early career researcher or analyst in the academic or VCSE sector? Does your research use data in the UK Data Service collection?

Would you like support to develop your ideas for engaging with different audiences and creating impact from your data-enhanced work alongside a £3,500 award to help fund your development?

If so, we invite you to apply for the next round of our Data Impact Fellows scheme.

The scheme offers:

  • financial support to help you develop your ideas of impact and engagement
  • opportunities to meet and network with other Fellows to share and develop ideas, both in person and online
  • sharing your work and ideas on our Data Impact blog
  • support to engage with different audiences
  • learning opportunities with experts in impact and engagement
  • showcasing your work and its impact through co-creating a case study, helping us develop our impact themes or contributing to our upcoming new podcast series
  • contribute to our impact events

The scheme will run from January 2027 to December 2028.

 

How to apply

Applications open on 28 September 2026 and close at 23:59 on 30 November 2026. We’ll let you know whether you were successful or not by mid-January 2027.

Apply to become a Data Impact Fellow.

 

Why should you apply?

Our previous five cohorts of Fellows since 2016 have been involved in lots of great work during their time and have gone on to a variety of research areas and careers.

Some of our Fellows discussed the opportunities for networking and collaboration the scheme gave them.

“The Data Impact Fellowship has been a very beneficial experience for me as a developing researcher interested in research impact. It has been great getting to know the other early career researchers with a similar interest in creating innovative research impact and receiving training on different perspectives of impact and tools to implement early on in your research project.”

Roxana Pollack, 2025 Data Impact Fellow.

“Some of the connections made through this scheme have already opened new avenues for collaboration which I am now actively pursuing.”

Tasos Papastylianou, 2023 Data Impact Fellow.

Other Fellows told us how being part of the scheme changed their practice and career opportunities.

“Being a UK Data Service Data Impact Fellow has directly changed my practice and expanded my networks (and funding and job opportunities), leading to better impact in the UK and global food system.”

Christian Reynolds, 2019 Data Impact Fellow.

“I think being a Data Impact Fellow was a helpful part in my career trajectory. Lots of the jobs that you apply for, other candidates have PhDs, but having something else to show for that I’ve used my initiative and worked to develop a challenge and spoken with other experts in the field. That’s an extra thing that you can bring to make yourself stand out from other people that you might be in competition with.”

Ben Brindle, 2019 Data Impact Fellow.

Find out more about the Data Impact Fellow’s reflections in our mini Data Impact blog series looking back across 10 years of the scheme.

 

Further information and FAQs

If your questions aren’t answered below, feel free to get in touch with us and email the impact team at ukdsimpact@jisc.ac.uk.

What do you get as a Data Impact Fellow?

  • A grant of £3,500, plus dedicated support from us to help you figure out how to spend it effectively and get the most benefit from it.
  • Face-to-face and virtual meetings with the rest of the 2027 cohort, and opportunities to network and learn from previous cohorts as you join the wider Data Impact Fellow community.
  • Access to training and one-to-one support, helping you build skills in areas like engaging with different audiences and develop impact.
  • Showcase your work and your impact journey to different audiences through the Data Impact blog and our impact channels.
  • Contribute and take part in our Data Impact events, connecting with a wider network of researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

What do we ask from you?

  • Commitment to attending a face-to-face meeting in Bristol the week beginning 22 February 2027 (travel and accommodation costs covered, as needed).
  • Joining regular online meetups. These will be a maximum of 1 hour and arranged to suit most people. They will be a mix between training and support, networking, etc.
  • Contributing to a minimum of four Data Impact blog posts across the two years.
  • Contribute to our impact event in Autumn 2027.
  • Contribute to other impact channels and activities (e.g., podcast, themes).

How do I spend the award money?

We will work with you to develop a spending plan tailored to your project – funding can be used across a wide range of activities.

As part of this, we ask that some of the funding goes towards an activity that engages a non-academic audience. We will help you develop and shape this. Previous examples include The Living Library and the Changing Perceptions Challenge.

Once we’ve approved your ideas, you’ll be able to claim the costs back quickly from us.

Photos and videos

It’s an important part of being a Data Impact Fellow that we support you in raising your profile in different ways and for different audiences. We also want to share the success of our Fellows!

To help us do this, we will need your consent for us to do video you and take photos fo you during face-to-face events. We will also include your headshot and a short biography in posts you create for the Data Impact blog.

High level applicant specification

To be eligible for the Data Impact Fellows scheme you must be:

  • Working for a UK based charity or university/HEI
  • using data available via the UK Data Service in your research or data analysis
  • you are an early career researcher or data analyst

We are flexible when it comes to how we define early career as we want to make sure we are open for a broad range of career paths. For people working in the VCSE sector, you are likely in your first or second role. In academia, you are likely to be a PhD student or in your first post-doctoral role.

Please do get in touch if you have any queries on your eligibility.

Timings of the programme

  • Monday 28 September 2026 – call for application opens.
  • Monday 30 November 2026 – application deadline.
  • Mid-January 2027 – applicants notified of success and asked to supply a short introduction to themselves, their work and why they applied to become a Fellow.
  • Mid-January 2027 – winners publicly announced via a Data Impact blog post (including a short bio and photo of each winner).
  • Week beginning 22 February 2027 – Initial face-to-face meeting for Data Impact Fellows – in Bristol. Exact timings TBC. Travel and accommodation (as needed) will be covered.

Apply to become a Data Impact Fellow.