2026
The Royal Society
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The Royal Society commissioned Research Consulting to conduct an independent evaluation of three fellowship schemes co-funded with the Wolfson Foundation: the Wolfson Research Merit Awards (750 awards between 2000 and 2018), the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship (69 awards since 2018), and the Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship (33 awards since 2021).
The evaluation assessed the outcomes and impacts of all three schemes, as well as the process and positioning of the two currently active schemes.
We took a mixed-methods approach, engaging 256 stakeholders across the evaluation through surveys and semi-structured interviews. Survey responses were received from 220 current and former award holders and institutional contacts, complemented by 36 interviews with award holders, institutional representatives, panel members and Royal Society staff. Extensive desk research drew on over 2,000 award holder reports from more than 600 individuals spanning the full history of the schemes.
We delivered our findings and eleven recommendations to the Royal Society in a final report in September 2024, accompanied by a series of case studies profiling award holders across all three schemes.
Research Consulting are on our current panel of providers for evaluation services. In 2024 we commissioned them to undertake a review of the three Wolfson Fellowships schemes, the now closed Wolfson Research Merit Award scheme (2000 – 2018) and the two current schemes, the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and the Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship.It was a pleasure to work with the team from Research Consulting, who were responsive and flexible in working with us. They provided a comprehensive report and clear recommendations for the Royal Society to consider. We particularly valued the visualisation of outcomes from these schemes over time. Tanja Floyd, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Lead.
