The Faculty Council received a proposal for the creation of a new research position yesterday, responding to changes in the way research is undertaken in certain sciences such as biochemistry.

The proposed post of research fellow would add a rung to the ladder between post-doctorates and the existing senior research fellow. Senior research fellows are non-teaching appointments, of roughly equivalent status to faculty.

Paul C. Martin '52, chair of the committee on research policy that submitted the proposal, said that the proposed post is designed to enable to the university to employ top researchers in selected fields of science.

"We want to be able to attract the most able young researchers," Martin said. "We're most concerned with areas in the life sciences where the time between receiving a doctorate and being appointed to junior faculty has grown to many years."

The new post is significant in that it carries the right to be a principal investigator, a designation that permits the holder to apply for, receive, and administer research grants. The proposal responds to changes in science research methods that currently involve more researchers working simultaneously--the same issue that has led to the creation of a number of scientific research institutes at Harvard.

"We are confident that the fellows will be a very positive force in new areas of research, in particular those areas represented by new science initiatives such as the Center for Genomics Research," Martin said.

The Council approved the proposal for submission to the full Faculty at its December 1 meeting. It will be packaged with three other proposed changes to research policy that the council dealt with earlier in the term.

Martin said he hopes that appointments will begin in the near future.