Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowships for Clinicians

Purpose

This is a flexible fellowship scheme to enable individuals to engage with areas of research that are new to them. It is for candidates who either undertook a PhD early in their career and now wish to refresh their research skills, or have recently completed a successful PhD and wish to explore a new research field or environment, to gain the skills that will help them answer their longer-term research vision.

This new scheme merges our Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for Clinician Scientists and Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates.

What's included

Awards are for two to four years, depending on whether or not you are planning to reintegrate into your clinical training programme. The total cost of a Fellowship would not normally exceed £350 000.

The Trust will provide the following costs for the duration of the grant, including those for any component of reintegration into clinical training:

Salary

The Trust will provide you with a full clinical salary (typically pre-consultant), as determined by the administering institution, for the research-dedicated years of the Fellowship. During any period in which you are reintegrating into your clinical training programme, your salary will be funded on a shared basis, typically between the Trust and the relevant clinical training authority, proportionate to the amount of time spent on research/clinical training. Please note that we are willing to consider salary requests at consultant level if you are awarded an honorary consultant contract during the tenure of the Fellowship.

Fellowships may be taken up on a part-time employment basis, where appropriate.

Non-salary costs

The following non-salary costs may be requested:

• research expenses (e.g. materials and consumables, animals, small items of equipment, fieldwork and data collection)
• support to attend scientific meetings
• Flexible Funding Allowance
• an inflation allowance.

Appropriate allowances are provided for Fellows based overseas.

No funding is provided for examination fees.

Clinical work during the research-focused years of the Fellowship is normally restricted to eight hours or two programmed activities per week.

Support funds for research staff or substantial equipment are not normally provided. It is expected that an appropriate laboratory or laboratories will be selected and that the majority of the necessary equipment and facilities required for the proposed research will be made available to you.

Flexibility of the Fellowship

The Fellowship is designed to be flexible to your needs, and within the suggested frameworks you may tailor the scheme to meet your specific research/clinical training requirements. Please contact us for further advice.

Applications should include provision for two to three years of full-time research during the Fellowship; you may wish to integrate up to 12 months of clinical training (i.e. split your research and clinical duties for up to a total of 12 months). For example, you may:

• apply for four years' support, with years one and two dedicated to research, with research time decreasing to 50 per cent in year three and 25 per cent in year four
• apply for three years' support, to include two years dedicated to research, and one year with a 50:50 split between research and clinical duties
• apply for a two-to-three-year grant that is entirely research-focused, without any further clinical training requirements.

Eligibility

These awards are open to individuals with a relevant connection to the European Economic Area, for Fellowships to be held in a UK or Republic of Ireland institution.

The scheme may be suitable for clinicians who:

• are due to complete their higher degree or are no more than two years from the date of their PhD viva by the full application deadline
• graduated with a MB/PhD qualification or have achieved a high-quality PhD in a relevant subject, either during or prior to commencing their initial medical, veterinary or dental degree.

Due allowance will be given to those whose career has been affected by a late start or for personal reasons (e.g. time away due to maternity, paternity, adoption leave or other caring responsibilities, or ill-health).

The following additional criteria may apply, as appropriate:

• Medical and dental candidates should have completed their foundation training, hold a National Training Number (NTN) or equivalent, and have demonstrated significant progress towards gaining the core clinical competences that would be expected of an ST level Trainee/Academic Clinical Fellow.
• Veterinary candidates should have a degree in veterinary medicine (e.g. BVSc, BVM&S, BVMS, BVetMed, VetMB) and some experience in clinical practice.
• Clinical psychology candidates must have obtained a professional doctorate-level qualification in clinical psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society.

The proposed research should fall within our normal funding remit.

Sponsorship and supervision

You must have an eligible sponsoring institution in the UK or Republic of Ireland that will administer the Fellowship for its full duration.

Furthermore, you will need to identify:

• a sponsor who can guarantee that the host institution will administer the award for the full tenure of the Fellowship - he/she must have a contract of employment with the host institution and have tenure beyond the duration of the proposed Fellowship
• a mentor who will provide you with independent support and advice for the duration of the Fellowship
• a research sponsor in every laboratory who must be able to guarantee you access to space and resources for the required period and provide relevant scientific guidance.

A sponsor may also be nominated as a research sponsor or mentor on an application. However, we would not expect a single individual to be proposed for all three roles. We would also expect this supervisory team to be able to provide you with support in relation to your clinical training requirements.

We do not normally accept resubmissions of full applications for Fellowships. If you are thinking about resubmitting, contact us for further advice.

Application process

Awards will be made following a rigorous review process and interview. The process consists of three stages:

Stage 1
A preliminary application form should be completed, via the Trust's eGrants online application system, and submitted at any time before the published deadline. (Select the 'Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians' form in the 'Scheme Name' drop-down menu, then select 'Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship' to choose the preliminary application form.)

Stage 2
If a full application is invited, you will be asked to complete the full application form (available in eGrants). The application form will require you to provide information additional to that provided in the preliminary application, particularly in relation to the details of the research project.

You are strongly advised to refer to the Additional information for completing the clinical postdoctoral fellowship form, which provides an overview to help guide you through the application process.

Your application will be reviewed and may be shortlisted for interview by the Clinical Interview Committee. Interviews will be conducted at the Wellcome Trust's offices in London.

Stage 3
If you are shortlisted for interview, you will be asked to provide further information on your application, before the interview itself, via eGrants. At this stage, you will need to provide the detailed costs and information on issues such as human participation, the use of biological samples, and the potential for the research to generate results with the potential for commercial exploitation.

Application advice

You are encouraged to contact us if you have any queries regarding the scheme, a potential application or career issues.

Reviewers typically assess:

• your research and clinical career to date
• the scientific merit and feasibility of the proposed project
• the significance of the science
• the suitability of the supervisor, mentor, sponsor and host environment.

Successful candidates will have a good track record of achievement, indicating enthusiasm and aptitude for a long-term career in academic medicine. In addition, robust knowledge of the scientific background should be apparent, and the research should be focused and practicable within the timescale proposed.

You should give careful thought to the choice of supervisor, mentor and research sponsor(s). These individuals will be expected to provide guidance during the application process, and support throughout the Fellowship.

You will need to discuss your clinical training plans with local advisers in your specialism before submission. Your sponsor is encouraged to view his/her support as part of a longer-term commitment to your career aspirations to be a clinical academic.

You may not apply for more than one Wellcome Trust fellowship scheme at any one time.

We do not normally accept resubmissions of full applications for Fellowships. If you are thinking about resubmitting, contact us for further advice.

You may wish to look at details of the award holders for the ‘Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for Clinician Scientists’ and the ‘Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates’ schemes.

Deadlines

Applications are considered three times a year.

• Stage 1 - preliminary application deadline: 15 November 2013 (5pm)
• Stage 2 - full application deadline: 7 February 2014 (5pm)
• Shortlisting outcomes: April 2014
• Stage 3 - pre-interview information due by: 12 May 2014
• Shortlisted candidate interviews by Clinical Interview Committee: 25-27 June 2014

Schedule for preliminary applications submitted to 5 July 2013 deadline:

• Stage 2 - full application deadline: 20 September 2013 (5pm)
• Shortlisting outcomes: November 2013
• Stage 3 - pre-interview information due by: 9 January 2014
• Shortlisted candidate interviews by Clinical Interview Committee: 18-19 February 2014

Interviews will be conducted at the Wellcome Trust's offices in London.

Details of award holders for the ‘Early Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for Clinician Scientists’ and the ‘Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates’ schemes are available.

Contacts

Enquiries may be directed to the appropriate stream, or by telephone to the Grants Service Desk: +44 (0)20 7611 2020.

Immunology and Infectious Disease
E iid@wellcome.ac.uk

Populations and Public Health
E pph@wellcome.ac.uk

Neuroscience and Mental Health
E nmh@wellcome.ac.uk

Cellular, Developmental and Physiological Sciences
E cdps@wellcome.ac.uk

Genetic and Molecular Sciences
E gms@wellcome.ac.uk

See Contact us for our postal address.