Clinician scientist fellowship

NERC - the Natural Environment Research Council; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading environmental research organization in the UK seeks independent researchers for a fellowship in the medical field. This fellowship supports talented healthcare professionals with a PhD, offering funding for salary and project costs for up to five years. Applicants will lead research plans and establish their own teams, with a focus on improving human health. The role emphasizes career development and leadership in research.

Benefits

Funding for research consumables

Opportunities for clinical sessions

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• Must be a registered healthcare professional.
• PhD or equivalent required.
• Evidence of career development and leadership plans.

Responsibilities

• Lead research plans and establish a research team.
• Transition to independent researcher.

Skills

Registered healthcare professional

Demonstrated career development

Leadership potential

Education

PhD or equivalent

Job description

Opportunity status: Open

Funders: Funding type: Fellowship

Publication date: 22 October 2025

Opening date: 22 October 2025 9: 00am UK time

Closing date: 14 January 2026 4 : 00pm UK time

Apply for support to become an independent researcher in a medical research field.

Your research can focus on any area of Medical Research Council’s (MRC) remit to improve human health.

You must :

• be a registered healthcare professional
• have a PhD or equivalent
• show evidence of career development
• show clear plans for developing as a leader in your field

We will fund your salary and project costs for up to five years. We will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC).

You may apply for joint funding from one of the collaborating organisations.

This is an ongoing funding opportunity. Application rounds close January, April and September.

Who can apply

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation.

Who is eligible to apply

• nurses
• midwives
• allied health professionals
• healthcare scientists
• pharmacists
• clinical psychologists
• doctors
• dentists
• general practitioners
• veterinarians

To be eligible for the clinician scientist fellowship, you must :

• have completed a PhD or equivalent
• have the skills and experience that match those of the ‘transition to independence’ career stage in the, such as showing evidence of career development and productivity across past appointments
• have your own research plans that do not significantly overlap with those of your current group leaders or proposed sponsors
• have the support of an
• intend to be clinically active during or after the award

There are no eligibility rules based on age or years of postdoctoral experience.

You must have completed a PhD or equivalent before the fellowship award can start. If you have not yet completed your PhD you should contact to arrange to speak to the relevant programme manager before submitting an application.

Medical and dental graduates

Medical or dental graduates should have specialty registrar or consultant status or be at the equivalent level in general practice.

If you have not completed your specialty training, you must have plans in place for doing so and have consulted your deanery before applying.

Non-medical healthcare professionals

For non-medical healthcare professionals, you must have completed your professional training.

Veterinarians

If you are a veterinarian, you may apply if you are a registered vet and a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Your proposed project must be relevant to human health.

International applicants

Applications are welcomed from applicants of all nationalities, including those not currently based in the UK, however, this is subject to the fellowship being hosted by an eligible UK based research organisation.

You will need to be registered with a regulatory body, such as the General Medical Council or the Health and Care Professions Council or have plans in place to hold the required registration by the proposed award start date.

Who is not eligible to apply

You are not eligible to apply if :

• you have applied for this MRC fellowship within the last year
• you have applied for this MRC fellowship twice before
• you have applied for another UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) fellowship and your application is being assessed
• you have applied for an MRC new investigator research grant and your application is being assessed
• you have been awarded an MRC new investigator research grant, because that award also supports the transition to independence
• you have been awarded a comparable fellowship, or new investigator grant from any organisation

You cannot hold a salaried position and a fellowship at the same time. If you are awarded a fellowship, you may need to change to a proleptic appointment.

If you want to retain an existing position and combine this with research funding, we recommend you look at one of instead.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes :

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

We are supportive of applicants wishing to combine their research training with caring responsibilities. All of our fellowship awards may be held on a part-time basis or within flexible working arrangements.

Further fellowship guidance

Further information related to all aspects of the fellowship application process, can be found in the.

If you’re unsure whether you are eligible to apply, email before beginning your application.

What we're looking for

Scope

The aim of this fellowship is to support talented clinically active healthcare professionals who have gained a higher research degree to :

• lead their own research plans
• establish their own research team
• make the transition to independent researcher

We welcome applications from across all areas of our remit to improve human health. This may range from basic studies with relevance to mechanisms of disease, to

translational and developmental clinical research.

We expect your clinical work will help to inform and strengthen your research work.

Our science areas include :

• infections and immunity
• molecular and cellular medicine
• population and systems medicine
• neurosciences and mental health
• translation
• global health research (which must align with MRC’s core scientific remit spanning biomedical discovery research to early translational research)
• methodology
• public health

The longitudinal population studies strategic advisory panel (LPS‑SAP) is on hold while we review our approach and processes for funding longitudinal population studies (LPS). This review is expected to conclude by the end of 2025.

During the review, MRC will only accept applications for core infrastructure support for existing LPS with previous MRC support.

Requirements

You must be able to :

• explain why a fellowship is the best way to support your long-term career goals and chosen career path to become an independent researcher, for example by identifying opportunities for learning new skills, professional development, and undertake training that will underpin your future career ambitions
• show ambitious and credible ideas for using the fellowship to enable a step-change in your career
• describe your experience of identifying and maximising potential in others, for example, through the day‑to‑day support of masters and PhD students or early career scientists
• show how your skills and experience match those of the transition to independence career stage in our

You also must have at least one sponsor, who :

• is a senior member of the department where you are applying to host your fellowship
• acts as a supporter for the application and the fellowship (they do not have a supervisory role)
• has expertise in the research area and acts as guarantor for the quality of the proposed work, suitability of you as a fellowship candidate and the quality of training and development you will receive
• you can have additional sponsors if necessary to support all areas of the proposed work and they may be from other organisations

What the fellowship gives you

This fellowship provides a competitive salary, giving you the chance to concentrate fully on your research, training and development. You may :

• spend up to six hours a week (pro‑rated for part‑time fellowships) on other commitments such as teaching, demonstrating, or other funded projects
• undertake up to two clinical sessions a week

For individuals in craft specialties including fellows undertaking patient‑oriented projects where the clinical sessions will be of direct relevance to the research, applicants may undertake up to four clinical sessions a week.

We may allow greater flexibility on the time dedicated to non‑fellowship activities (for example, those detailed above or obtaining funded support) during the second half of a fellowship.

Email the programme manager at to discuss your plans.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section.

Duration

The clinician scientist fellowship provides support for up to five years. We expect you to take advantage of the full five years funding available. However, we understand that plans for the later stages of a fellowship will not be as defined as the initial years.

If you are intending to apply for a shorter period, you should contact the programme manager at before applying.

These periods are based on full‑time equivalents. Awards may be held on a part‑time basis to meet personal commitments but not because of other professional commitments.

We will consider requests from GPs, nurses, midwives, allied health professions and other non‑medic healthcare professionals to undertake a part‑time award to continue professional clinical responsibilities during the fellowship.

Medically qualified applicants may not apply for a part‑time award in order to continue higher specialist training during the fellowship.

We expect you to start your fellowship no earlier than August 2026 and no later than January 2027. Any start dates outside of this must be discussed with MRC prior to the July 2026 decision meeting.

Funding available

There is no limit to the amount of funding you can request, however all costs must be fully justified and demonstrate value for money.

Your application must be for an amount that :

• is appropriate to the project
• you can justify in order to meet the objectives of your proposed research

We will fund 80% of the full economic cost and 100% of permitted exceptions.

What we will fund

The clinician scientist fellowship award will cover the full cost of your salary.

The fellowship will also provide funding for :

• support for other project staff such as research and technical staff
• research consumables
• equipment
• travel costs
• training activities
• data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs
• estates and indirect costs
• public partnerships and related activities, including
• , when they are associated with NHS studies

This award will also support a period of research overseas, at a second UK organisation or within industry, whichever is most appropriate. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities this will provide to develop collaborative networks and cross‑sector development.

You may spend up to 12 months of your award at a second organisation. If you intend to spend longer periods overseas, you must contact us at before applying.

What we will not fund

We will not fund :

• costs for PhD studentships
• publication costs
• funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants
• costs for senior staff included under any role

Joint funders

We collaborate with royal colleges and charity funders to offer jointly‑funded clinician scientist fellowships.

These awards offer the prestige of having the relevant organisation co‑fund your fellowship and may offer additional opportunities to report on your project, present your work at meetings and take part in professional networking.

We are inviting applications for jointly funded clinical scientist fellowship with the following organisations :

• Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG), led by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS)
• DEBRA (the butterfly skin charity)
• Diabetes UK
• Macular Society
• Medical Research Foundation
• Motor Neurone Disease Association
• Kidney Research UK
• Parkinson’s UK

We will offer all jointly funded fellowships under standard UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and MRC terms and conditions, except where the co‑funder has specified additional terms and conditions.

See ‘Additional information’ for further details of the joint funders.

Project partner

A project partner is a collaborating organisation in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU, who will have an integral role in the proposed research. You may include team project partners that will support your fellowship through cash or in‑kind contributions, such as :

• staff time
• access to equipment
• sites or facilities
• the provision of data
• software or materials
• recruitment of people as research participants
• providing samples, such as human tissue, for the project

Each project partner must provide a statement of support. If your application involves industry partners, they must provide additional information if the team project partner falls within the.