Postdoctoral clinical research training fellowship

NERC - the Natural Environment Research Council; Swindon; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research council in the UK invites applications for a fellowship aimed at registered healthcare professionals to reacquire research skills. The program supports your project costs for three years, focusing on enhancing your clinical research capabilities. Eligible applicants must possess a PhD and demonstrate a commitment to pursuing a research career. Successful candidates will engage with diverse scientific areas to improve human health, leveraging ample resources to aid their professional development.

Benefits

Funding for research consumables

Travel costs covered

Salary during the fellowship

Qualifications

• Must be a registered healthcare professional.
• PhD graduate with at least five years outside research.
• Clear plans for pursuing a research career.

Responsibilities

• Apply for funding to reacquire research skills.
• Lead a project at an eligible organization.
• Demonstrate capacity to carry out proposed research.

Skills

Registered healthcare professional

Clinical training

Project management

Education

PhD or equivalent

Job description

Opportunity status

Open

Funders

Funding type :

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 funding to reacquire research skills.

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

You must

• be a registered healthcare professional
• be a PhD graduate working outside of research, usually five or more years
• show plans to pursue a research career and be at an appropriate point in your clinical training to undertake the fellowship

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

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

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

Who can apply

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

Who is eligible to apply

Eligible professions

You can apply if you are a registered healthcare professional. This includes, but is not limited to :

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

Types of applicants

We welcome both predoctoral and postdoctoral clinical research training fellowship (CRTF) applicants. This funding opportunity is for if you if you have a PhD and want to apply for funding to reacquire research skills. If you want to undertake a PhD or similar, please see the .

Postdoctoral CRTF applicants are considered in open competition with predoctoral applications.

If you already have a PhD, but have not been active in research since, this funding offers an opportunity to refresh your research skills and re-establish research momentum.

To be eligible to apply for this funding opportunity you must

• have received a PhD or equivalent, usually five or more years ago
• be at an appropriate point in your clinical training, with clear plans for completing your speciality training
• have not undertaken substantial periods of academic research since your PhD. We may also consider your application if you have a National Institute for Health Research academic clinical fellowship or similar since your PhD
• have the support of an
• intend to be clinically active during or after the award

If you have completed your PhD within the last few years and are not eligible to apply for a postdoctoral clinical research training fellowship, you should consider the .

Doctors and dentists

We expect you to be undertaking your specialty training and have completed your membership of the Royal College of Physicians’ exams or equivalent.

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.

Clinical psychologists

If you are a clinical psychologist, you must have a professional doctorate-level qualification in clinical psychology that is accredited by the British Psychological Society before starting the fellowship.

Non-medical healthcare professionals

If you are a non-medical healthcare professional, such as a nurse, midwife or allied health professional, you must have completed your professional training.

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 and Innovation (UKRI) fellowship and your application is being assessed

If you want to reapply within a year, you should request permission from the relevant programme manager before resubmission by emailing

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are 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

UKRI can offer 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

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

Requirements

You must be able to

• explain why a fellowship is the best way to support you to reacquire research skills and your plan to pursue a research career
• show how your skills and experience match those of the early postdoctoral 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

We recognise the challenges faced by clinicians in combining research with the demands of a clinical career.

We operate this fellowship as flexibly as possible. This gives you the chance to negotiate the extent of your clinical commitment depending on your specialty and your research needs.

For individuals in craft specialties including surgeons and 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.

If you are planning to undertake more than two clinical sessions a week during your fellowship or request more than three years funding, we advise you email before applying.

Duration

Clinical research training fellowships usually last three years but never less than two years.

For patient-oriented projects where additional time is needed to collect patient samples and complete follow up assessments, you may request up to four years funding.

These periods are based on full-time equivalents. You may hold an award 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.

If you are medically qualified, you 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
• is comparable with the funding for , as these fellowship types will be considered in open competition

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

What we will fund

The postdoctoral clinical research training fellowship will cover the full cost of your salary.

The fellowship will also provide funding for

• 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

The award will also support a period of research overseas, at a second UK research organisation or in industry, whichever is most appropriate. We encourage you to take advantage of these funding opportunities to establish 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.

Staff costs will only be funded in exceptional circumstances where the delivery of the project requires additional staff costs. If intend to request these costs, you must contact us before applying.

What we will not fund

• costs for PhD studentships
• publication costs
• funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants
• costs for sponsors
• costs for mentors

Joint funders

We collaborate with royal colleges and charity funders to offer jointly funded clinical research training 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 research training fellowships with the following charities :

• Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG), led by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS)
• The Borne Foundation
• Breakthrough T1D (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)
• British Journal of Anaesthesia
• Cystic Fibrosis Trust
• DEBRA (the butterfly skin charity)
• Diabetes UK
• Epilepsy Research Institute
• Fight for Sight
• The Jean Shanks Foundation and Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland
• Kidney Research UK
• Leukaemia UK
• Macular Society
• Medical Research Foundation
• Motor Neurone Disease Association
• Multiple Sclerosis Society
• Muscular Dystrophy UK
• Parkinson’s UK
• Prostate Cancer UK
• Scleroderma & Raynaud’s UK
• Stroke Association
• Vivensa Foundation

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 .