Early independence: clinician scientist fellowship

Full Job Description

Opportunity status: Upcoming

Funders:

Medical Research Council (MRC)

Funding type: Fellowship

Publication date: 13 October 2026

Opening date:

21 October 2026 9:00am UK time

Closing date:

13 January 2027 4:00pm UK time

Apply for an early independence fellowship to support your career transition within the Fellowship Investment Framework, if your research focus is within Medical Research Council (MRC) remit.

• be a registered healthcare professional

• have a PhD or equivalent

• show evidence of career consolidation and past productivity

• show clear plans for establishing your own research niche that enables a step-change towards independence

We will fund your salary and project costs (80% of the full economic cost) for up to five years (pro rata for part-time fellowships).

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

Eligibility

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

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

Who Is Eligible To Apply

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

To be eligible to apply for the early independence clinician scientist fellowship you must:

• have completed a PhD or equivalent

• show evidence of skills, experience, 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, to establish your own research niche and team

• have a research focus that is within MRC remit to improve human health and have the support of an eligible UK organisation

• 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 fellows@mrc.ukri.org to arrange to speak to the relevant programme manager before submitting an application.

Medical And Dental Graduates

Medical or dental graduates should have speciality 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 UK 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.

Demand Management

You can only have one fellowship application of the same type under consideration by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) (which encompasses all fellowship schemes led by any of the research councils or Innovate UK and new investigator awards). If you submit another application while one is being assessed, the new application will be rejected. You should wait until you receive a decision on your current application before submitting another.

Who Is Not Eligible To Apply

You are not eligible to apply if:

• you have applied for an MRC fellowship within the last year or twice before

• you have applied for another UKRI fellowship of the same type or a new investigator award and your application is being assessed

• you have part of the fellowship project as a grant application with any organisation and your application is being assessed

• you are the project lead on a UKRI grant application, and it is being assessed

• you have been awarded a comparable fellowship supporting early independence or a new investigator award from any organisation

• you have secured grants as a project lead, that include support for and leading of research staff such as postdoctoral research associates as this would indicate you have already made the step-change to independence

• you will not be employed by an eligible UK organisation for your fellowship

You cannot hold a salaried position and a fellowship at the same time. If you have already achieved independence by securing a permanent position, your application will not be competitive.

In exceptional circumstances, if you hold a salaried position and can demonstrate a clear step change in career route (for example, enabling a focus on research when currently holding a teaching role), then you may apply. However, if awarded a fellowship, you must either give up your current role or change it to a proleptic appointment for the duration of the fellowship.

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

Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity 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

• job shares (contact us for further guidance)

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support 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 and, in that context, 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 MRC guidance for fellowship applicants.

If you’re unsure whether you are eligible to apply, email fellows@mrc.ukri.org before beginning your application.

Demand Management

Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity. Further details are provided in the ‘who can apply’ section.

Scope

The aim of the fellowship is to support talented clinically active researchers who have gained a higher research degree and have evidence of career consolidation and productivity across past appointments to:

• lead their own research plans to establish their own research niche

• start to build their own research team

• make the first step-change towards independence

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.

Our science areas include:

• infections and immunity

• molecular and cellular medicine

• population and systems medicine

• neurosciences and mental health

• translation

• global health

• methodology

• public health

Explore MRC’s areas of scientific remit.

Please note that global health research and underpinning methodology research should align with our core remit spanning from biomedical discovery research to early translational research.

Normally fellowships would not be a suitable route to establish longitudinal population studies (LPS). Additionally, until further notice, we will only accept applications for core infrastructure support for existing LPS with previous MRC support.

Qualifications And 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 in a medical research field

• show evidence of career development and productivity across past appointments

• demonstrate clear plans to establish your own independent research niche and research plans and start to build your own research team

• show ambitious and credible ideas for the fellowship to enable a clear step change in your career towards research independence

If your application does not clearly address the requirements, it may be rejected prior to seeking expert reviewer comments.

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, but does 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.

• 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 training 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, you 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 we advise you email fellows@mrc.ukri.org before applying.

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

Email the programme manager at fellows@mrc.ukri.org to discuss your plans.

Explore the expectations that come with an MRC fellowship.

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

Duration

The early independence clinician scientist fellowship provides support for up to five years (pro-rata for part-time fellowships). 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 fellows@mrc.ukri.org before applying.

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.

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 October 2027 and no later than January 2028. Any start dates outside of this must be discussed with us prior to the June/July 2027 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 deliver the objectives of the proposed research

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

Please note, the inclusion of staff costs should be commensurate with initial establishment of a group and involve the development of those individuals, for example, postdoctoral research associates or research associate type roles with the delivery of the project. The inclusion of numerous enabling staff, any senior staff, or both would otherwise constitute a research grant and is not within the expectations of a fellowship. In addition, costs for consumables should be justified, it is the expectation that the research organisation provides basic space and equipment for the duration of your award.

Explore full economic costing.

What We Will Fund

The early independence clinician scientist fellowship will cover the cost of your salary.

The fellowship will also provide funding for:

• support for a small number of research and technical staff as justified by the project and early independence career stage of this fellowship

• visa fees and international health surcharge costs for fellows and their dependent family members

• research consumables

• equipment

• travel costs

• training activities

• data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs

• estates and indirect costs

• public partnerships and related activities, including payments to public contributors

• NHS research costs, 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 successful applicants to take advantage of these opportunities to establish collaborative networks and cross-sector development.

You may spend up to 12 months of your award at a second organisation. Applicants intending to spend longer periods overseas you must contact us at fellows@mrc.ukri.org before applying.

Requests for support beyond research and innovation associate and technical posts can only be included in exceptional circumstances and must be discussed with the office in advance.

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 sponsors

• costs for mentors

• costs for a large research team

• 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 clinician scientist fellowships with the following organisations:

• Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG), led by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS)

• DEBRA (the butterfly skin charity)

• Diabetes UK

• Kidney Research UK

• Macular Society

• Medical Research Foundation

• Motor Neurone Disease Association

• 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’ section 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 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 industry collaboration framework.

Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles.

Who Cannot Be Included As A Project Partner

Any individual included in your application with a core team role or who is from your host organisation cannot also be a project partner.

Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation. This includes other departments within the same organisation.

Human Participation In Research

If you are applying to do research in the NHS, public health or social care you usually need to complete a Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT). We are looking for evidence you have taken the appropriate steps and for the full costs of your research to be appropriately attributed.

It is important to complete a SoECAT to be eligible for support from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network. You must complete a SoECAT even if you don’t think your research will involve excess treatment costs.

See MRC guidance on who needs to complete a SoECAT.

SoECAT guidance can be found on the NIHR website.

These are the steps you need to take:

• Contact your local attributing the costs of health and social care Research & Development (AcoRD) specialist as early as possible in the application process. They can advise on completing the SoECAT and provide a bespoke service to meet the needs of your study. There are different ways to contact an AcoRD specialist, depending on where you are in the UK:

• England: NIHR website

• Scotland: NHS Research Scotland website

• Wales: email fundingsupport@wales.nhs.uk

• Northern Ireland: HSC R&D division website

• Complete an online SoECAT. If you do not have an account for NIHR’s Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS) you will need to create and activate one.

• Once your account is created and active, you can complete an online SoECAT by selecting the ‘Apply for a service for a new study’ pathway. Further guidance can be found on the Online SoECAT guidance page.

• Request authorisation of your SoECAT.

• When you have authorisation, include the ‘funder export’ Excel document from your SoECAT as part of your application in the Human participation in health-related research section.

• England: NIHR website

• Scotland: NHS Research Scotland website

• Wales: email fundingsupport@wales.nhs.uk

• Northern Ireland: HSC R&D division website

Contact us about any issues including a SoECAT or AcoRD specialist feedback in your application, such as:

• your proposed research involves human participation and the NHS, but you don’t think you need a SoECAT, explain why not when you contact us

• your proposed research involves human participation in Health and Social Care (not NHS), and you think you need a SoECAT

Find contacts in the ‘Contact details’ section

Supporting Skills And Talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Trusted Research And Innovation (Tr&I)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has a long-standing and continuing commitment to supporting and enabling safe and effective collaboration in research and innovation. UKRI is equally committed to ensuring that this takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Our Principles and expectations set out the principles that UKRI applies to TR&I and our general expectations of the research organisations (including businesses, research institutes, and research technical organisations) that we support. Organisations supported by UKRI should be able to provide evidence that their internal controls and processes meet these expectations.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the UKRI Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The fellow is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. The fellow will need input from their research office for costing the fellowship and submitting the application by the deadline.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.

To Apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

• Confirm you are the fellow.

• Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.

• Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

• Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

• Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

• Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must:

• provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)

• insert each new image on a new line

• use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:

• sentences or paragraphs of text

• tables

• excessive quantities of images

A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service

• how research offices use the Funding Service

• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:

• references are easily identifiable by the assessors

• references are formatted as appropriate to your research

• persistent identifiers are used where possible

General Use Of Hyperlinks

Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Ai)

Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

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

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

To be eligible to apply for the early independence clinician scientist fellowship you must:

• have completed a PhD or equivalent

• show evidence of skills, experience, 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, to establish your own research niche and team

• have a research focus that is within MRC remit to improve human health and have the support of an eligible UK organisation

• 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 fellows@mrc.ukri.org to arrange to speak to the relevant programme manager before submitting an application.

You are not eligible to apply if:

• you have applied for an MRC fellowship within the last year or twice before

• you have applied for another UKRI fellowship of the same type or a new investigator award and your application is being assessed

• you have part of the fellowship project as a grant application with any organisation and your application is being assessed

• you are the project lead on a UKRI grant application, and it is being assessed

• you have been awarded a comparable fellowship supporting early independence or a new investigator award from any organisation

• you have secured grants as a project lead, that include support for and leading of research staff such as postdoctoral research associates as this would indicate you have already made the step-change to independence

• you will not be employed by an eligible UK organisation for your fellowship

You cannot hold a salaried position and a fellowship at the same time. If you have already achieved independence by securing a permanent position, your application will not be competitive.

In exceptional circumstances, if you hold a salaried position and can demonstrate a clear step change in career route (for example, enabling a focus on research when currently holding a teaching role), then you may apply. However, if awarded a fellowship, you must either give up your current role or change it to a proleptic appointment for the duration of the fellowship.

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

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 in a medical research field

• show evidence of career development and productivity across past appointments

• demonstrate clear plans to establish your own independent research niche and research plans and start to build your own research team

• show ambitious and credible ideas for the fellowship to enable a clear step change in your career towards research independence

If your application does not clearly address the requirements, it may be rejected prior to seeking expert reviewer comments.

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, but does 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.