Grants
Clinical Research Fellowship
Grant amount:
Salary + up to £20,000 a year
Grant deadline:
26 July 2023
Clinical Research Fellowships are designed for promising clinically qualified researchers who have delivered previous research projects with evidence of impactful outputs and have clear plans to establish their own research ‘niche’.
Amount: Salary + up to £20,000 a year
This provides funds for up to three years of salary (at Speciality Registrar level or equivalent university scales), and a contribution toward research and travel costs.
Duration: Up to three years
Deadlines
Applications open
May 2023
Deadline
Wednesday 26 July 2023, 5pm
Funding outcome
Mid-Feb 2024
Clinical Research Fellowships are intended for clinically qualified researchers, including trainee Old Age/General Psychiatrists, Neurologists, Clinical Psychologists and similar specialists, who ideally already hold a PhD. For a detailed description of the skills and training you will be expected to demonstrate, please read our Early Career Researcher Framework. If you are clinically qualified candidate looking for a scheme to support a PhD, you should apply through our Clinical Research Training Fellowship scheme.
The prospective Clinical Fellow should have delivered previous research project(s) with impactful outputs, such as publications and conference presentations, and demonstrate an upward trajectory. Prospective Clinical Fellows should be looking to refine their growing tool-box of skills that will serve as a strong basis for future independent research activity, whilst being increasingly recognised for their specialist expertise. Researchers who hold tenure are not eligible to apply.
Clinical Fellowships should be applied for by the prospective Fellow. The prospective Fellow and point of contact must be based in a UK academic/research institution. However, the application can include researchers or institutions outside the UK.
Fellows are required to have secured at least one Supervisor, a senior established investigator in the institution where the Fellowship is to be held. At least one Supervisor must be clinically qualified (UK MRCP, MRCPsych, BPS accreditation, or equivalent) with an honorary clinical contract. At least one Supervisor, preferably the lead Supervisor, must have a contract (fixed term or tenure) with the host institution covering the proposed duration of the Fellowship. If the lead Supervisor does not hold either a fixed contract or tenure, the application must include a co-Supervisor that does. The Supervisor(s) will provide the required facilities, have oversight of the Fellow and their research programme, and contribute actively to the training of the Fellow.
If the project requires ethical approval and/or Home Office licences, the award is dependent upon the requisite approvals being granted.
Clinical Research Fellowship award holders are eligible to apply for a fast-tracked visa via the Global Talent Visa fast-track Fellowship Route. The grant holder may apply for the fast-tracked endorsement up to 5 years after the end of their fellowship.
For more information, and to apply, please visit GOV.UK or the UKRI website.
See our Eligibility Guidelines for further information.
Applications are made via our grant application website.
Grant schemes only appear on this website when the round is open and we are accepting new applications.
View an example Clinical Research Fellowship application form.
Alzheimer’s Research UK is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities and follows their guidelines for best practice in peer review. Grants are awarded entirely on scientific merit in relation to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s remit and on the basis of open competition. The quality of the application and applicants is the key determinant of outcome, although the strength of the dementia research environment within the institution is also considered.
Triage
Grant Review Board (GRB) members are asked to read a subset of applications related to their area of expertise and provide a score based on whether an application should proceed to the next stage of review.
External review
Applications requesting funding of over £50,000 per year are subjected to external peer review. Applications are sent to researchers in the UK and worldwide who specialise in the area of the application, but who do not have a conflict of interest and are not a member of the GRB. The comments made by the external reviewers are made available to the GRB members.
Review response
The applicants are provided with anonymised copies of the external reviews and given the opportunity to provide a written response.
Lay review
Applications for research studies that involve human subjects require lay review. Applicants are requested to complete a lay summary of their application which is sent to lay review volunteers for comments. The comments made by lay reviewers are fed back to the applicant for rebuttal and are also made available to the GRB members.
Discussion in meeting
Each application is allocated to two GRB members, based roughly on their areas of expertise. The two members will present the application to the rest of the board, including any relevant information from external reviews or applicant responses. A short discussion will follow before the GRB score the application and decide whether or not to call the prospective Fellow to interview.
Interview
Interviews normally take place in the fortnight following the GRB meeting. The interview panel comprises a subset of the GRB and the Director of Research at ARUK. The prospective Fellow will be asked to give a 15-20 minute PowerPoint presentation on their work.
Trustee meeting
Those applications recommended for funding by the GRB are presented to the trustees for final approval.
Success rate
In the last three years Alzheimer’s Research UK has received 19 applications for the Clinical Research Fellowship. 4 of these projects were awarded funding.
The terms and conditions of grant differ for each grant scheme and contracts are drawn up individually once the grants have been awarded.
View an example award letter and contract for a Clinical Research Fellowship grant.
Monitoring
All grant holders are expected to report on the progress of their project on a regular basis. Read more about our reporting requirements on the measuring impact page.
For more information about any of the grant schemes or the application process please contact the Research Team research@alzheimersresearchuk.org or 0300 111 5555
All applications submitted to Alzheimer’s Research UK are subject to the policies found in Research guidelines and policies. Please ensure you familiarise yourself with these policies and contact research@alzheimersresearchuk.org with any queries.