Clinical Trial Fellowship Award
About this scheme
Key information
The intention of this award is for you to gain clinical trial experience, with the ultimate objective of leading high impact, practice changing cancer clinical trials in the future as a Chief Investigator.
Applications must be made by you, the fellow in collaboration with a UKCRC registered CTU.
As the fellow, you should be the Lead Applicant on the proposal. You must:
- be clinically trained,
- have completed your Foundation Programme,
- be within your specialty and run-through training period*,
- be eligible to complete your training and practise medicine in the UK,
- have the range of skills and experience outlined in the ‘Develop Independence’ career stage in our Fellowships Competency Framework.
*if you’re planning to complete your clinical training (CCT) and acquire a consultant position during the fellowship, please explain how you will ensure that you will complete the fellowship post-CCT, including evidence of protected time to spend on the fellowship.
The Joint Lead Applicant should be a senior member of staff at a CRUK Clinical Trial Unit or other UKCRC-registered CTU, who has agreed to host the fellow for the duration of the award.
The next full application deadline will be 12th September 2024, with interviews scheduled for October 2024.
We will provide funding up to a maximum of £50,000 per year for up to three years, to cover 50% of:
- Your salary
- Running expenses
- Equipment
We expect your host institution (or another funding partner) to provide funding for the remaining 50% of the award and we will require confirmation of this matched funding at the time of application.
Please see the Clinical Trial Fellowships Guidelines (PDF) for further information.
We're very supportive of part-time working and for a Clinical Trial Fellowship Award we expect at least 0.5 FTE or 80% of your working hours, whichever is greater, to be spent on academic research. Find out more about how we support part-time working and extended leave in our flexible working policies.
Our fellowships offer a range of benefits beyond funding, including access to networking and training opportunities.
From 2023, we strongly encourage Clinical Trial Fellows to take up the opportunity to observe a meeting of the CRUK Clinical Research Monitoring Panel (CRMP) as part of their training. Further details will be provided to Fellows during their award.
How to apply to this scheme
Application process overview
Clinical Trial Fellowship Award applications are considered once a year and involve four steps:
- Contact the CRUK Office (fellowships@cancer.org.uk) to discuss your eligibility and the suitability of your proposal. Please provide:
- Your CV;
- A short summary (max 1 page) of your proposed programme including how you will gain experience in different aspects of clinical trials and how you will be collaborating with the CTU;
- Your motivation for completing the fellowship at this point in your career;
- How you will manage taking time out of your speciality training period (and when you will CCT), including how much time you intend to spend on the fellowship vs any clinical commitments.
- If eligible to apply, the CRUK Office will provide a direct link to our Grant Management System, Flexi-Grant, which will allow you to submit an application. You will need to have provided all of the required information and received the link to apply at least 1 month before the application deadline in order to be considered in the current round.
- Interview with the Clinical Trial Fellowship Expert Review Panel. Depending on the number of applications received, applications may be shortlisted prior to interview.
- Funding recommendation is made by the Clinical Trial Fellowship Expert Review Panel and final decision is made by the Research Careers Committee.
The next full application deadline will be 12th September 2024, with interviews scheduled for October 2024.
Before you begin your application
- You must develop your application with the involvement of a UKCRC-registered CTU
- You must read the Clinical Trial Fellowship Guidelines before starting your application, even if you have applied for funding with us before
- You must read the costs guidance to understand what we will and will not fund
All applications must be made online through our online grant management system FlexiGrant, and the application must be approved online by the host institution.
Applications are considered on the basis of:
- Whether the duration is sufficient for you to gain suitable clinical trial experience
- The suitability of the supervision and training to support you, and whether an appropriate training plan has been developed in collaboration with the CTU
- The quality of clinical trial experience to be gained from the Fellowship
- Whether your ambitions are aligned with the proposal and with the aims of the scheme
- Whether you have the appropriate skills and experience for your career stage, according to the Competency Framework for Fellowships
- Likelihood of successful delivery of the training programme proposed
- Alignment with our Research Strategy and Clinical Research Statement of Intent
- Appropriate justification of costs
The 5 year rolling success rate (financial year 2017-2022) from application to funding for this scheme is 50%.
Our priorities are set out in our Clinical Research Statement of Intent.
Applications are assessed by the Clinical Trial Fellowship Expert Review Panel, which forms part of the Research Careers Committee (RCC).
Chair of the Clinical Trial Fellowship Expert Review Panel
Professor Dean Fennell - University of Leicester
Members of the Clinical Trial Fellowship Expert Review Panel
Alison Howe - Leadership and supporting skills assessor
Emma Kinloch - Salivary Gland Cancer UK
Sarah Pearson - University of Oxford
Dr Harriet Walter - University of Leicester
Other members may be co-opted to the Panel if their specific expertise is required.
Cancer Research UK contact details
You must contact the CRUK Office for this scheme to discuss your eligibility and proposal before starting your application.
Please contact Dr Catherine Cremona, Research Grants Manager at fellowships@cancer.org.uk to discuss your eligibility.
Disability and accessibility support
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