Pre-doctoral Clinical Research Excellence Fellowships

• Health professionals (registered with a UK health professional regulatory body) are eligible to apply, including nurses, midwives, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, healthcare scientists, psychologists and all other registered professions allied to healthcare.
• Applicants who are not currently registered with a UK health professional regulatory body can apply if they are expected to be registered by the time of the interview in January 2026. Researchers/scientists who are not registered health professionals are not eligible
• Applicants should have a relevant professional qualification or degree with distinction/honours or previous research experience. We recognise the pathway to research and level of experience may differ depending on the profession and this will be taken into consideration.
• The aim of the fellowships is to provide protected research time embedded and supported in the optimal environment for clinical academic career progression. Fellows should be based wherever is best for the type of research activity, optimal research supervision/ mentoring, support structures/professional development, requirements for professional registration and validation etc.
• These fellowships are offered at either 12 months full time or up to 24 months for NMAHPS, at less than 100% FTE. Continued clinical activity (up to a maximum of 2 PAs/0.2 FTE/20% of time) is permitted within the 100% FTE matched salary, only when relevant to the research project
• Applicants must not have registered for, or completed a PhD or MDRes, nor have registered for an MPhil, with the expectation that this will progress to a PhD.
• This scheme aims to support researchers who are intending to pursue a clinical academic career – i.e. maintain both clinical professional activity and research in the long-term. An outline of how both previous experience/training and future plans demonstrate this is required in the application.
• These fellowships are designed to support candidates towards embarking on doctoral research, not Masters degrees.

Fellows will be supervised by scientists and/or clinical researchers with a proven track record of translational research, and previous experience of successful supervision of personal fellowship-holders. Supervisors must be employed by one of the organisations of King’s Health Partners (King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, or South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust), and fellows should be embedded in a vibrant academic environment which will support their clinical academic progress. Dual supervision, including cross-partner and cross-faculty supervision, is strongly welcome.

Successful applicants will have access to a programme of research training and career development through KCATO and other entities across the KHP organisations. This will include mentoring, research skills training, professional development and grant/publication writing support.

• The first supervisor must be research-active staff member employed by one of the KHP organisations. Second and/or third supervisors, either from within or outside KHP, are permitted.
• At the point of application, fellows should identify a first and second supervisor as a minimum. At least one supervisor must be a King’s College London employee or hold an adjunct appointment.
• Supervisors should have a track record of successful supervision of health professional researchers, in supporting them to obtain external competitive fellowship funding.
• At least one supervisor must be a clinical academic health professional.
• Supervisors can be the first supervisor for a maximum of one fellowship application but can be second or third supervisor on other applications.
• At least one supervisor must be a registered health professional/clinical academic.

Postdoctoral researchers without fellowship supervision experience can be supervisors, providing they have experience of supervising shorter projects (e.g. BSc/MSc) and are supported by a more experienced second supervisor. Second supervisors are expected to meet the criteria listed above. Details of the second supervisor must be supplied at the time of application.

Details of supervisors who have expressed interest in supervising a fellow for the 2026/2027 cohort can be found below. Including the professional group(s) supervisors research would be suited to, and which groups they would support a fellowship application from:  Click here to view a list of potential supervisors

You can submit a project with a supervisor who is currently not listed, please ask them to contact the CTM at translationalmedicine@kcl.ac.uk for a link to submit their EOI. Please note that only one application can be submitted by either a prospective fellow or a first supervisor.

Applications will be assessed against a number of criteria including project (e.g. feasibility, strategic fit, contribution to health equity, PPIE, value for money, contribution to patient/community outcomes), person (including research experience and potential, training plan), and place (including local environment and opportunities for academic development, supervisory team, networks and mentoring). Please contact translationalmedicine@kcl.ac.uk if you wish to discuss if your project is within remit.

Supervisors

Q: Can the first supervisor be outside of KHP?
A: No, your first supervisor/ manager should be an employee of one of the King’s Health Partners organisations - but a second or third supervisor could be someone outside KHP.

Q: Where can I find the projects and supervisors?
A: Please visit this link for a list of supervisors who are interested in hosting a fellow, including which professional group(s) their research would be suited to, and who they would support a fellowship application from. 

Projects should be developed jointly, based on mutual areas of interest. In some cases, we might publish some project ideas proposed by supervisors.

Q: Do we make an application before approaching proposed supervisors?
A: No, applications should be worked up between the candidate and the supervisor jointly, once the supervisor(s) is identified. 

Eligibility

Q: Are pharmacist /nurses / midwives / allied health professionals qualified to apply for the fellowship?
A: Yes, these fellowships are open to all health professional registered with a UK health professional regulatory body. This includes nurses, midwives, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, healthcare scientists, psychologists and all other registered professions allied to healthcare. We strongly encourage applications from non-medical health professionals; our ambition is to broaden the health professions represented amongst CTM funded fellows, and therefore we are specifically ringfencing fellowships for NMAHPs in this call.

Q: Would someone be eligible for this programme if they have already completed an NIHR funded predoctoral fellowship, but wish to use the funding for further research activities like feasibility studies, systematic reviews etc?
A: The funding should provide protected time to work towards a competitive doctoral fellowship application. Candidates will not be penalised for prior experience of pre-doctoral research funding.

Salary, Consumables, and Bursary

Q: For potential fellows whose salary cannot be matched within the published salary limit, are they allowed to apply on a pro rata basis?
A: It would be reasonable to have a discussion on this basis. You are encouraged to get in touch to confirm eligibility before you submit an application.

Q: Can any funding awarded be switched later from salary to consumables or vice versa depending on the outcome of other grants for the candidate?
A: No, the funding offered is specifically for salary plus up to £5,000 research costs. If the candidate secured alternative fellowship funding during the award, the award will usually finish.

Q: Am I required to set up my expenses/consumables on King’s College London Work Tribe prior to submitting my application by the deadline? Or would you just like an outline of these expenses?
A: No you are not required to set up your expenses/consumable on King’s College London Work Tribe prior to submitting your application.  The panel will look at the outline of your expenses described in your application.

Q: For the consumables up to a value of £5,000 what kind of items/consumables can be claimed for? Would attendance at conferences be acceptable?
A: Attendance at conferences would be funded through the bursary rather than consumables. Consumables could include lab-based materials and funds towards PPIE activity. As part of this fellowship, it will be expected you have a budget line for PPIE activity. This may come out of the consumables budget or another source but needs to be indicated in the application.

Fellowship timeline and details

Q: What is the latest point in time the fellowship can be started at?
A: We anticipate fellows starting no later than the end of September 2026. However, considerations will be made on a case-by-case basis. We will not accept requests to start later than December 2026.

Q: Is it a definite 12-month timeline?  For example, if the project running took a clinical portion of time, could you extend the fellowship out to accommodate this?  
A: This scheme is offered as one year of funding to allow protected research time and training for health professionals working in translational medicine. The fellowships are designed to support a short period of time to pump-prime an external fellowship. Anything beyond 12 months would need a strong rationale and be considered on a case-by-case basis. This fellowship can be taken at less than 100% FTE (minimum 50% FTE) and spread over the equivalent period for NMAHPs. 

Q: Would you consider an application to take up the funding part-time alongside a clinical role?
A:  This pre-doctoral fellowship is designed to provide protected research time with one year of 100% FTE salary funding. Continued clinical activity (up to a maximum of 2 PAs/0.2 FTE/20% of time) is permitted within the fellowship, if relevant to the research project. This fellowship can be taken at less than 100% FTE (minimum 50% FTE) and spread over the equivalent time period for Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health Professionals (NMAHPs). 

Q: Can you remain clinical if you take up the fellowship full time?
A: The fellowships can include clinical activity at a maximum of one day a week (2 PAs), as long as the clinical activity is relevant to the research project.

Q: Can you use this to build an application for a Doctoral clinical academic fellowship (DCAF)?
A: Yes, this is the intended outcome of the fellowship.

Q: Is it possible to register for a PhD during the pre-doctoral training year (with a view to apply for funding the remaining two years of the PhD after this year)?
A: No, this is pre-doctoral funding designed to pump prime your application for external funding for a doctorate. If you wish to start your PhD before the end your Pre-doctoral training year your award will finish when you commence your doctorate. 

Q: Is the expectation that the subsequent Doctorate is completed at King’s College London?
A: The aim of the scheme is to build capacity across King’s Health Partners. The scheme provides support for fellows to apply for a competitive doctoral fellowship from an external funder. The doctoral fellowship would be hosted at one of the organisations of KHP and the degree would be awarded by King’s College London.

Q: Is there a central place where applicants can see what training courses are on offer by King’s Health Partners for our development and training plan?
A: Find out more about the King’s Clinical Academic Training Office (KCATO) which offers advice, best practice and information on navigating a clinical academic career. You should also speak to your supervisor(s) about training and development opportunities available locally e.g. in the department. A bursary is also offered of up to £1000 for conference travel or advanced training not available across KHP.

Application process

Q: Are there any rules/guidelines for the submission format of the two-page scientific rationale and experimental design?
A: For your two-page scientific rationale and experimental design we would recommend the font being no smaller than Arial/Calibri 11.  You are welcome to include diagrams if helpful but they should fit into the 2-page limit.

Q: Can I upload my full CV?  There are elements I’d like to include in addition to the information requested but there is no space on the form to do this.
A: No, our application form is where you add your CV information. It uses the "narrative CV" format that has been adopted by UKRI. The questions will allow the assessment panel to do a fair and consistent assessment against our criteria.

Selection process and assessment criteria

Q: What is the selection process, who is on the panel and what are the key criteria the panel is assessing?
A: The key criteria are on the call guidance.  Eligible applications will be reviewed by a panel. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview. The panel will consist of colleagues from across King’s Health Partners, the GST Charity, and patient and public representatives. We will run parallel shortlisting and interview panels for doctors/dentists, and for NMAHPs, with appropriate representation from the relevant professions assessing candidates. 

Q: Is priority given to certain themes?  
A: No, we do not currently have specific themes priority, but the research should fit into the broad domains described in the guidance above.

Q: I have no research experience, would doing the clinical research internship be necessary for the application of pre-doctoral fellowship?  
A: Applicants should have a relevant professional qualification or degree with distinction/honours or previous research experience. Completing a prior research internship may be beneficial in terms of experience, but it is not essential. Please also refer to the assessment criteria in the guidance.