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Our support to non-medical clinical academics

How we support non-medical clinical academics across the East Midlands

  • The Internship award (previously known as the Clinical Scholar “Bronze” award) is delivered by the University of Lincoln. The internship sits at the beginning of the clinical academic pathway and acts as a first step for healthcare professionals who may have an interest in research, but lack the skills or experience to pursue research projects on their own. For more information visit http://mhredtest.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ or follow on Twitter @ICAInternshipEM
  • The next stage of the pathway is a Masters in research, or equivalent training. The NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF) awards provide funds for successful applicants to fund personalised programmes of academic training that will equip awardees with the skills and experience to access doctoral level funding and dedicated time to prepare an application for a competitive, peer-reviewed doctoral level research training fellowship. One option for PCAF award holders is to complete a Masters in Research Methods, such as that provided by the University of Nottingham (other East Midlands based HEIs will also offer equivalent training): https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/courses/health-sciences/research-methods-(health)-ma.aspx
  • PCAF applicants must belong to one of the ICA eligible professions and be employed by a provider of health and/or care services that is providing at least 50% of its services free at the point of delivery. The next NIHR call for PCAF funding has yet to be announced; guidance from the panel chair can be found here: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/ica-pcaf-round-1-chairs-report/12218
  • The Pre-Doctoral Bridging programme (formally known as the Clinical Scholar “Silver” award) is delivered by the University of Nottingham. The pre-doctoral bridging programme is the next step up from the internship, and is designed to help post-masters students to apply for a PhD. This award provides opportunities to develop the role of the clinical academic researcher professionals to improve people’s health outcomes and the experiences they have of their care. For more information visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clinicalscholar/index.aspx or follow on Twitter @ICA_PreDoc_EM
  • NIHR ARC East Midlands offers a number of PhD funding opportunities. We currently support in excess of 70 students, of which more than 25 are clinical academics. ARC offers studentships, with an annual, competitive open call for funding, which enables students to carry out a PhD at any East Midlands based University, as well as a conference / research bursary funding competition that runs bi-annually. For more information, please contact the ARC’s Training Lead, Dr Emma Rowley (Emma.Rowley@nottingham.ac.uk). Twitter: @ARC_EM@E_Rowley
  • The “Gold” Post-doctoral awards are run collaboratively between the University of Nottingham (who hold the newly introduced Postdoctoral fellowship contract from the NIHR/Health Education England) and NIHR ARC East Midlands who continue to offer the original fellowships. The award is designed to support post-doctoral individuals in applying for the HEE/NIHR ICA Clinical Lectureship scheme or equivalent, which sees their time split between academia and the NHS to become clinical academic research leaders in their field. This unique award offers up to £20,000 in funding for development activities to support applications to a Clinical Lectureship scheme. Gold fellows are required to develop a programme of activities to support their learning needs prior to a Clinical Lectureship application. Gold awards are competitive, open competitions;there are currently 2 funding rounds each year (one for the NIHR/HEE award, and one for the ARC award).  For more information, please contact the ARC’s Training Lead, Dr Emma Rowley(Emma.Rowley@nottingham.ac.uk) or Professor Pip Logan, who leads the NIHR/HEE programme (Pip.Logan@nottingham.ac.uk). Twitter: @CLAHRC_EM@E_Rowley

  • The East Midlands Clinical-Academic Practitioner Network was established in late 2017 by NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands and the Institute of Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. It is the first network of its kind in the region; it is practitioner led and developed from the outset. It provides an opportunity to meet others who are combining research (or studying at MRes/PhD) whilst engaging in concurrent clinical practice. It aims to bring together non-medical clinical-academics to share experiences, understand the benefits and pitfalls and look at innovative ways to influence the National Strategic Agenda of this emerging career pathway. EMCAPN is free to join; members meet up twice a year. For more information, follow on Twitter @emcapn_2017
  • The East Midlands Clinical Academic Careers Advisory Group was formed in 2017. It brings together a group of interested parties who have a role within the region to support the development of clinical academic careers. The group is independent, and is not controlled by any organisation. Membership of the group includes individuals representing: trail-blazer Clinical Academic Apprenticeships; BRC Training Leads (Nottingham; Leicester);  Internship, Pre-Doctoral and Post-Doctoral fellowship management group; Council for Allied Health Professionals Research (CAPHR) – East Midlands Hub; East Midlands Clinical Academic Practitioner Network; East Midlands R&D NHS Leads (representing NHS Trusts and CCGs); Health Education England – Working across the Midlands & East;  HEI Leaders, including UG level course leads; NHS Leaders (Chief Nurse, Head of Therapies, Head of HR); NIHR Advocates for clinical academic careers (based in the region); NIHR ARC East Midlands Training Lead ; NIHR CRN; NIHR Research Design Service; Student representative (PPI). For more information about this group, please email Emma.Rowley@nottingham.ac.uk or Alice.Phillips@nottingham.ac.uk