Research Opportunities

The Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers provide up to £30,000 over 1-2 years for consumables, to support Clinical Lecturers who are looking to develop and strengthen their research careers by gathering data to strengthen their bids for longer-term fellowships and funding. The grants are run by the Academy of Medical Sciences and are open for applications twice every year.

Apply now for Round 33 of the Scheme.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 5 March 2025 at 4.00pm.

BTS is particularly keen to promote the scheme to members of the respiratory research community with an interest in TB, as its funding pool includes the 2017 Helen and Andrew Douglas Bequest, which was given to BTS to promote research into TB control. The Bequest is currently administered via the Academy using the Starter Grants scheme.

To be eligible to apply you need to:

• Have a PhD or MD.
• Hold a medical, dental or veterinary undergraduate degree and be registered with the General Medical Council, General Dental Council or Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
• Hold a clinical contract at a UK institution.

If you are a clinician in human or dental medicine, you must also:

1.   Be a research-active Clinical Lecturer

2.   Hold an NTN or NTN(A)

3.   Be within higher specialty training.

4.   Have undertaken a substantial period of research equivalent to a PhD or research MD, if you have qualified abroad with an MD.

5.   Note the following eligibility criteria relating to the timing of your CCT:

• If your CCT date will fall during the course of your proposed project, you must have secured protected research time throughout the proposed project (including the part taking place post-CCT). Please contact the Office to discuss your eligibility. 
• Clinical Lectureships in Primary Care and Dentistry are primarily awarded post-CCT and we welcome applications from these groups. However, for all other specialties candidates are not eligible to apply if they have already attained their CCT. 

Senior Clinical Lecturers and Clinical Psychologists are not eligible for this scheme.

These are 1–2 year fellowships to provide postdoctoral research experience for clinicians, working in a Crick research group on a project agreed between the fellow and the Crick group leader. 

The fellowships aim to:

Foster long-term clinical links and collaborations.
Provide clinicians with a postdoctoral extension of their research experience, and with scientific networking, training and career development opportunities.
Provide a platform from which fellows may apply for external funding, e.g. clinician scientist fellowships, to be held at the Crick or elsewhere.

Fellows at the Crick will be embedded in a vibrant multidisciplinary research community of more than 1000 scientists carrying out research to improve our understanding of health and disease. 

This opportunity would suit talented and motivated postdoctoral clinicians who are passionate about research and show outstanding potential for continuing a career in academic medicine and research. Applicants should have completed a medical degree, or equivalent clinical professional qualification, and hold, or be about to hold, a research PhD. 

The application submission window for Crick fully funded fellowships (route 1) is open from early March 2025 to end of April 2025.

Applications from fellows with funding for their own salary support (route 2) are welcome all year round. 

The Ruth Strauss Foundation ran a non-smoking lung cancer grants programme from 1 August to 7 November 2024. This grants round is now closed. 

Please watch this space for the Foundation's next grants call in summer 2025.