Clinician Scientist Fellowship

Overview

This fellowship supports clinician scientists who have gained a higher research degree, have some postdoctoral experience and are ready to make the first step towards developing their own research niche.

Key information Timelines

Applications are reviewed twice per year. Upcoming application deadline (full): 10 September 2026

Funding period

5 years

Funding amount

Typically up to £1m

Who is eligible?

Our core eligibility criteria are outlined below. You may contact us for an informal and confidential discussion of your proposal prior to submitting your application. We’ll advise on your eligibility and provide guidance on submitting your application.

If you would like to enquire about a potential application, please submit a CV and an eligibility enquiry form.

Download our eligibility enquiry form(DOCX, 60 KB)

Email fellowships@cancer.org.uk

The applicant

You can apply for a Clinician Scientist Fellowship if you’re a clinician who:

is eligible to complete your training, practices medicine in the UK and holds GMC registration (or will hold, if currently practicing outside the UK)

has a higher degree (MD/PhD)

has a national training number (NTN or NTN(A)) with clear plans for obtaining your Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) by the end of your fellowship, or has already obtained your CCT or equivalent

has the support of an appropriate research group and supervisor at an eligible UK university or research institute (or Cancer Research UK core-funded institute, provided you don’t receive core funding)

can demonstrate that you meet the range of skills and experience outlined in the ‘Develop independence’ section of our competency framework

You may not apply if you have previously held another postdoctoral fellowship similar to a Clinician Scientist Fellowship (with the exception of NIHR Clinical Lectureships) or if you hold a permanent academic position at a higher education institute or research institute that supports your salary.

View our competency framework

Clinical service commitments

You’ll need to remain clinically active during your fellowship. We want to ensure fellows have sufficient protected research time whilst balancing clinical training and duties required for your speciality.

For consultants or equivalent, we expect that you spend no more than 20-40% of your time or two to four Programmed Activities on clinical activity. We expect the higher number of clinical sessions to be particularly relevant for individuals in craft specialities.

If you’ve obtained your CCT, your research proposal should ideally link to your clinical specialism.

For clinical trainees, you can make a case for up to 50% of your time towards your clinical commitments ie up to five Programmed Activities with sufficient justification.

Host institutions

All our fellows are hosted in UK universities, medical schools, hospitals or research institutes. Most UK university departments are eligible, but if unclear please contact us before applying to check your host institution is eligible. You can be hosted by one of our institutes as long as your salary is not core funded at the time of application.

At the outline application stage, you will have to identify a host organisation for your award.

You may request to undertake a period of postdoctoral research training outside of the UK for a period of your fellowship, as long as it fits with your research proposal and career ambitions. To do this, please name the proposed institution and group you plan to work with alongside a strong justification for this request as part of the research proposal. This shouldn’t normally be anywhere you’ve previously worked.

Expectations for host institutions

We expect host institutions to:

provide you with a full-time position for the duration of the award

provide you with the appropriate academic status and benefits equivalent to academic staff developing their own research niche who are able to co-supervise PhD students and recruit a small number of support staff eg a technician

provide you with a practical working environment and associated staff, including required office or lab space and specialist facilities, where required

ensure a supportive research and training environment, including providing you and your staff with relevant training, mentoring and support in line with our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) policy and the Researcher Development Concordat

ensure there is a clear process of onboarding and planning when you join, including workload expectations and clear communication about a formal review and/or promotion process with objective assessment criteria and expected timelines

Host institutions must also take responsibility for ensuring any funding application content they approve for submission is not in breach of our research integrity guidelines.

Read our CPD policy

Explore the Researcher Development Concordat

Read our guidelines for research conduct

Other funding bodies

You can submit parallel applications for the same project to us and different funding bodies. However, if successful, you may only accept one award. If applicable, please notify us and disclose this in your application under 'Other Funding'.

Reapplying if unsuccessful

You can reapply for the fellowship if you have been unsuccessful previously at the outline or full application stage. However, we do have a restriction on the number of applications we can accept, and the Research Careers Committee generally only considers two submissions per applicant per career stage as defined by our competency framework.

If you are applying for a second time, you must contact us before starting a new application.

We do not have a strict time limit between reapplications, but we ask that you reconsider your eligibility for your intended scheme in terms of career stage, considering our competency framework and how you have addressed any previous feedback from the Research Careers Committee. This should be included in your cover letter as part of your application.

Flexible working arrangements

Career breaks (due to personal circumstances), part-time working and changes in discipline will be taken into consideration by our panels and committees to make appropriate adjustments when assessing your record of outputs, research achievements and career progression.

You can apply on a part-time or flexible working basis if this fits with the needs of your host institution and they approve your request.

If you’d like to apply on a part-time basis, you should do so from the outline application stage. Please contact us before starting your application to discuss your proposed parameters for the award and how to include the part-time request in your application.

Learn about our flexible research career support

What is suitable for this scheme?

The remit of this award covers the following research areas. You can apply in one or more of them, as long as your research proposal is cancer-relevant and clearly articulates the cancer-related question you're focusing on.

We’re particularly interested in proposals addressing areas of strategic priority for us including early detection, prevention, children and young people’s cancer and research in cancers of unmet need such as brain, lung, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver and stomach cancer.

For fellowship proposals that use samples from ongoing trials, please consider including details of patient recruitment, and contingency plans should the trial be paused for any reason, to support the feasibility of the proposed work.

Read our research strategy

Basic biological research

This applies to any cancer-relevant area of basic biological (discovery) research that will help transform our fundamental understanding of cancer, including:

cancer cell metabolism or genetics

cell transformation and oncogenesis

genomic instability and cell cycle

inflammation

migration, invasion, metastasis and tumour dormancy

tumour immunology, biology, microenvironment, heterogeneity, evolution

Studies may include the use of model systems (eg yeast/fly/mouse/cell lines etc) or primary tumour material. Please specify how the chosen model relates to the question being addressed.

Preclinical studies

Research that generates biological data for developing therapeutics, including:

identification and functional characterisation of biological targets in cell lines, primary tumour material or model systems

biological mechanisms of therapeutic interventions

mechanisms of resistance to therapies

biological investigation of exceptional responders or non-responders

discovery research to identify and/or provide biological insight regarding potential biomarkers utilising samples from defined patient cohorts (eg retrospective trial or cohort)

Imaging

The following areas of imaging research:

whole-body preclinical studies

cellular imaging to address questions of tumour biology in animal models or through whole-body imaging