Improving how we present our career development opportunities

The way we present our research career development opportunities is changing. This will create a more accessible and simple application process. 

Since 2018, the NIHR Academy has worked to break down the barriers to career progression in research. But, our portfolio of career development opportunities has become complex. Applicants are often eligible to apply for different programmes at the same career level, which can be confusing. 

As such we will be simplifying how the schemes are presented so it is less confusing for the applicant to know which scheme to apply for. In doing this we won’t be reducing any of the opportunities available or reducing investment by NIHR into research career development.

Clear benefits for researchers

• By simplifying the language and acronyms we use to describe our awards, it makes it easier to navigate and communicate to wider audiences
• We are able to remove duplication across career levels, without losing our background-specific focus
• Committees that assess applications are arranged based on research area, professional context and setting. 

Improving the navigation of career development opportunities

To help simplify our offering, we’ve aligned our awards across predoctoral, doctoral and postdoctoral levels. This means from 2025 we will have 3 career-level awards to replace what was 10.

Our NIHR Fellowship, NIHR Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic (ICA) Fellowship and Local Authority Academic Fellowship (LAAF) programmes will now be part of a new single award at each career level. 

Predoctoral Award

Our awards are currently known as Predoctoral Fellowship, Predoctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship, Predoctoral Local Authority Fellowship and In-Practice Fellowship. They will be simplified into a single Predoctoral Award. 

The Predoctoral Award will be reviewed by four committees:

• Methodology Committee
• Primary Care Committee
• Health and Care Professionals Committee
• Local Authority, Social Care and Public Health Committee

Doctoral Award

Our awards are currently known as Doctoral Fellowship, Doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship and Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship. They will be simplified into a single Doctoral Award. 

The Doctoral Award will be reviewed by three committees:

• Doctoral Committee
• Health and Care Professionals Committee
• Local Authority, Social Care and Public Health Committee

Postdoctoral Award

Our awards are currently known as Advanced Fellowship, Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship and Advanced Local Authority Fellowship. They will be simplified into a single Postdoctoral Award. 

The Postdoctoral Award will be reviewed by three committees:

• Postdoctoral Committee
• Health and Care Professionals Committee
• Local Authority, Social Care and Public Health Committee

No opportunities are being lost

By maintaining several background-specific funding committees for each award, we will keep focus on professional contexts. We will review applications on professional context, setting and area of research interest. 

This means we will keep the emphasis and visibility that our programme names provided to specific audiences. This is something we’re keen to highlight to all potential applicants. 

Keeping the research community informed 

Over the next few months, we will work with partners in research and health and social care communities to spread the word. 

The first simplified award to launch will be the Predoctoral Award in January 2025. Doctoral and Postdoctoral awards will run twice a year.

All our other research career development opportunities will continue as they currently are. A full list of opportunities can be found on the career development opportunities page. 

We will share information ahead of each new award launch, so make sure you’re following us on X and LinkedIn, and are signed up to the NIHR funding and support newsletter to receive the latest information.