Academic Clinical Fellowship
The Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) is a clinical specialty training post in medicine or dentistry that incorporates academic training.
On an Academic Clinical Fellowship, you will spend:
- 75% of your time in specialist clinical training
- 25% of your time in research or educationalist training
Locally Funded Integrated Academic Training Posts
The NIHR will recognise locally funded posts developed by IAT partnerships providing they meet the following criteria relating to the appointment and support for doctors and/or dentists in schemes that:
- Appoint through national competition
- Offer 3 year ACF (4 years for GPs) and 4 year CL appointments with 25% and 50% protected academic training, respectively
- Provide access to formal training in research methods and research governance
- Have a joint clinical and academic Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP)
- Provide similar supervision/mentorship arrangements for ACF and CL appointees
- Offer a £1k per annum travel bursary to attend conferences.
Individuals in NIHR recognised locally funded posts will be classed as NIHR Academy members.
To apply for NIHR recognition of a locally-funded ACF or CL please email IAT@nihr.ac.uk.
Duration
This post has a standard duration of 3 years or up to 4 years for GPs.
Alternatively, you could take your fellowship part-time. This would extend it for up to a maximum of 5 years, or 6 years if you are a GP. The academic component of your post must remain at 25% of your whole-time equivalent.
Why apply
You will have access to Masters-level research training to develop your academic skills alongside your clinical career.
Who can apply
To be eligible for an ACF you must be:
- medically or dentally qualified
- at the early stages of speciality training
- able to demonstrate outstanding potential for a career as a clinical academic
- able to meet the clinical specification for the advertised post
We award the ACF posts in medicine through our IAT Competition. Fellowship research projects awarded through IAT must be aligned to our priority research themes.
How to apply
The Fellowship is open to applications in October each year. Visit the ACF funding opportunity page for more information including dates.
You will apply via the NHS online training application system, Oriel.