Predoctoral Fellowships

 We offer funding through 4 Predoctoral Fellowships to support your career development.

Predoctoral Fellowship (PF)

This Fellowship is for people looking to start or advance a career in health and social care research methodology.

It can support a Masters degree or provide the opportunity to gain additional training and development to advance to the next level of your career.

You could hold a Fellowship full-time, or part-time for up to 24 months of the full-time equivalent duration.

Why apply?

You could use your Fellowship to undertake a Masters degree in a relevant subject. 

If you already hold a relevant Masters degree, you could gain extra support and training for the next stage of your career. For example, informing a PhD application.

Your salary will also be covered for the full duration of the funding, and additional training and development costs are provided.

If you are successful, you will become an NIHR Academy Member.

Who can apply?

To be eligible you must be planning a career as a methodologist in the following methodological areas:

• medical statistics
• health economics
• clinical trial design
• modelling
• bioinformatics
• qualitative research
• mixed methods
• epidemiology
• health data science 

Your host organisation should be a higher education institution, NHS body, or other provider of health or care services based in England.

For full eligibility information please refer to our Predoctoral Fellowship guidance page.

Find out who has had a Predoctoral Fellowship

What are we looking for?

We are looking for ambitious individuals who are committed to a career as a methodologist. 

We are not able to fund clinical applicants looking to undertake training in research methods. If you wish to develop a career as a clinical academic please consider a:

• Predoctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (PCAF)

• Predoctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF)

• In-Practice Fellowship (IPF)

How to apply

You will submit your application in late January for fellowships to start between September and March. Check the funding opportunity page for more information including dates.

What happens after you apply

If your application is eligible, it will be considered by the Predoctoral Fellowship Funding Committee.

Help with your application

The following documents provide guidance for completing an application:

• application guidance
• Chair’s report
• potential supervisors 

Webinar

Watch our webinar which explains more about developing a career in research methodology with our Predoctoral Fellowship:

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Predoctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (PCAF)

This fellowship offers salaried time for you to develop a doctoral Fellowship application. You could also undertake funded academic training to give you the skills and experience to access doctoral-level funding. 

Why apply?

This Fellowship offers 2 distinct streams, so you can choose the level of support to suit your requirements. Both offer funding to support the submission of a doctoral Fellowship application.

Both funding streams provide:

• salary costs
• training and development costs
• research development support costs

You can also request up to 20% paid clinical and practice skills development time. 

If you are successful, you will become an NIHR Academy Member.

Who can apply

The Predoctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship is open to early-career researchers working in health and care, excluding doctors and dentists. 

To apply, you should be committed to a practitioner academic career, combining research with continued practice and professional development. 

To be eligible for the Fellowship, you must hold registration with one of the ICA Programme Eligible Regulatory Bodies by the proposed start date. 

For full eligibility information please refer to our Predoctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship guidance page.

What we are looking for

We’re looking for early-career researchers who aspire to a practitioner academic career. You should be committed to developing both academically and in your professional practice while on the Fellowship. 

How to apply

Funding rounds open in January each year. Check the funding opportunity page for more information including dates.

Help with your application

The following documents provide guidance for completing an application:

• advice from the Chair of the Funding Committee
• application guidance
• webinar - learn more about the Fellowship

Webinar

Learn more about the Fellowship:

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Predoctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF)

These Fellowships support individuals based within English local authority settings to develop as health or social care researchers. It can support a Masters degree or preparation for a PhD application.

Why apply

This Fellowship provides funding for:

• your salary
• time to prepare an application for a PhD fellowship
• Masters level training
• conference attendance 

You can keep your existing employment contract and salary for the duration of the Fellowship. 

If you are successful, you will become an NIHR Academy Member.

Who can apply

You should want to develop a career that combines research activity with continued practice and professional development. To be eligible, you must be employed in England by:

• a local authority
• a provider of local authority commissioned services
• a non-profit organisation (such as a charity) that provides services on behalf of a local authority, or supports a local authority in meeting its objectives

You do not need professional social worker or clinician status to apply to this scheme. Eligible clinicians and social workers are welcome to apply, but should not apply to another of our career development awards at the same time. 

For full eligibility information please refer to our Predoctoral Local Authority Fellowship guidance page.

Find out who holds a Predoctoral Local Authority Fellowship

What we are looking for

We are looking for ambitious individuals who show a strong interest in research. You should be committed to developing your research skills to be able to undertake further doctoral study. 

How to apply

Funding rounds open in January each year. Check the funding opportunity page for more information including dates. 

Your application will be reviewed by the Funding Committee. You will not be invited to interview as part of the selection process.

What happens after you apply

If your application is eligible, it will be considered by the Predoctoral Fellowship Funding Committee.

Help with your application

The following documents provide guidance for completing an application:

• application guidance
• Chair’s report
• summary for managers

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In-Practice Fellowship (IPF)

Our In-Practice Fellowship provides predoctoral academic training to all health and care professionals working in primary care.

If your application is successful, you will split your time equally between a clinical position and the funded academic training.

Why apply

You will gain the skills and experience to prepare a competitive application for a doctoral-level research training Fellowship. 

Who can apply

This Fellowship is open to all health and care professionals working in primary care, including (but not restricted to): 

• general practitioners
• general dental practitioners
• community dentists
• nurses
• midwives
• pharmacists
• health visitors

For full eligibility information please refer to our In-Practice Fellowship guidance page.

What we are looking for

We are looking for individuals with a commitment to improving health and healthcare through research. You may have received little formal academic training, but should be able to demonstrate your commitment to a career as a clinical academic. 

How to apply

Funding rounds open in February each year. Check the funding opportunity page for more information including dates.

What happens after you apply

If your application is eligible, it will be considered by the Predoctoral Fellowship Funding Committee.

Help with your application

• advice from the Chair of the Funding Committee

• application guidance

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