Academic careers

We are delighted to announce that the Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers scheme has been renewed for a further four years, thanks to the support of the scheme's funding consortium, comprising the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Arthritis Research UK and Prostate Cancer UK.

c£4.5M will be distributed in grants through funding rounds held twice a year for four years (January 2013 - December 2016), with closing dates in March (for a June panel) and September (for a December panel) each year.

Current and next rounds

Applications submitted to the March deadline are currently being processed, thank you to all who applied.  The Selection Panel meet in June with decisions announced by mid-July. 

The Scheme will reopen in July and the application form will be available below.  Applications will be accepted up to 5pm on Monday 9 September and will be considered by our Selection Panel in December with decisions announced by mid-January.

Scheme overview

The Academy works in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Arthritis Research UK and Prostate Cancer UK to deliver this grants programme for research-active Clinical Lecturers.

The scheme provides modest ‘starter’ funds to enable research active Clinical Lecturers to pursue their research work, gather preliminary data and so further strengthen their applications for longer-term fellowships and funding.

We will only fund research of the very highest quality where it is clearly demonstrated that the findings will inform the applicant’s future career aspirations and bids for larger scale fellowships and funding.

Thus far the scheme has supported 178 Clinical Lecturers through seven rounds of funding, with grants totalling c£5M.

What the scheme provides

The maximum grant available is £30,000 and this can be spread over two years to contribute towards new and directly incurred research costs such as consumables and equipment. Grants cannot be applied to personal salary costs or used for research assistants, PhD students or postdoctoral staff.  

Review of the scheme

In autumn 2011 the Academy, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, conducted an early review of the scheme. A copy of the report produced is available to download below.

Previous awards

A list of previous award holders can be downloaded below.

Who can apply
How to apply
Scheme partners