Training & Career Development:MRC Clinical Fellowships and Awards

Dr Paul Colville-NashProgramme Manager, Medical Research Council

Academic Opportunities for Junior Doctors

Imperial College, London17th November 2011

• Encourage and support high-quality research with the aim of improving human health

• Produce skilled researchers

• Advance and disseminate knowledge and technology to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness in the UK [and worldwide]

• Promote dialogue with the public about medical research

MRC mission

MRC funding

MRC funding for research - £758m (2009/10)

• 50% of funding is directly to MRC research establishments 3 institutes, 28 units (2 overseas)

• 50% of funding is to universities and centres 22 centres, research grants, training awards and fellowships

• £78m pa on training and career development

People

• Supports 5,700 staff

• 350 research fellows and 1,500 students

Research Changes Lives

MRC Strategic Plan 2009-2014Over the next five years the MRC aims to support medical research which increases the pace of the transition to better health. We will achieve this through:

• Strategic Aim One: Picking research that delivers

• Strategic Aim Two: Research to people

• Strategic Aim Three: Going global

• Strategic Aim Four: Supporting scientists

Delivering MRC strategy

• New frontiers• Stratified medicine• Regenerative medicine• Systems medicine

• Living a long and healthy life• Mental health & wellbeing• Lifestyle behaviours and health

• Global and population health• E-health• Infections

• Safeguarding the UK skills base• Industry CASE PhD• Industry Collaborative Postdoc

Fellowships

MRC Fellowship Priorities

• Integration of biological & engineering technologies

• Development & application of innovative maths & stats methods

• Innovative methods at the interface of preclinical & clinical medicine and in population health sciences

• Postdocs developing careers at the academic-industry interface

Discovery & Exploratory Research Application & Delivery Research

MRC lead Health Departments’ lead

Pharmacogenomics

Animal/human models

Regenerative medicine

Genetics/genomics

Structural biology

Imaging

Systems medicine

Global health

Ageing: lifecourse

Stem cells

Infections

Population science

Experimental

medicine

Methodology

Global health

Stratified medicine

Public health

E-health

HTA Trials

EME Trials(Late stage III)

Programmes in

Applied research

Research for Patient Benefit

Service Delivery and Organisation

NIHR (England)

CSO (Scotland)

WORD (Wales)

HSCNI (Northern Ireland)

MRC & NIHR: Delivering research with societal and economic impact to benefit patients & the public

MRC’s positioning in research training & careers

Our strategic focus• Research leaders of tomorrow• Strategic skills gaps• At key stages of a career

Our brand• Excellence - of the individual, research & training• Responsive

• Strategic partnerships (industry, OSCHR, charities) – Healthy relationships

• Adding value to the development of early career scientists

Our positioning• Different to other RCs

• Shared interests: Roberts agenda; interdisciplinary capacity building• Differences: Clinical research & emphasis on postdoc training & careers

• Partnerships• NIHR fellowships: enabling and applied research• MRC, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, medical charities: coordination & leadership

• Remembering that potential fellows have choices!

MRC Clinical Research Fellows

• Potential research leaders of the future- Outstanding candidates (potential not just project))- Vision (appropriate to their career stage)- Synergy between clinical & research training

• Development through excellent research• Intellectually demanding• Using advanced methods, skills & technologies • Access to essential research facilities & resources

• Development in an excellent environment• Inspirational leadership & supervision• High quality and impact science • Engagement in research translation• Access to national & international excellence• Great mentorship

• Enabling career choices and advancement• As clinician and researcher

Research Fellowships

Extraordinary opportunitiesAn MRC fellowship enables you to do something truly out of the ordinary…

Great outcomes

MRC postdoc Clinical Fellows report

• More collaborations per award… • More instances of further funding… • More impact on policy

Citation analyses

• Clinical Fellows’ papers more cited than ‘expected’Career destinations

• Class of 1991: 17% are Fellows of the AMS (11/61)

Patrick Maxwell’s RTF class of ‘91

Our website www.mrc.ac.uk should be your first port of call

Opportunities for Clinical Scientists

Clinical Research Training Fellowships

Early career entry for those with minimal previous lab experience

•Combining research with clinical training2 clinical sessions/week (3 for surgeons)12 month abeyance of award for concentrated training

•Personal salary

•Research expenses - £15K p.a. plus animal costs

•Overseas training allowance

•2 rounds p.a. (Jan & Sept)

•Research overseas (1yr)/ 2nd UK Centre/UK Industrial Training

•Exceptionally, will provide post-doctoral “catch-up” time

Jointly Funded Clinical Research Training Fellowship

Charities• Alzheimers Society• Asthma UK• British Association of Dermatologists, British Skin Foundation• British Infection Society• British Lung Foundation, Mick Knight Mesothelioma Fund • Chronic Granulomatous Disorder Research Trust • Cystic Fibrosis Trust• Kidney Research UK• Fight For Sight• MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowships • Multiple Sclerosis Society • Novo Nordisk UK Diabetes Research Foundation • Pancreatic Cancer UK• Prostate Cancer Charity• Stroke Association• Target Ovarian• Ulverscroft Vision Research Group

Royal Colleges• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists • Royal College of Ophthalmologists John Lee Fellowship• Royal College of Physicians Dinwoodie Trust• Royal College of Radiologists• Royal College of Surgeons of England and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Welsh Assembly Clinical Research Training Fellowships

• The MRC’s Clinician Scientist Fellowships aim to develop outstanding medically and other clinically qualified professionals who have gained a PhD/DPhil to establish themselves as independent researchers.

• They will demonstrate a rigorous and insightful approach to research, and the ability to relate their research to clinical medicine and to the improvement of health.

• They will have a clear sense of how they wish to develop their careers as clinicians and scientists and show the potential to become research and/or clinical leaders in the future.

• The proposed project and centre will provide valuable training experience and the applicant will gain generic and transferable skills

Clinician Scientist Fellowship

• The MRC’s senior clinical fellowships aim to develop outstanding medically and other clinically qualified professionals such that they become research leaders.

• They will have a strong track record of challenging, original and productive research; of effective collaboration; and of training in robust research methods and technologies.

• They will demonstrate scientific vision, insight and originality; the ability to relate their proposed research to clinical medicine and the potential to lead other scientists.   

• It is expected that applicants’ clinical work helps to inform and strengthen their research work.

• There is not the same expectation to move centres.

Senior Clinical Fellowships

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• Not clear what impact the research will have (“so what…?”)

• “Worthy” “solid” (but dull)

• More of the same, duplicative, unambitious

• No clear hypothesis or important question

• Unfocused. Overambitious – too much, no clear plan

• Methodology insufficiently detailed, limitations not appreciated

• Lack of preliminary data / appropriate experience

• Modest publication record (for experienced researchers)

• Inadequate knowledge and expertise

• Lack of collaborators, supervision & mentorship

Common reasons why proposals fail

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Being successful

Understand the funder• Science: remit and opportunities• Administrative: Forms; CV; page length & number; finance

& signatures…Be bold

• Ambitious, original… and NOT boringPlan well & be realistic

• You will be over-optimistic! A complex study will roll out slower than you think.

• Agreements and authorisations will take time. • Not everything will work. Clarify dependencies, risks and

plan contingencies

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Being successful

Discuss and learn• Draw on experienced colleagues, mentors, research Board

members, funding officials & patient groups• Learn from “failure” and feedback (<25% of proposals may

be funded)Present clearly: person, project, ‘place’

• Be specific: what you aim to achieve, why and how• You will need to inform and persuade a diverse audience• Explain and justify

• research question / hypothesis• design / strategy• delivery (methods, collaborations, management); • ethics• resources

Remember…

Your application will only be as strong as its weakest link

Deliverability

Resources

Design

Need & Potential for Impact Ethics

Overview: Applying for Your Grant

1. Plan your options vis-à-vis published Fellowship competitions & dates

• Advertised 1 or 2x pa2. Identify remit/scope, eligibility,

criteria, process & dates.3. Develop proposal well ahead: take

advice4. Applications forms = web-based 5. Submission through web, CD or

internet. • Sign off = critical

6. Admin check by funder.

• 3-5 expert referees assigned. • Referees write report & score• Shortlisting by referees’

scores• 25-50% declined

• Panel Meeting• Two(+) designated Panel

members present the proposal

• Discussion• Scoring• Ranking

• Outcome within days

Clinical Scientist Fellows

Senior Clinical Fellows

Years post PhD

50 awards (+8 Clin

Pharm/Path)

10

3

Clinical Research Training Fellowships

Clinical Training /

CL

Clinical Training /

ACF

Clinical Training /

SCL

MRC Fellowships for Clinical Researchers 2009/10

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Thank you!

Contacts•General Enquiries

MRCPolicyandOps@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

•Scientific queries via Programme Managers

Details on MRC web-site under each Research Board

(http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Ourresearch/Boardpanelsgroups/index.htm)