This fellowship supports clinicians with an interest in clinical trials, who would benefit from further training within a clinical trials unit.
Applications are reviewed once per year. Upcoming application deadline (full): 11 September 2025
Up to 3 years
Up to £50k per year (match funded by host institution or other funding partner)
Our core eligibility criteria are outlined below. You must contact us for an informal and confidential discussion of your proposal prior to submitting your application.
We’ll advise on your eligibility and provide guidance on submitting your application.
Email fellowships@cancer.org.uk
Our Clinical Trial Fellowship is designed to support clinicians in gaining clinical trial experience with the ultimate objective of leading high impact, practice changing cancer clinical trials in the future as a chief investigator.
Your application should be submitted in collaboration with a UKCRC-registered clinical trials unit (CTU). You should be the lead applicant on the proposal. The joint lead applicant should be a senior member of staff at a UKCRC-registered CTU.
You’ll need to demonstrate the collaborative development of a training programme exposing you to all aspects and stages of trials and should not limit you to one study.
In collaboration with the CTU, you are expected to negotiate locally the exact nature of the post and how the post will be integrated into the existing CTU infrastructure. Therefore, we do not stipulate the exact nature of the posts that will be created through this funding.
We don’t expect you to achieve a higher degree eg MD/PhD/MRes through this fellowship, but we do encourage you to consider this if appropriate. If you do undertake a higher degree during the fellowship, these costs would have to come from other sources and can’t be covered as part of the award.
To apply, you should:
be clinically trained
have completed your Foundation Programme
be within your speciality and run-through training period*
be eligible to complete your training and practise medicine in the UK
be able to demonstrate that you meet the range of skills and experience outlined in the ‘Develop independence’ section of our competency framework
*If you’re planning to complete your clinical training (CCT) and acquire a consultant position during the fellowship, please explain how you will ensure that you can complete the fellowship post-CCT, including evidence of protected time.
You must provide confirmation of matched funding from your host institution or other funding partner at the time of application.
Learn more about UKCRC registered clinical trials units
Your host institution must be a UK university, medical school, hospital, CTU or research institution associated with a UKCRC-registered CTU. Most UK university departments are eligible, but please contact us before applying to check your host institution is eligible. You can be hosted by one of our institutes if you don’t receive core funding from them already.
You can submit applications for the same project to different funding bodies, including us. However, if successful, you may only accept one award. If applicable, please notify us and disclose this in your application under 'Other Funding'.
You can reapply to the Research Careers Committee if you have been unsuccessful previously. However, we do have a restriction on the number of applications we can accept, and the committee generally only considers two submissions per applicant per career stage as defined by our competency framework.
If you are applying for a second time, you must contact us before starting a new application.
We do not have a strict time limit between reapplying, but we ask that you reconsider your eligibility for your intended scheme in terms of career stage, considering our competency framework and how you have addressed any previous feedback from the Research Careers Committee. This should be included in your cover letter as part of your application.
Career breaks (due to personal circumstances), part-time working and changes in discipline will be taken into consideration by our panels and committees to make appropriate adjustments when assessing your record of outputs, research achievements and career progression.
You can apply on a part-time or flexible working basis if this fits with the needs of your host institution and they approve your request. For fellowships generally, we expect at least 0.5 FTE or 80% of working hours, whichever is greater, to be spent on academic research.
Please contact us before starting your application to discuss your proposed parameters for the award and how to include the part-time request in your application.
You can apply for a Clinical Trial Fellowship provided your application is cancer-relevant and that the training programme provides you with exposure to all aspects of clinical trials.
You should also be able to demonstrate how you and your proposed training programme will contribute to our strategic research and clinical objectives.
We’re particularly interested in proposals addressing areas of strategic priority for us including early detection and research in cancers of unmet need such as brain, lung, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver and stomach cancer.
You should not apply for this fellowship if you will only be working on one specific trial.
If you are unsure which funding committee is most suited to your research proposal, please contact us and we can provide a recommendation. You can also search our funding schemes to explore other opportunities.
Applications are considered once a year by our Research Careers Committee, assisted by our Expert Review Panel.
The process involves four steps:
You contact us to discuss eligibility and suitability of your proposal (as per the guidance under how to apply).
If eligible, we’ll provide you with a direct link to apply through our online grants management system, Flexi-Grant.
You will be invited to attend an interview with our Expert Review Panel. Depending on the number of applications received, applications may be shortlisted prior to interview.
The committee will make final funding decisions, considering the recommendation of the Expert Review Panel.
Learn more about how we make funding decisions
The Expert Review Panel and Research Careers Committee will review your proposal based on relevance to our research strategy and a set of key criteria.
You can find more information on these criteria on our committee pages.
Additionally, your proposal will be judged based on
whether the duration is sufficient for you to gain suitable clinical trial experience
the suitability of the supervision and training to support you, and whether an appropriate training plan has been developed in collaboration with the CTU
the quality of clinical trial experience to be gained from the fellowship
whether your ambitions are aligned with the proposal and with the aims of the scheme
whether you have the appropriate skills and experience for your career stage, according to our competency framework
likelihood of successful delivery of the training programme proposed
alignment with our clinical research statement of intent
appropriate justification of costs
The 5 year rolling success rate (financial year 2020-2025) from application to funding for this scheme is 62%.
Learn more about the committee
Read our clinical research statement of intent
We offer early- to mid-career researchers the opportunity to observe panel and committee meetings across our funding remit and prioritise giving this opportunity to researchers from underrepresented groups.
Find out more about eligibility and how to apply
We will provide feedback on your application, but all funding decisions are final. Committee members cannot discuss their decisions with applicants, so please do not approach them directly. This allows our committee members to keep the Code of Practice for Funding Committees, which keeps our review process fair and protects applicants, committee members and external reviewers.
Our review process is extremely important to us, so we reserve the right to decline applications from anyone who compromises its integrity.
We consider applications for this award once a year.
Applications due by: 11 September 2025
Interview in: October 2025
You can apply for up to £50k per year for up to three years and this funding can be used to provide support for 50% of your salary and 50% of associated running expenses.
We expect your host institution, or other funding partner, to provide the remaining 50% of funding. You must provide confirmation of this matched funding at the time of application.
You can include costs for training courses specifically related to your programme of work, but not generic training. If you’re planning to undertake a PhD as part of the fellowship, associated costs should not be included in your application.
For more information on what is covered by our awards, view our costs and salary guidance.
You must contact us for an informal and confidential discussion of your proposal for us to determine your eligibility and discuss funding options.
Please reach out at least 1 month before the submission deadline including:
your CV
a short summary (max one page) of your proposed programme including how you will gain experience in different aspects of clinical trials and how you will be collaborating with the CTU
your motivation for completing the fellowship at this point in your career
how you will manage taking time out of your specialty training period (and when you will CCT), including how much time you intend to spend on the fellowship vs any clinical commitments
We also advise you inform your host institution as they will need to approve your application online before it can be submitted.
Email fellowships@cancer.org.uk
We recommend you also read additional guidance such as our costs guidance, grant conditions, and other policies to understand any other requirements before applying.
Read our research policies and guidance
You can manage your application and, if successful, your grant, through our online grants management system, Flexi-Grant.
As part of your application, you will need to provide the following information:
applicant information, career overview, skills and experience form, co-applicant and main supervisor information and research abstract, to be completed following the guidance available in Flexi-Grant
research proposal, using the template provided in Flexi-Grant
accompanying uploads/supporting information, to be completed following the guidance provided below under additional information
When including publications, please include a full author list (where this is unmanageable, for example for large consortium papers, you may list the first 12 authors followed by ‘et al.’ provided you denote your place in the author list, e.g [Bloggs J, 15th of 65 authors]). Please also include the publication title, journal, publication year, volume number and either page numbers or digital object identifier.
ORCID does not pull through the list of authors, so these should be entered manually if using ORCID to generate your publication list.
Also, be sure to list any notable and relevant research outputs from your work, such as preprints, training delivered, contribution to consortia, patents, key datasets, software, novel assays and reagents etc.
To clearly distinguish between peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed material, you should list your publications and research outputs in separate sections. Research outputs must be clearly labelled and must be in a citable format (eg including a digital object identifier).
Please use the template provided. As a general guide:
Number all pages and do not exceed six pages (excluding figures, figure legends and references).
Datasets and pre-prints should be in a citable format (eg including a digital object identifier).
Do not upload unpublished manuscripts, ethical approval letters or applications, patient information or preliminary data as they will be removed from your application before review.
You should complete this section in collaboration with the CTU you’ll be working with. It should include:
a detailed description of the key aims and objectives of the fellowship and projected outputs
an explanation of how you will work alongside various staff on projects and gain experience in all aspects of clinical trials, including information about the process for selecting potential projects you will be involved in and details of how they will work across a set of studies
a detailed description of the provision of supervision and support for you within the CTU’s existing infrastructure, including information on training and development, which should be designed to support your future career in clinical trials
an indication of the milestones and time-scales for the various components of the plan, including a breakdown of what will be achieved in each year
any potential logistic or scientific problems and solutions or alternative plans proposed
appropriate justification for the duration of the fellowship proposed
information about how you will support the CTU’s strategy and strengthen links between clinicians and Cancer Research UK
a description of the extent to which the fellowship will provide a high-quality and stimulating clinical trial experience relevant to our research strategy and clinical statement of intent
You should also include a section detailing the CTU’s involvement, to be completed by the joint lead applicant representing the CTU.
It should answer how the CTU has worked with you to develop the fellowship proposal and how the CTU will ensure you are supported in your future career after the fellowship ends.
Please follow the guidance in the template to complete this section. All applicants must provide a clear lay summary. This should not simply be an adaptation of the research abstract.
It should be written in clear and concise language that is understandable for the average UK reading age (9-11 years old).
As part of your lay summary, you should include:
the study background, assuming the reader has no prior knowledge of the topic
the study aims and its importance
the scale of the current problem
an overview of how the study would be conducted
how the study will make a difference and what the expected immediate study outcomes are, including why the findings will enable change that provides longer term benefits for people affected by cancer
If relevant, also include:
the study population
how the study reduces health inequalities or inequities
how people affected by cancer and members of the public are involved in the delivery of the study
Where possible, involve patient/public members in drafting and reviewing the lay summary. Your host institution may provide support with writing lay summaries.
View our guidance on writing in plain English
View NIHR guidance on writing in plain English
Follow the guidance in the template provided to justify the support you are requesting as part of the fellowship. For each category of support requested, please ensure that you have explained what the costs will cover and why you are requesting them.
Please also confirm that the request is for 50% of salary and 50% of associated running expenses.
This is not included in the word count.
Please reference your proposal appropriately following the guidance provided above under ‘Publications and Research Outputs’. You should include authors, publication year, title, journal name, volume and page numbers.
Number your references according to the order they appear in the text and list them in the Vancouver style, as detailed by the US National Library of Medicine.
As part of your application, you will be required to provide additional information and supplementary uploads as follows. For supporting roles where a letter of support is required, letters should be signed and on headed paper.
You may add the same person as two different supporting roles where appropriate (eg the head of department could also be providing an academic referee letter of support).
Required for application | |
|---|---|
Generative AI tools declaration | X |
Reviewers | X |
Host institution funding confirmation | X |
Letters of support | X |
Cover letter | X |
Declaration of competing interests | X |
Data sharing plan | X |
Research declarations | X |
Costs | X |
Other funding declaration | X |
Association of Medical Research Charities full economic costing | X |
You will be directly asked to declare whether you have used any generative AI tools when completing the application form. If you have, you’ll then be asked to confirm compliance with our requirements on their use.
Read our policy on the use of generative AI tools
Please note that the Expert Review Panel assessing the Clinical Trial Fellowship applications is a standing panel, however there may be some instances in which we need to co-opt experts to the panel if their specific expertise is required. There is the option for you to list reviewers who would be qualified to assess your application critically. If not, please write ‘N/A’.
You should not nominate individuals if you have had a close collaboration with them, or if you have published with them in the last three years.
You can also nominate referees to exclude from the review process, but please provide justification for the exclusion. We will decide on the final selection of reviewers and nominations must comply with our conflicts of interest policy.
Read our conflicts of interest policy
You must include a letter from your host institution (or other funding partner) showing their financial commitment of matched funding. This means they are committing to cover 50% of your salary and 50% of your running expenses, and to support your fellowship for its full duration.
The host institution funding confirmation letter should be signed and on headed paper.
These roles are in addition to any already mentioned within this guidance. When you invite external supporting roles, make it clear what role each participant will have in your application.
These individual roles may be given specific editing access to certain pages of your application or will require you to upload supporting documents on their behalf.
This is an individual at the CTU who will represent the organisation. They will need to upload a letter of support stating that the CTU agrees to host you for the duration of the fellowship and confirming that you have completed the ‘CTU involvement’ section of the research proposal.
The letter should be signed and on headed paper. They will also need to submit a CV on Flexi-Grant.
Your main supervisor must provide a letter of support for your application, that clearly explains how they will support you during the fellowship. The letter should be on headed paper.
We also request a short version of their CV including academic posts, grants, and a list of publications and research outputs from the past five years. The CV should not exceed three pages, including publications and research outputs.
You must invite a mentor to participate in your application. This will be a senior academic who’ll provide you with independent support and advice for the duration of your fellowship.
You will need to upload a signed letter of support from the mentor in the ‘Supporting Information’ section of your application.
Please only select one individual to act as your official mentor. The mentor should not be part of your direct line management and should not be your Main Supervisor.
This is an optional role. Co-investigators will provide significant intellectual input into your programme and will be responsible for the day-to-day running of some aspects of the fellowship.
If including a co-investigator, they will need to submit a CV.
These are optional roles. A collaborator is someone who’ll supply research materials, specific expertise or patient access, but won’t be involved in the day-to-day running of your research.
Provide details of any collaborators that will support you with this fellowship, including their name, their host institute and a brief description of the role that they will have in the project. When adding collaborator names, please include their title (eg Dr, Professor) and their institution.
You only need a letter of support when a particular resource is being provided by a collaborator eg access to a resource, facility or samples.
For all other collaborators, a letter of support is optional, but recommended, particularly where your research proposal indicates that they will be providing significant input that is essential to the success of the proposal.
This is an optional role for someone who’ll support you with administrative support.
An administrative support contact can be invited to assist with the Costs and Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) sections of your application.
Your cover letter should include a short description of why you’re applying for this fellowship, why you believe the scheme is right for you and what you hope to achieve during your fellowship. Also briefly describe your academic achievements to date and your long-term career ambitions.
Cover letters should be on headed paper and should not exceed two pages.
If you have previously applied for this award to the Research Careers Committee you must include how your revised application differs from your previous submission within your cover letter. In this instance, you may submit a cover letter up to three pages maximum.
Please use the template provided in Flexi-Grant and complete by following the instructions outlined in the document.
Read our conflicts of interest policy
We require a data sharing plan for all funding applications to ensure that the data generated through our funding will be put to maximum use by the cancer research community and, whenever possible, be translated to deliver patient benefit.
Your plan should include how data resulting from this project will be made available as widely and freely as possible to the academic scientific community at the earliest opportunity, and to additional potential commercial partners through a controlled access mechanism, considering patient privacy, intellectual property rights and other applicable laws.
Detail the steps that will be taken to ensure that the data resulting from this project will adopt the FAIR principles of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data.
Provide details for when data collected and generated by the project will be made available: 1) how and when after generation will raw data be made available for research purposes; 2) how and when after analysis will processed data be made available for research purposes; 3) how and when after journal publication will analysed data and methods be made available for secondary research.
Broadly describe the proposed ethics and patient consent statement (if relevant) for sharing and release (and withdrawal) of (de-identified) data that will align with the FAIR principles, including the potential future sharing for commercial use.
Describe how sharing of the data collected or generated under this project with commercial entities will be approached.
Define the planned process for enabling international data sharing (both within the investigator team, if relevant, and external to the team) and list the necessary contractual agreements that will need to be executed to deliver the proposed data sharing platform.
Describe the data standards and definitions that the investigator team plan to use for the project including how these align with existing data standards in the research community and how the investigator team will ensure that the standards are consistent to facilitate ease of sharing.
Describe the data governance and data architecture model (including diagrams as relevant).
Describe the future ambitions and processes for granting access to the data beyond the initial research team and research questions proposed in this application. Include how infrastructure will be created during the project to enable these ambitions and what the anticipated timeline is for broader access.
Learn more about the FAIR principles
In this section, you will be asked a series of questions about your proposed research, including whether you plan to conduct animal, human or human stem cell research and whether the appropriate approval has been granted. In addition, whether you anticipate that the proposed work will result in any output which can be translated to cancer patient benefit or otherwise commercialised.
You should provide the costs that you’re requesting from us as part of your award. Add these costs under the relevant headings and justify them in your proposal.
Note that we will apply indexation to your application costs according to our policy. In addition, any ineligible costs will be removed. If this is relevant, we will contact you. As a result, the final costs awarded through an official grant award letter may differ from those of the original costs requested.
You can apply for support for 50% of your salary.
We expect your host institution, or other funding partner, to provide the remaining 50% of funding. You must provide confirmation of this matched funding at the time of application.
This scheme does not cover staff posts.
For full details of what we cover for salaries, view our salary guidance.
Under this heading, please provide the following details for your salary costings.
Ensure the salary cost for year one of the award is correct at the time that the fellowship is due to begin. Please do not apply indexation to the salary costs over the subsequent years of the award. Once we have established the amount of to be paid in the first year, a fixed indexation rate will be applied to all subsequent years of the award.
Use the appropriate host institution/NHS pay scale (and relevant to the actual starting date of the fellowship). If you will complete your training during the fellowship, you may include the associated salary increase in your request.
Provide details of Grade/Spine Point and % FTE (if appropriate) in the justification section of your proposal.
You can include costs for training courses and associated travel specifically related to your programme of work, but we do not expect to see generic training included in the application.
Please note that if you’re planning to undertake a PhD as part of the fellowship, the associated costs should not form part of the application.
You can refer to our general costs guidance for further information.
Justify any eligible running expenses costs in your research proposal section ‘Justification of Support Requested.’
Please list any small equipment costs (eg personal computing equipment) under £5k as a running expense. We don’t expect to see larger equipment requests for this award – if you believe this is needed, please check with us first.
In this section, you should list all non-Cancer Research UK current and pending research applications or awards held or jointly held by yourself.
Please include title, start and end dates, funding amount, funding body, type of award and whether it is current or pending. Also include a brief explanation of how this application will fit in with any current awards from us or other organisations that you hold.
This helps the committee to understand the time commitment and scientific overlap with your other award(s) and the feasibility of holding our fellowship alongside.
You are permitted to submit parallel funding applications but must highlight this in your application.
As a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), we monitor the full economic costs of the research we support. This means, you will need to complete an AMRC full economic costing information form as part of your application package.
full economics cost: please enter the total cost of your proposed research
charity contribution: please enter the total amount you’re requesting from us.
Note that this information will not be reviewed as part of your final application.
Please contact us if you have any questions about your eligibility, application or active award.
Dr Catherine Cremona, Research Grants Manager
Reasonable adjustments can be made throughout the grant application process. We do not require a formal diagnosis to access support.
Find out about our disability and accessibility support
Explore the resources, policies and other support we offer to help you understand how to apply for and manage your funding.
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