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Stage 1 applications

Please do not contact departments directly during this stage.  

At Stage 1 the application portal collects the following information:  

  • Personal data – name, contact email address, phone number, ORCID, current title, current employing institution, current country of residence, nationality, gender 

  • Details of your research degrees (e.g. PhD, DPhil, DM/MD, MDRes, DSc(Med)): degree type, awarding institution, date conferred

  • Your research journey (500 words) - Summarise your current and previous research, highlighting key outcomes and impacts. Explain how you have independently developed your current research ideas and pursued new directions. 

  • Your key publications as Lead (first) and/or Senior (last) author. Provide the authorship list, title, journal, date of publication, and DOI. Include only papers that are published or in press, not pre-prints.

  • Evidence of contributions to research (300 words) - describe the contributions that you have made to your research area, including, for example, your main publications, patents, impacts on health practice or policy. 

  • Research funding experience (300 words) - describe your track record of securing and managing competitively-awarded research funding as Principal Investigator or equivalent role as research leader. 

  • Leadership experience (300 words) - describe your experience of line management and/or supervising graduate students and how you have supported professional development.    

  • Brief research proposal (800 words) - summarise the medical research project that you wish to pursue during the Fellowship, covering objectives, methods, and expected impact after 5 years. The proposal should be understandable to a broad biomedical audience. The scope of your proposal should be informed by what is likely to be fundable within the £500,000 per year of direct costs that are funded through the Fellowship. See the Fellowship Funding page for more information. You can refer to Figures, Tables, References, etc. in the text and upload these as a separate document.

  • Commonwealth partnership  (250 words) - describe your current or proposed partnership with a university or research organisation in a Commonwealth country outside the UK, and explain the role it will play in delivering your research vision. 

  • Research Culture (300 words) - describe your approach to embedding a positive research culture and principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in your work, e.g. mentoring, collaboration, open research practices, staff and student wellbeing. 

  • Extenuating circumstances (optional - up to 200 words) - outline any career interruptions you wish the panel to consider, such as career breaks, parental leave or caring responsibilities. 

  • Research keywords - Enter up to 10 keywords that describe your area of specialism to assist in identifying the most suitable host department for your Fellowship. Alternatively you may name up to 3 MSD departments (and sub-unit/centre/institute if known and where relevant), for which your Fellowship will likely be in scope.

    You should not reach out to host departments at this stage. If you are shortlisted, the panel will liaise with prospective department(s) on your behalf before you are invited to submit a Stage 2 application. More information on MSD's departments can be found here:

Clinically active applicants only: 

  • GMC number for license to practice in the UK, or  

  • If qualified and practising outside the UK, describe your current medical qualifications that demonstrate you are practising at fully qualified Consultant-level, and which will confer eligibility for registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) within 6 months of interview 

Documents to upload as PDFs/Word Documents 

  • CV including a full history of education and employment, list of all academic publications, awarded grants (including dates and amount held by you, stating clearly if you were Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator) and other indicators of your record as a research leader (for example invited lectures, committee or editorial positions, awards or prizes). 

  • List of Figures, Tables, References, etc. with numbers as referred to in the text (optional)

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