Oxford-BMS Fellowship

This prestigious 3-year Fellowship (formerly Oxford-Celgene Fellowship) aims to stimulate new scientific discovery and translation and to facilitate skills and people transfer between researchers in academia and industry.

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is a global biopharmaceutical company making advancements in oncology, haematology, immunology and cardiovascular disease. BMS are dedicated to helping patients prevail over serious diseases through a diverse and promising pipeline and new scientific platforms.

BMS acquired Celgene in 2019. Prior to 2019, in partnership with the Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Celgene co-developed and provided support for fellowships which will continue as the Oxford-BMS Translational Research Fellowship Programme.

The goals of this scheme are to stimulate new scientific discovery and translation and to facilitate skills and people transfer between researchers in academia and industry.

This programme offers fellows an opportunity to gain exposure to the field of commercial drug discovery and development. Fellows will have an assigned company mentor and where appropriate be encouraged to spend some time based in BMS laboratories.

Funding will be awarded to Oxford Principal Investigators to support 3 year fellowship projects for early career researchers that demonstrate a clear translational value to the advancement of therapeutics. Three to four awards are made annually.

Meet the current Fellows and read about their projects.

Principle Investigators should apply for fellowship funding to support clinical (Grade E64) or basic research scientists (Grade 7/8) committed to translational science and interested in obtaining experience with drug development in an industrial setting.

Fellowship applications may include a named fellow, but this is not mandatory. It is expected that a suitable fellowship candidate will be identified by the Principle Investigator within 6 months of notification of successful project selection.

The proposed fellowship needs to align with BMS’s fields of interest as listed below.

1. Novel targets, biomarkers, cellular therapeutic approaches, or translational models in one of the following areas:

immuno-oncology;
neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, FTD and MS;
fibrosing disorders including IPF, NASH, scleroderma, and Renal Fibrosis;
rheumatic and dermatologic disorders including RA, SLE, spondyloarthropathies, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis;
haematologic disorders including AML, Myeloma, DLBCL;
chronic heart failure (either with preserved or reduced ejection fraction).

2. Methods for evaluating biochemical, cellular, tissue and phenotypic consequences of
modulating epigenetic targets.

3. Methods for immuno-phenotyping of human subjects in oncology and autoimmunity

4. Novel imaging approaches to measuring disease activity in the above areas.

now open for new applications - december 2020

Prospective Principle Investigator applicants should read this application guidance

Stage 1 - Pre-application and meeting with BMS

The Oxford-BMS Fellowship Programme strongly encourages you to take pre-application steps before submitting your full application.

The pre-application steps ensure that your proposal is in line with BMS’s areas of research interest and involves a pre-application form and a meeting with BMS (held virtually).

Stage 2 - Full application

Full applications are made on the full application form and should be emailed, along with the draft X5 costing to charlotte.bell@medsci.ox.ac.uk.

Please consult the guidance document for details on the application process.

Come along to one of four information session to find out how to apply for an Oxford-Bristol Myers Squibb (formerly Celgene) Fellowship. We will talk you through the background to the fellowships scheme, give details about BMS areas of interest and explain the application process. This will be followed by a Q&A session.

- Sessions will take place in November and December 2021 - please check back here for dates and links