King's College London

Start date: Autumn 2025

The NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is inviting applications for a new Introductory Clinical Research Training Scheme.

Introductory fellowships will be funded for up to 24 months at 0.4 FTE and will be open to King's Health Partners employed and clinically active nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (AHPs) who wish to develop a clinical academic career in mental health or neuroscience research but have had limited research experience to date. All doctors and clinical psychologists are not eligible to apply.

The aims of the scheme are:

• To provide clinicians an opportunity to work alongside research teams, to gain a better understanding of the research process, and gain a range of research skills.

• To provide protected time for clinical health professionals to develop an application for a NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (PCAF) or a similar research career development award.

• To develop a cohort of research aware clinicians who will act as research champions in their clinical areas.
• To raise the profile and improve understanding of research among nurses, midwives and AHPs more widely.

Our academic partner

The appointed candidates will each work with a supervisor and research team based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

The IoPPN is the largest academic community in Europe dedicated to the study, treatment and prevention of mental health problems and neurodegenerative disease. It is the world’s leading centre for mental health research in terms of citations of our publications. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework the IoPPN was judged to have a 100% 'outstanding' (4*) world leading research environment. The impact of its research outside academia scored 92% 'outstanding' (4*) and 8% 'very considerable' (3*).

The IoPPN offers excellent opportunities for research training in basic and clinical science across the mental health spectrum including its interface with physical health, precision psychiatry, novel therapeutics and translational informatics. Studying at the IoPPN, you will benefit from world class research and clinical facilities plus internationally recognised supervisors.

We continuously strive to be an inclusive, culturally aware and culturally competent organisation that respects the differences of our community by providing an environment that both acknowledges and celebrates diversity and embraces inclusion.  

Important:  Before applying for this opportunity, please read the information provided under the headings below.  

The application deadline is 23:59 BST on Monday 09 June 2025.

Interviews are planned to take place Thursday 03 July 2025.   

Award

The placement scheme will allow up to four clinical health professionals to be seconded from their clinical duties part time (up to 0.4 FTE) for up to two years. The scheme will be flexible to take account of the individual clinician’s requirements and career development. The successful candidates will remain on their current NHS contract and be paid their current NHS salary.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this scheme applicants must meet all the following criteria:

• Be employed as a nurse, midwife or allied health professional (AHP: NHS England » Allied health professions).

• Be clinically active

• Be employed by one of the King’s Health Partnership NHS Foundation Trusts: South London & Maudsley, King’s College Hospital and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

• Have been employed by their current NHS Foundation Trust for at least 6 months

• Have a genuine desire to develop a clinical academic career in mental health research
• Have the support of and approval from their clinical line manager to be seconded from their clinical role for up to 0.4 FTE for up to 24 months to take up a clinical research training opportunity. It is expected that each appointee will remain working in their clinical role for the remaining NHS contractual hours.

Additionally, candidates should check the Essential and Desirable criteria listed for each of the available projects for this scheme.

Please contact us if you are unsure about your eligibility.

Application process

Stage One

To apply for this studentship at Stage One please complete and submit an online application by 23:59 BST on Monday 09 June 2025. The following document must be uploaded to the application:

• Line Manager Approval. Please download the template, ask your clinical line manager to complete the form and ensure the form is uploaded to accompany your application. Applications received without this document will not be sent forward for shortlisting.

Project Choices Candidates must do one or both of the following:

• Select at least one and a maximum of three project choices from those below under Projects and explain why they are interested in applying for their chosen project/s. Candidates must contact the supervisor/s for the project/s they are interested in to discuss the project and their suitability for the placement.
• Candidates may submit their own project proposal for this scheme. To do this, please download the project proposal template and complete in collaboration with your proposed project supervisor. The completed form must be uploaded to the relevant section of the online application form. If they wish, candidates submitting their own project proposal can also select projects from the list below as part of their application.
• Prospective applicants must discuss their proposed application with the supervisor/s for the project/s they are interested in applying for.

Referee: As part of the application, candidates are required to provide one referee; the referee should be the supervisor for the candidate’s first choice or self-designed project. A reference will only be requested if the candidate is invited to interview.

Projects

Please download the list of projects.

Stage Two

• Successful candidates will be invited to attend a panel interview.

• Interviews are planned for Thursday 3 July 2025.

Following interviews, candidates will be contacted via email and informed of the outcome of their interview.  It is envisaged that the successful candidates will commence their respective placements in Autumn 2025

Further Information

To find out more about the programme and how to apply, join us for a webinar on Friday 16 May at 1.00pm (BST).

For questions regarding the scheme or application process, please email maudsley.brc@kcl.ac.uk

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