Funding aimed at supporting early to mid-career postdoctoral researchers in gaining specific skills and experience to underpin the next phase of their research career.
The career development supported through a DSE will be in one of the following areas:
- Applicants that need to develop specific skills or undertake specific training/experience to be competitive for their next grant or fellowship funding application.
- Applicants that have been developing clinical/practice leadership roles and need to develop specific skills or undertake specific training/experience to develop their next funding application whilst continuing their role as a research, system or clinical leader.
- Applicants returning from a research or practitioner academic career break.
- Applicants aspiring to enter a research/academic career (e.g. industry partners coming to academia).
- Applicants developing skills in knowledge mobilisation and/or implementation science.
For this award, NIHR is particularly interested in the following strategic themes:
- Health and Care Professionals developing practitioner academic careers.
- Health Data Science as applied in clinical, biomedical or population health settings.
- Clinical Trials.
- Entrepreneurship and working with industry.
- Knowledge Mobilisation and/or Implementation science.
Examples of training and development that can be supported through a DSE include, but are not limited to:
- Expanding networks and forming new collaborations (e.g. building Industry collaborations, engaging with research leaders and research groups).
- Formal training courses (which could include MSc level modules).
- Informal training courses.
- Placements spending time in clinical research settings (e.g. at clinical trials units, hospitals, research centres, shadowing clinical academic/clinical leadership staff, working with research infrastructure).
- Training in or development of skills to undertake Patient and Public Involvement.
- Knowledge mobilisation and/or implementation science.
- Any other development of skills or experience which would benefit future applications and longer-term research or practitioner academic career plans.
- Applicants can also consider wider development training (e.g. Leadership).
Value and Duration
A DSE award provides funding for:
- The salary of the award holder for up to 2 years.
- Training and development costs up to £5,000 per year.
- Conference costs up to £1,000 per year.
- Mentorship costs up to £3,000.
Deadline: 22 November 2024 (1pm)*
*The DSE is usually open to applications all year round, with 3 review periods. The next confirmed submission window is 2 December 2024 – 28 March 2025 (1pm).
Full guidance notes are available on the opportunity webpage, while grants previously awarded under this scheme can be viewed on Pivot-RP (login required – get set up here).