Sir George Alberti Research Training Fellowships enable graduates currently working in the NHS to work towards a PhD or MD in diabetes research and develop a career in research.
Financial support
Support may be requested for up to three years.
Salaries
Salary for the applicant may be requested commensurate with the candidate’s salary at the time of appointment.
Fees for the PhD will be provided at a UK Higher Education rate.
Materials and consumables
Requests for materials and consumables should not exceed a maximum of £15,000 per annum and should include any costs for equipment and any other relevant costs associated with the research project.
Eligibility
General Eligibility criteria
Fellowships are open to clinically and non-clinically trained individuals working within the NHS. This scheme is not intended to provide support for science graduates planning on conducting basic research in a university setting. Diabetes UK offers a PhD studentship scheme for these individuals.
Applications are invited from individuals working in any scientific discipline and sector who can demonstrate a role in, and contribution to, improving the health of, or health care delivered by the NHS to, people with diabetes.
All applicants must have identified a supervisor before applying. Diabetes UK can not identify supervisors for potential applicants. We will not accept applications from applicants without an identified supervisor or from a supervisor without an identified potential fellow.
Clinical applicants must hold a medical qualification that enables them to practise medicine within the UK and should not normally be more than ten years from the date of their first medical qualification. Allowance will be made for applicants whose career has been subject to a late start or interruption for family or personal reasons.
Applicants must have passed the relevant exam for their specialty, eg MRCP.
Candidates of any nationality may apply but must have been resident and working in the EEA (European Economic Area) for three years immediately before application and intend to pursue a medical career in the United Kingdom.
Non-clinical applicants are eligible to apply provided they meet the general criteria above, and are committed to continuing a research career after this award.
Deadlines
The Sir George Alberti Research Training Fellowship has an annual deadline of 31 October.
How to apply
Applicants should, in the first instance, submit their own CV with a publication list and a CV of their proposed supervisor prior to submission of a full application. The Diabetes UK Research department will review these documents and, if appropriate, will provide an application form for the applicant to complete and submit before the deadline.
Administrative processes
Peer review
Applications will be sent out for peer review to researchers who have not published or worked in the same institution as any of the applicants for at least five years. Please consider this when suggesting reviewers for the application.
Shortlisting and interview
Applications will be sent to a specialist Panel, made up of a subset of the Diabetes UK Research Committee, to make recommendations for shortlisting based on the criteria listed below.
Candidates will be informed via email whether they have been shortlisted and shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview with the relevant Panel.
Interviews will take place in March. Applicants will be notified as to the success of their application via email and letter shortly after interview.
Assessment criteria
Applications are assessed on the following criteria:
- Quality of the proposal and its relevance to people with diabetes.
- Track record of applicant.
- Potential of applicant to pursue a research career which makes a difference for people with diabetes.
- Quality of research environment and support.