Development and Skills Enhancement Award Round 9

Closed

  • The Development and Skills Enhancement Award (DSE) is a post-doctoral level award aimed at supporting NIHR Academy Members to gain specific skills and experience to underpin the next phase of their research career. Applicants need to demonstrate what new skills and experience they hope to gain through the award, and how it will benefit their future career in research. The award runs three times a year, opening in January, May and September and will support a mixture of researcher-led applications and applications from areas of strategic importance.

    The current themes are:

    • health data science
    • clinical trials
    • entrepreneurship and working with industry

    As part of a wider programme of work to consider the use of a narrative CV in NIHR application and funding activities, we are piloting the use of a narrative CV in this funding round.

ABOUT THIS FUNDING

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academy is launching the Development and Skills Enhancement (DSE) award as part of the NIHR Fellowship Programme, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The DSE award is a post-doctoral level award aimed at supporting NIHR Academy members to gain specific skills and experience to support the next phase of their research career. Whilst not ineligible, we wouldn’t expect professorial level applicants to require this award. For applicants at a more senior academic level, i.e Chair or Pre-Chair, there must be a clear justification why the training in your application is required. There should also be a clear explanation of why the support for such training is not available through your host organisation.

The DSE award supports a mixture of applications in areas of strategic importance and researcher led applications. This will include NIHR Academy members requiring support for career continuity in advance of applying for further NIHR academic career development funding, who haven’t been able to source support from elsewhere e.g. from Research Capability Funding. In all cases applicants will be required to demonstrate the new skills and experience they hope to gain through the award and how it will benefit their future career in research.

Awards will be 1 year maximum (in terms of NIHR funding) and may be taken up on a part time basis of between 50 and 100% whole time equivalent (WTE), however the maximum duration that NIHR will fund will still be 1 year regardless of WTE. There is an expectation that host organisations will match the level of support provided by NIHR. If this is not the case then host support will be assessed as part of the application review process.

Applicants should have been awarded their PhD by the time of starting the award and should be applying within 12 months of their previous NIHR award finishing. The 12 month window is from when the round opens and not the closing date of the competition call, for example individuals applying to Round 9 should have held an NIHR award that finished no later than 10 January 2021. The award should not be used to develop an application for the next stage in the applicant’s career but rather be used to gain skills and experience which would benefit future applications and longer term career plans.

NIHR is particularly keen to see applications from people wishing to develop skills and experience in the following areas:

  • Clinical trials
  • Health data science
  • Entrepreneurship and working with industry

REQUIREMENTS / ELIGIBILITY

All applicants must:

  • be a current member of the NIHR Academy
  • have completed any relevant pre-registration training (clinical academic applications only)
  • have a proposed host who is an HEI, NHS body, or other provider of health and/or care services
  • hold a relevant PhD or MD, or have submitted their thesis for examination at the time of application – applicants must have been awarded their PhD or MD by the time they start
  • ensure that any previous NIHR awards undertaken finished no longer than 12 months ago – this does not include any time taken for statutory leave
  • have not submitted a DSE application in the previous round

Successful applicants for this Round should start their Post-doctorate award between 1 August 2022 and 1 November 2022.

FURTHER PARTICULARS

Further details are set out on the NIHR’s website at

 

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/development-and-skills-enhancement-award-round-9/29600