HRB Postdoctoral Fellowships - Clinician Scientist Fellowships (CSF) 2023: (next call envisaged to launch in Q2 2025)

This scheme will target health and social care practitioners from various professional backgrounds who have completed their PhD degree and who are currently (or will be at the time of the award) engaged in delivering clinical care. Lead Applicants must have a career goal of becoming an independent clinician researcher and a particular ambition to make a difference in policy and practice through their research.

The fellowship will support the part-time salary for the CSF Fellow, and research-related costs up to a maximum of €50K. Each award will have a duration of four to five years. The HRB envisaged up to eight awards. This Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme ‘Clinician Scientist Fellowships’ (CSF) is part is part of a broader suite of HRB career supports and is targeted at health and social care practitioners involved in the delivery of patient or social care, who have a PhD (or PhD equivalency) and wish to pursue a combined clinical and research career.

Details of this scheme

The main objectives are:

Support health and social care practitioners to consolidate their research skills and expertise post-PhD and to progressively develop themselves as more independent clinician scientists.
Support researchers to conduct and manage health and social care research projects that are applied and aimed at finding practical solutions to specific problems or evidence gaps.
Provide funding for the prospective fellow and the proposed project, but also to support them to enhance their development and growth as a researcher and as a research manager.
Enable the prospective fellow to gain experience of working with academic partners and knowledge users in relevant policy and/or practice organisations.
To provide fellows with direct experience in the conduct of health research projects that reduce the gap between research findings and clinical practice and/or health policy, and which ultimately impact on health outcomes.

The scheme will support fellows to advance applied health and social care research projects where specific problems or evidence gaps are documented and where the project is focused on practical solutions. Project are welcome spanning the areas of clinical research, population health research and/or health services research.

Who can apply?

The scheme is open to health and social care practitioners from various professional backgrounds who have are currently (or will be at the time of the award) engaged in delivering clinical care.

A Lead Applicant must:

Possess a PhD degree or demonstrate equivalent research experience as defined in the 'Towards a European Framework for Research Careers’.
- PhD equivalency is defined as at least four years full time research experience post-primary degree. Full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree entitling them to embark on a doctorate (either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited), even if a doctorate was never started or envisaged. Equivalency must be granted before a submission of an application, please contact the HRB to discuss equivalency
- Professional and taught doctorate degrees are not accepted as equivalent to a PhD.
- For the purpose of this call, the date of a PhD is defined as the year that the degree was successfully defended (not the conferred date)
- For individuals, who hold more than one PhD degree, the date of the earliest degree will define the lead Applicant’s eligibility.
Have completed his/her professional training (Medics need to have completed their general training and may be at Specialist Registrar (SpR) level)
Apply from a Host Institution based in the Republic of Ireland
Hold (or will hold at the time of the award being made)
- a clinical post in the Irish health service or social care organisation which covers or will cover the duration of the award if successful (e.g., SpR, hospital consultant, nurse practitioner, public health practitioner, physiotherapist), or
- a clinical post in a private practice (e.g., General Practitioners, private physiotherapy practice, private dentist practice, private pharmacy), or
- a post in a health and social care organisation (e.g., Tusla, Section 38 or Section 39 agencies), or
- a joint clinical and academic teaching/education position without a research element within a Higher Education Institution and the Irish Health Services or other social care organisations, or
- If not currently working in Ireland, have the support of a HRB approved Host Institution and have already obtained or are negotiating a post in a clinical or a social care services organisation in the Republic of Ireland
Only apply to one HRB postdoctoral fellowship scheme (ARPP 2023 or CSF 2023). Only one application per Lead Applicant to these two schemes will be considered.

Please see Guidance Notes for full details on eligibility criteria

How to apply:

Applications must be completed and submitted through the HRB online Grant E-Management System (GEMS) (https://grants.hrb.ie).

The Clinician Scientist Fellowships scheme will use a one-stage application process consisting of a full application followed by international peer-review and panel interview.

GEMS will close the full application form for this scheme automatically at 13:00 on 02 March 2023.

Prior to final submission to the HRB, all applications must first be reviewed and approved within GEMS by the authorised approver at the Host Institution as listed in the application form. It is critical therefore that applicants leave sufficient time in the process for the Research Office (or equivalent) in their nominated Host Institution to review, seek clarifications and approve applications prior to the final submission date. This may involve being aware of and complying with any internal Host Institution deadlines for review and approval, distinct from the HRB deadline.

Apply for this award: