Academic Clinical Fellowships
Clinical speciality training posts in medicine which incorporate clinical and academic training, allowing ambitious resident doctors to develop research areas suitable for a higher research degree (like a PhD or DM by Research).
The posts provide funded time and supervision for fellows to work on projects that will enable them to apply for external funding to undertake doctoral fellowships with supervision from one of our leading research groups.
The 海角黑料’s ACF programme posts are funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and are part of the . We work with which governs clinical training and progression.
The programme
The Nottingham ACF posts are designed to integrate your academic training into your clinical training such that progression in clinical training is continued, with time and support to work on an ambitious research project.
The ACF programme is typically spread over three years (full time equivalent (FTE)) in which you will spend:
- 75% of your time in specialist clinical training
- 25% of your time in research or educationalist training
Eligibility
You are eligible to apply if you:
- are medically qualified
- have successfully completed Foundation training or equivalent
- are at the early stages of your speciality training
- have a strong academic and research interest and background
- are able to demonstrate outstanding potential for a career as a clinical academic
- have a research interest and potential plan in keeping with the specifications of the advertised post
Benefits and opportunities of the ACF programme
Academic supervision and mentorship
- Academic training programme director (senior academic in your medical speciality)
- Mentorship from CATP leads and other academics
- Structured supervision programme and oversight
Facilities and funding
- Office and computer-based facilities at the university
- Associate access to School of Medicine infrastructural support including software, library services and laboratories
- Dedicated administrative team to support training and supervision
- £1,000 a year bursary
Additional training opportunities
- Up to £4,500 training fund for research skills courses
- Free access to all 海角黑料 NTRANS courses
Support for applying to Doctoral Fellowships
- Administrative support for seeking funding (eligibility checks, scope and funder strategy)
- Developing the application (defining the research question, patient and public involvement, Intellectual Property review, linking with NHS/Research Support Service/industry/developing partnerships)
- Support with the application process, bid review, peer review and submission (finances, navigating funder portals, writing institutional supporting statements/letters of support, authorisations/approvals)
- Arranging mock interviews and challenge panels
The NIHR CATP is an excellent opportunity for surgical trainees to build a career in academic surgery. Our previous ACFs have all completed higher degrees.
Recent ACF Achievements
Eleana Frisira
Eleana was an ACF in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at 海角黑料 from 2022 – 2025. Eleana is now a Doctoral Fellow within the Midlands Mental Health and Neurosciences PhD Programme (MHNDTP). Following her NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) in Child and Adolescent Psychiatryat the 海角黑料, she now leads research at the University’s Institute of Mental Health. She also holds an Honorary ST4 Registrar post with Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Her doctoral research investigates the adolescent characteristics and service experiences of individuals who receive a personality disorder diagnosis in early adulthood. By integrating large-scale analysis of health, education, and employment records with in-depth qualitative work, she aims to map young people’s trajectories preceding a diagnosis. Ultimately, Eleana’s work seeks to identify early markers for intervention and systemic barriers to support, to improve outcomes for young people.
Gavin Fong
Dr Gavin Fong is a Dermatology Registrar and NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at University Hospitals Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, with research based at the Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology (CEBD), 海角黑料. During his ACF, he developed a research focus in atopic eczema, clinical trials, and digital health. His work included involvement in the EczemaNet project, a machine-learning tool designed to assess eczema severity from digital images, and the RAPID eczema clinical trials programme. During this time, he authored seven peer-reviewed publications, delivered oral presentations at the British Association of Dermatologists Annual Meeting, received the CATP Best ACF Presentation Award, and was awarded a UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network SPR Fellowship.
Building on this work, he has been awarded a competitive NIHR Doctoral Fellowship to evaluate and implement AI-assisted eczema severity assessment in paediatric eczema care. His research will explore the optimal placement, feasibility, impact, and clinical utility of AI tools in eczema management, in collaboration with researchers at Imperial College London.
Christopher Gilmartin
I was supervised by Professor Evangelou, Professor of Neurology, during my NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) from 2022 to 2025. During this time, I led multiple projects with a particular focus on developing translational research skills.
My main ACF project explored the feasibility of a new functional neuroimaging technology, magnetoencephalography with optically pumped magnetometers (OPM-MEG), in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We showed that OPM-MEG could be used successfully in this setting and identified differences in brain activity between people with MS and healthy controls.
Building on these findings, I secured funding for a doctoral research fellowship to investigate whether OPM-MEG can distinguish between people with MS who are progressing and those with stable disease. This is an important clinical question, as progression is often only recognised retrospectively, once damage has already occurred. My fellowship is supported by the Association of British Neurologists, MS Society and Guarantors of Brain.
Alongside this, my ACF gave me the opportunity to broaden my research experience through a range of complementary projects. These included leading a qualitative study exploring barriers to the implementation of novel MRI markers in clinical MS care, and analysing the prevalence of a common side effect of an MS medication. These studies helped address immediate clinical questions, and through this work I developed a broader range of clinical research skills.
My NIHR ACF was an invaluable opportunity that allowed me to contribute to innovative translational studies and develop as both a neurologist and a clinical researcher. I am now taking this work forward through a doctoral fellowship.
Don't take our word for it - see what our current ACFs are doing
Find out more about each speciality and the academics who work within it via the pages linked below.
We also offer ACFs in:
How to apply
Posts are advertised nationally on the website for resident doctors in October and November each year. The posts begin in August the following year. For example, posts for 2025 were advertised in 2024.