3 July 2006

Awards boost medical research

Fourteen universities have been awarded clinical senior lectureships in the first round of a scheme funded by HEFCE and local NHS trusts to increase the numbers of qualified clinicians undertaking clinical medical research.

A total of 38 lectureships will be funded, covering 13 specialist medical areas, from 124 applications that met the basic criteria.

The awards are for staff that have completed their professional training in a clinical specialism and have also shown considerable promise during their parallel training and early experience in research. Each award is for five years. HEFCE set aside £50 million for up to half the cost of up to 200 awards, in five annual rounds.

The launch of the scheme followed growing concern over a drop of around 500 (12.5 per cent) between 2000 and 2004 in the number of clinical academic staff in medical disciplines and clinical dentistry.

The awards are part of a range of UK Clinical Research Collaboration projects to support clinical academic careers in medicine and dentistry, as recommended in the final report of its sub-group on modernising medical careers.

Further information is available on the awards, with a breakdown by institution and by specialism.