Health Education East Midlands & University of Leicester

Health Education East Midlands
&
University of Leicester
NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow
IN
General Practice (ST1)
JOB DESCRIPTION
Applications are invited from talented and enthusiastic doctors in training who seek a career
combining research, teaching and the care of patients. Only applicants who can demonstrate that
they have outstanding potential for development as a clinical academic will be considered.
Candidates will be selected on academic merit, notwithstanding the necessity for successful
candidates to demonstrate appropriate clinical competence, training and progression.
General Information
The Academic Clinical Fellowship is one phase of the Integrated Academic Training Pathway
recommended in the report "Medically and Dentally qualified academic staff: 'Recommendations for
training the researchers and educators of the future' (the Walport Report). This report recommended
key initiatives that integrate the development of academic skills with each of the key stages of a
clinician’s career. Academic Clinical Fellowships are the first of these initiatives and represent an early
substantive phase of integrated academic and clinical training. Within the programme fellows should
develop skills allowing them to compete successfully for funding to study for a higher degree
(MD/PhD). The training programme has been designed to provide high quality academic training for
entrants who can demonstrate that they have outstanding potential for development as a clinical
academic.
This post is designed to provide seamless clinical training to the award of a Certificate of Completion
of Training (CCT) in General Practice, subject to satisfactorily meeting clinical requirements for ARCP.
The academic clinical fellow component of training will last for four years.
Trainees will undertake four years of clinical and academic training, with the academic component
comprising 25% of the total training time. Academic training time will be ‘protected’. During this
period trainees will have the opportunity to develop generic research skills in subjects such as
statistics, ethics, epidemiology, lab-based research, clinical trial design, grant writing and should aim
to gain pilot data to allow them to successfully obtain an externally funded PhD or MD Studentship.
Trainees who do not hold a higher degree will be required to undertake the MRes in Clinical Sciences
and consideration will be given to suitable alternative training for those who have a higher degree.
Clinical training in General Practice will progress alongside academic training. Candidates should also
achieve the appropriate clinical competencies and demonstrate satisfactory performance in local intraining assessments.
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Informal Enquiries
Informal enquiries are welcome and may be made to Professor Andy Wilson (aw7@le.ac.uk) and
Professor Kamlesh Khunti (kk22@le.ac.uk ).
Further details regarding research at the University of Leicester is available
http://www2.le.ac.uk/colleges/medbiopsych/research/clinical-academic-training/acf-projectsummaries
at
Further details regarding the General Practice training programme can be found at Health Education
East Midlands: https://www.eastmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk/page.php?area_id=1
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University of Leicester
College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology
Pro-Vice-Chancellor & Head of College: Professor David Wynford-Thomas FMedSci
The College was established in 2009 following a reorganisation of the University into four
Colleges. The former Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Biological Sciences and School of Psychology
were integrated into one College. This has enabled the development of a more strategic vision to
research planning. The College’s mission is to pursue the highest standards of research, education
and training in biomedical and related subjects, and to apply this knowledge and expertise to
enhance the quality of life and economic prosperity of populations, both locally and in the wider
world.
Its considerable academic resources mean that it is already widely recognised for the
international impact of its research and the quality of its undergraduate and postgraduate
teaching. This is reflected in the high proportion of academic staff regarded as international in the
2008 Research Assessment Exercise, and the consistently high ratings achieved in the National
Student Survey.
This is an exciting time to join a dynamic new academic enterprise and contribute to its
development. The new College is creating the academic and physical environment to enable
scientists and clinicians to work together across traditional boundaries to address some of the key
outstanding questions in biomedical research and to engage with increasing effectiveness with
commercial and public bodies.
The College brings together 10 departments: Biochemistry, Biology, Cancer Studies and Molecular
Medicine, Cardiovascular Sciences, Cell Physiology and Pharmacology, Genetics, Health Sciences,
Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Medical and Social Care Education and Psychology. In
addition the University hosts the MRC Toxicology Unit, with which there is close collaboration.
Building on existing strengths, multi-disciplinary research themes are being developed to exploit
synergies between basic science, clinical medicine and psychology within the College. The themes
are in the fields of genome science; molecular & cellular bioscience; cancer; cardiovascular
sciences; respiratory science; microbial science; neuroscience and behaviour; and population
science and a further theme is exploring the research which underpins teaching & learning.
The themes aim to foster collaborations by transcending traditional departmental & specialty
boundaries to aid the development of young researchers and to assist in the identification of
strategic goals.
(http://www2.le.ac.uk/colleges/medbiopsych/research)
In doing so the College works closely in collaboration with the Deanery and its partner NHS Trusts
to develop a generation of future clinical researchers with a breadth of skills and approaches
across a range of clinical and interdisciplinary projects.
The College has approximately 295 academic staff and 718 research, administrative and other
staff, with a total of approximately 2,350 fte undergraduate students and 850 postgraduates. It
has an annual turnover of £64M.
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