Deadline: November 15, 2016
Applications are now accepted for the Commonwealth Medical Fellowships 2017. The Commonwealth Medical Fellowships (Enhancing Clinical Skills) are offered for mid-career medical staff from developing Commonwealth countries. These fellowships are funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), with the aim of contributing to the UK’s international development aims and wider overseas interests, supporting excellence in UK higher education, and sustaining the principles of the Commonwealth.
Fellowship
Each fellowship provides:
- Approved airfare from your home country to the UK and return at the end of your award (the CSC will not reimburse the cost of fares for dependants, nor usually the cost of journeys made before your award is finally confirmed);
- Research support grant, payable to your host university hospital;
- Stipend (living allowance) at the rate of £1,594 per month, or £1,977 per month for those at universities in the London metropolitan area (rates quoted at 2016-2017 levels);
- Reimbursement of the fee for a single English language test and the fee for General Medical Council (GMC) registration;
- Arrival allowance;
- Study travel grant towards the costs of approved travel within the UK or overseas;
- If you are widowed, divorced, or a single parent, child allowance of £448 per month for the first child, and £110 per month for the second and third child under the age of 16, if you are accompanied by your children and solely legally responsible for them. The level of financial support provided through family allowances is under review and subject to change in both eligibility and rate.
Eligibility
- Be a Commonwealth citizen, refugee, or British protected person
- Be permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth country
- Be employed by a hospital affiliated to a university
- Be nominated to the CSC by an eligible institution
- Be available to start your fellowship in the UK on October 1, 2017
- Have qualified as a doctor between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2010, or before October 1, 2002
- Have met the English language requirements of the General Medical Council (GMC) by May 15, 2017
Selection Process
- Each year, the CSC invites each nominating body to submit a specific number of nominations. The deadline for nominating bodies to submit nominations to the CSC is December 13, 2016.
- The CSC invites around three times more nominations than fellowships available – therefore, nominated candidates are not guaranteed to be awarded a fellowship.
- Each nominated candidate’s application is first considered by a member of the CSC’s panel of advisers with expertise in the subject area concerned, and then by the CSC’s selection committee in competition with other candidates.
Applications are considered according to the following selection criteria:
- Academic merit of the candidate;
- Quality of the proposal;
- Potential impact of the work on the development of the candidate’s home country.
Application Process
- You must apply to one of the following nominating bodies in the first instance – the CSC does not accept direct
applications for these fellowships:- Selected universities/medical colleges that are invited to nominate members of staff at affiliated hospitals. See full list of eligible institutions;
- In Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka, through the national University Grants Commission
- In Pakistan, through the Higher Education Commission
- All applications must be made through your nominating body in your home country. Each nominating body is responsible for its own selection process. You must check with your nominating body for their specific advice and rules for applying, and for their own closing date for applications.
- You must make your application using the CSC’s Electronic Application System (EAS) – see information on how to use the EAS, including detailed guides.
- Your application must be submitted to and endorsed by one of the approved nominating bodies listed above. The CSC will not accept any applications that are not submitted via the EAS to a nominating body in your home country.
- All applications must be submitted by November 15, 2016 at the latest.
- You must send the following supporting documentation to be received by the CSC by January 6, 2017 in order for your application to be eligible for consideration:
- References from at least two individuals
- The CSC cannot accept nominations for these fellowships from other organisations or applications directly from
individuals; such applications will not be acknowledged. - Universities that wish to be invited to nominate candidates for these fellowships should write to the Executive Secretary, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, Woburn House, 20-24 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HF, UK.
For more information, see terms and conditions or visit Commonwealth Medical Fellowships.
