What impact has the NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) scheme had on clinical academic careers in England over the last 10 years? A retrospective study

Abstract

ObjectivesThe Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) was introduced to support the early career clinical and research training of potential future clinical academics in England. The driver for the model was concern about falling numbers of clinical academic trainees. This study examines the impact of the ACF model, over its first 10 years, in developing clinical academic careers by tracking the progression of ACF trainees.DesignRetrospective analysis of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) ACF career progression. This was performed using mixed methods including routine data collections of career destination, analysis of application rates to doctoral level fellowships and supplemented by survey information that captured the perceived benefits and challenges from previous ACFs and their current career activities.Participants1239 NIHR ACFs who completed or left their posts between 2006 and March 2015.ResultsACFs are perceived by the candidate population as attractive posts, with high numbers of applications leading to high fill rates. Balancing clinical and academic commitments is one of the reported challenges when completing an ACF. We have found that undertaking an ACF was shown to increase the likelihood of securing an externally funded doctoral training award and the vast majority of ACFs move into academic roles, with many completing PhDs. Previous ACFs continue to show positive career progression, predominantly in translational and clinical research. The knowledge acquired during the ACF continues to be useful in subsequent roles and trainees would recommend the scheme to others.ConclusionsThe NIHR ACF scheme is successful as part of an integrated training pathway in developing careers in academic medicine and dentistry.

Building research capacity in musculoskeletal health: qualitative evaluation of a graduate Nurse and Allied Health Professional internship programme

“…Hauck et al [14], for example, reported an increase in research awareness, con dence and skills and a desire to use research to inform clinical practice in midwives participating in an Australian graduate internship programme. Clough et al [17] reported that supporting early career clinical and research training through fellowships increased the likelihood of securing externally funded doctoral training awards with many fellowship-holders moving into academic roles. Naidoo et al [15] similarly found in their evaluation of a graduate podiatry internship (which was the forerunner of the 2015 -18 programme), that the programme was valuable to the interns' careers and supported research capacity building in foot and ankle rheumatology.…”

Sheffield Clinical Research Fellowship programme: a transferable model for UK gastroenterology

“…Hard money denotes funds acquired from grant awarding bodies including medical charities, NHS research and developmental schemes or regional trust funds, whereas soft money describes funds from pharmaceutical companies or from an individual consultant’s personal research funds. Although hard money is regarded as more prestigious, it does attract significant competition, with success rates for National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) doctoral research fellowships being significantly higher in those undertaking academic clinical fellowships (ACFs) compared with non-ACF clinical applicants (28% vs 19%) 7. Similar outcomes in fellowship applications have also been observed from the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council 7.…”

“…Although hard money is regarded as more prestigious, it does attract significant competition, with success rates for National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) doctoral research fellowships being significantly higher in those undertaking academic clinical fellowships (ACFs) compared with non-ACF clinical applicants (28% vs 19%) 7. Similar outcomes in fellowship applications have also been observed from the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council 7. These findings provide evidence that funding for non-academic trainees to go OOP and undertake doctoral research degrees is becoming increasingly challenging.…”

Building research capacity in musculoskeletal health: qualitative evaluation of a graduate nurse and allied health professional internship programme

“…Methods for research capacity building are varied and include single (individuals or within team / organisation) [4] and multiple (across individuals, organisations and policy levels) strategies [12]. They employ various approaches, including partnerships [1,13], internships [14,15], bursaries [16], fellowships [17], and mentoring [18]. Evaluations of research capacity models have favoured traditional research outputs metrics, such as number of publications or presentations, although other measures have been assessed [4].…”