NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowships at the PCU
PCU Profile: Dr Becky Ward, ACF at the Primary Care Unit – click to read
The Primary Care Unit offers NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) posts each year, for current GP Trainees in the East of England. These posts are supported by Health Education England and are advertised periodically, when opportunities are open. The Fellows enter academic training which is fully integrated into the highly regarded Cambridge GPST Programme. The academic strand is maintained across the whole four-year period and is individually tailored to the needs of each of our Fellows.
The Academic Clinical Fellow will be on one of the rotations on the Cambridge GPST for the four years of their training. During this time they will spend 6 months in clinical and academic general practice, followed by 18 months in hospital posts. They will then spend the equivalent of a further 9 months full time in the academic environment over the following 18 months, with the remainder in general practice and a final 6 months in full time general practice.
Our ACFs usually complete the one year University of Cambridge MPhil in Primary Care Research and they receive individually tailored academic mentoring and supervision in order to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in research methods and medical education. The academic programme includes practical experience of research through an apprenticeship to an existing research team here and ACFs have opportunities to conduct and publish well defined personal research projects with a view to developing an application for a doctoral training fellowship. Clinical training is focused on the generalist clinical knowledge base and special skills in the area of research interest.
Learn about some of our past and current ACFs
Blog by Dr Collette Isabel Stadler (August 2016): All risks are equal, but some risks are (apparently) more equal than others…
Search our People database for current ACFs here (select Academic Clinical Fellow in the Title column and then select individual names to see short biographies).
Further information
Specific enquiries about the Cambridge ACF scheme can be addressed to Frances Cater – pcupa@medschl.cam.ac.uk
More information is available on the National Recruitment Office for General Practice Training website.