Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowships 2026/27
The Royal Marsden Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship scheme is funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, as part of the Safety, Innovation and Education Grant.
Applications for the Fellowships are now open. The awards will provide ‘first-step funding’ for nurses, allied health professionals, and pharmacists looking to begin their academic career. Applications from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic or LGBT+ staff, as well as colleagues with a disability, are encouraged.
This year we are offering full-time or part-time Fellowships that are open to any area of cancer practice.
The key aim of the Fellowship is to allow nurses, allied health professionals, and pharmacists the opportunity to undertake up to 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time study to develop their research skills, CV and portfolio, and to produce the necessary data to springboard onto a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Fellowship application or other appropriate routes.
Applicants are asked to align with the research and innovation ambitions within the RM & ICR’s Joint Research Strategy and our vision to undertake excellent, high-quality research that transforms care and improves outcomes for those living with and beyond cancer. This year, one of the fellowships funded needs to specifically focus on brain cancer.
The application forms are available to download below. The onus is on you as the applicant to secure all required signatures in advance of the application deadline. An application without these signatures will not be considered for funding. For full details, please read the information sheet below.
Signed copies of your application must be submitted to Charity.Grants@rmh.nhs.uk by 12pm 20 February 2026. Interviews will be held on 09 March 2026.
If you have any questions about the application, you can attend a drop-in session on Microsoft Teams. These will be held on 16th and 23rd January 2026, from 12pm – 1pm. Please click here to join the call on 16th January. Please click here to join the call on 23rd January.
Any queries or support required for the general fellowships can be directed to Professor Susanne Cruickshank at Susanne.Cruickshank@rmh.nhs.uk, or the Charity Grants team at Charity.Grants@rmh.nhs.uk.
Be sure to read the relevant information sheet via the link below, before starting your application.
Download forms
If you'd like to find out more about the Fellowships or you're ready to apply now, you can download both forms below.