Doctoral Clinical Fellowship

Doctoral Clinical Fellowship

Supports doctoral fellowships focused on dementia research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in clinical settings.

Alzheimer's Research UK's Doctoral Clinical Fellowship is a four-year personal award that enables UK-registered healthcare professionals to undertake a full PhD in dementia research while maintaining their clinical identity. Eligible applicants include neurologists, clinical psychologists, nurses, and allied health professionals who hold a current registration with their relevant UK regulatory body and can demonstrate prior research outputs, typically peer-reviewed publications or conference presentations. The fellowship is hosted at a UK academic institution, and applicants must identify an established supervisor before applying.

Each fellowship is valued at up to £350,000, covering the fellow's salary set at Specialty Registrar level, direct research costs, and training support. A full-time four-year model is the default; part-time working across up to six years is permitted to accommodate clinical commitments. An optional Clinical Trial Placement Pilot adds up to £15,000 for fellows who undertake additional experience in clinical trial delivery as part of a flexible-model arrangement. The 2026 cycle is scheduled to open in July 2026, with the exact application window to be confirmed by ARUK.

Projects must align with ARUK's strategic focus on dementia treatment, diagnosis, and prevention, and must lead to a PhD or equivalent independent research degree. Reviewers assess the strength of the proposed research question, the clinical relevance of the PhD topic, the quality of the supervisory team, and the applicant's prior track record. Clinicians who want to build durable research careers alongside NHS practice — and who can construct a dementia PhD project that bridges their clinical expertise with laboratory or epidemiological methods — are the primary target applicants.