MS Society Early Career Fellowships

MS Society Early Career Fellowships

Supports early-career United Kingdom multiple sclerosis researchers through fellowships and practical mentorship.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The MS Society Early Career Fellowships (ECF) are postdoctoral career-development awards from the Multiple Sclerosis Society UK aimed at attracting and retaining talented researchers to the MS field. The award package typically totals GBP 300,000 to GBP 375,000, covering salary for up to four years, up to GBP 80,000 in running costs over the fellowship, and up to GBP 4,000 for conference attendance and travel. Part-time arrangements are supported at a minimum of 50% FTE, enabling researchers with caring responsibilities or clinical commitments to hold the fellowship. The 2026 round had a main deadline of 12 noon on 3 March 2026 — later than the four other 2026 MS Society scheme deadlines, which closed on 10 February 2026. An optional ECR PPI Partnership Scheme for developing lay-summary and patient involvement plans had an earlier deadline of 9 December 2025. Outcomes for the 2026 round will be communicated in August 2026. The 2024 success rate was 17% (1 of 6 funded); in 2023 it was 40%.

The lead applicant must be the prospective Early Career Fellow themselves — not the supervising PI — and must hold a PhD in a relevant discipline. Fellowship holders must be based at a UK university or NHS institution. Co-funded clinical fellowship variants are available in partnership with UKRI, NIHR, and the Association of British Neurologists (ABN), providing additional funding routes for clinicians and healthcare professionals seeking to combine an ECF with clinical training funding. All ECF applications are submitted through the Symplectic Grant Tracker at research.mssociety.org.uk and reviewed by expert MS researchers and lay reviewers under AMRC peer-review principles.

The next Early Career Fellowship round is expected to open around March 2027 as the MS Society returns to its standard annual cycle following the 2026 Grant Tracker transition. Postdoctoral researchers within the first several years of completing their PhD should position applications around a clear and novel scientific question aligned with the MS Society's 2025–2029 Research Strategy. Researchers considering the clinical co-funding variants should contact research@mssociety.org.uk early, as co-funding applications with UKRI, NIHR, or ABN involve additional partner-specific steps and deadlines that run in parallel to the MS Society application process.