SPCR Funding Opportunities

This opportunity is now reopened for applicants to the University of Nottingham only

• SPCR Post-Doctoral Fellowship Guidance for Applicants

Your application should be submitted using our online application portal

The NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) Post-Doctoral Fellowships support early-career researchers to develop as independent primary care scientists and future research leaders. These awards provide time, training, and support to develop an independent research trajectory, publish high-quality outputs, and prepare applications for future funding (for example, an NIHR Advanced Fellowship).

Fellowships are for 24 months and must be undertaken at a minimum 60% FTE. Awards are expected to begin by 1 October 2026. The SPCR has a contract end date of 31/03/2029 and all awards must end by 30/09/2028 to allow for final reporting.

Applicants do not need to be employed by an SPCR member to apply. However, this fellowship will be hosted by the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham

Every applicant, whether currently based at the University of Nottingham or not, must notify the department’s research manager or training lead of their intention to apply. This is vital to ensure that local HR and costing procedures are followed.

Please note these awards are not intended to cover a clinical salary.

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact the SPCR team via spcr@keele.ac.uk

PhD Studentships in Primary Care 2026

Applications are invited from individuals with a strong academic record who wish to develop a career in primary care research.  Awards are offered at all nine Universities within the NIHR School for Primary Care Research: Bristol, Exeter, Keele, Manchester,  Nottingham, Oxford, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Southampton and University College London (UCL).

Applicants must have a first degree in a discipline relevant to primary care research and will be expected to complete a PhD/ DPhil during the award period. The precise academic qualifications required depend on the university and training offered. This award will fund tuition fees to the value of home fees; students with overseas status are welcome to apply but will need to fund the remainder of their fees from alternative sources.  

The awards offer traditional project-specific training in areas of particular importance to primary care and awarded to applicants from diverse backgrounds including e.g., medical statistics, social sciences, health economics, health psychology.   

Studentship awards include fees and an annual tax-free stipend (plus a London weighting for QMUL and UCL and college fees in Oxford). 

Each university runs its own recruitment process. For the majority, this will happen in the Spring, for an October start date.

Nursing Commercial Research Fellowships 2026

 Eligibility and recruitment:

• Open to NMC‑registered nurses in primary care, community services, or wider care settings
• Fellows may be employed directly or seconded (dependant on local member department policies)
• These posts will be recruited locally, with timelines set by each host institution. 

Posts may vary slightly across each institution - please see details below