Opportunities for clinicians

At The Institute of Cancer Research, London, we offer clinicians a variety of opportunities – from a taught master's course in Oncology, to fellowships providing protected time for research, and higher research degrees.

Clinicians make up one-third of research team leaders at the ICR. This essential link between basic scientific research and clinical practice helps to get treatments into patients sooner, while ensuring that clinical knowledge is fed back to researchers, who can then develop more effective treatments.

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MSc in Oncology

Our MSc in Oncology is a taught master's degree run as a day release course for medically qualified candidates who intend to pursue a career in clinical or medical oncology. The overall aim is to encourage proactive problem solving approaches and a reflective approach to medical or clinical oncology practice, producing graduates who are well equipped for leadership careers in twenty-first century oncology.

Find out more about MSc in Oncology

Clinical Academic Training Pathway

For those wishing to follow a clinical academic training path the following opportunities are listed in the order they would be undertaken.

NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowships

The ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have a number of Academic Clinical Fellowships available as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Integrated Academic Training Programme. These are three-year posts for clinicians in the early stages of specialty training and provide trainees with 25 per cent protected time for research training.

Find out more about NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowships

PhD and MD(Res) for clinicians

There are two options available for clinicians who wish to pursue higher research degrees:

Doctor of Philosophy - PhD

The ICR offers PhD programmes to applicants eligible for full registration or who hold limited registration with the General Medical Council. These three-year fellowships are intended to develop the applicant’s potential to pursue a career as an academic clinician.

Doctor of Medicine (Research) - MD(Res)

The MD(Res) is a research programme specifically designed for clinically-qualified trainees, lasting a minimum of two years (or part-time equivalent). These provide clinical specialists the opportunity to work in a unique multidisciplinary environment alongside world leaders in cancer research and clinicians from The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Find out more about PhD and MD(Res) for clinicians

NIHR Clinical Lectureships

NIHR Clinical Lectureships are aimed at those who are advanced in their specialty training, have completed a research degree and show outstanding potential for continuing a career in academic medicine. Clinical Lectureships allow clinical researchers to spend half of their time undertaking specialist clinical training and half undertaking research training.

Find out more about NIHR Clinical Lectureships

Opportunities for Postdoctoral Clinical fellows

The Emerging Clinical Academic Fellowship scheme, newly launched by CRIS Cancer Foundation and the ICR, offers 2-3 year fellowships to support the development of early postdoctoral-stage clinical researchers.

The programme will help to prepare outstanding clinical researchers to apply for group leader positions – either as a clinician scientist or career development faculty.

Find our more about our Clinical Academic Fellowship scheme

Latest ICR News

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An immunotherapy helps bladder cancer patients remain cancer free and enables them to avoid surgery, a phase II trial has found.
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A targeted cancer treatment given via a simple injection under the skin shrank tumours in more than one third of patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer whose disease has stopped responding to standard treatments, according to research led by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London
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New targeted therapy shrinks advanced gastrointestinal tumours for 61 per cent of patients in an early study

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A new, targeted cancer therapy for advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) has shown promising early results, with 61 per cent of patients who received velzatinib as first-line treatment experiencing tumour shrinkage of 30 per cent or over. The results could pave the way for a larger trial to evaluate this therapy as a first-line alternative to imatinib, which has been the standard treatment for more than two decades.
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A targeted antibody therapy combined with standard chemotherapy has shown early signs of tumour shrinkage and disease control in patients with advanced bowel cancer, according to new Phase I clinical trial results from The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
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