Commonwealth Medical Fellowships (Enhancing Clinical Skills) are offered for mid-career medical and dental staff from developing Commonwealth countries. These fellowships are funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), with the aim of contributing to the UK’s international development aims and wider overseas interests, supporting excellence in UK higher education, and sustaining the principles of the Commonwealth.
You can apply for a Commonwealth Medical Fellowship to spend between three and six months at an approved UK university hospital, learning or improving a specific clinical skill.
Purpose: To provide mid-career medics and dentists with the opportunity to enhance their clinical skills, and to have catalytic effects on their workplaces.
Intended beneficiaries: Mid-career medics and dentists working in universities or affiliated teaching hospitals in developing Commonwealth countries.
Fellows are expected to participate in clinical practice during their fellowship, and to register with the General Medical Council (GMC)/General Dental Council (GDC). If your proposed programme does not require this registration, your application will be considered ineligible.
Eligibility
To apply for these fellowships, you must:
- Be a Commonwealth citizen, refugee, or British protected person
- Be permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth country
- Be employed by a hospital affiliated to a university
- Be nominated to the CSC by an eligible institution
- Be available to start your fellowship in the UK on 1 October 2016
- Have qualified as a doctor or dentist between 1 October 2006 and 30 September 2009, or before 1 October 2001
- Have met the English language requirements of the General Medical Council (GMC) / General Dental Council (GDC) by 15 April 2016
The CSC promotes equal opportunity, gender equity, and cultural exchange. Applications are encouraged from a diverse range of candidates. The CSC is committed to administering and managing its scholarships and fellowships in a fair and transparent manner.
Selection process
Each year, the CSC invites selected nominating bodies to submit a specific number of nominations. The deadline for nominating bodies to submit nominations to the CSC is 17 December 2015.
The CSC invites around three times more nominations than fellowships available – therefore, nominated candidates are not guaranteed to be awarded a fellowship.
Each nominated candidate’s application is first considered by a member of the CSC’s panel of advisers with expertise in the subject area concerned, and then by the CSC’s selection committee in competition with other candidates.
Applications are considered according to the following selection criteria:
- Academic merit of the candidate
- Quality of the proposal
- Potential impact of the work on the development of the candidate’s home country
How to apply
You must apply to a nominating body in the first instance – the CSC does not accept direct applications for these fellowships:
Selected universities/medical colleges/university bodies are invited to nominate members of staff at affiliated hospitals.
All applications must be made through your nominating body in your home country. Each nominating body is responsible for its own selection process. You must check with your nominating body for their specific advice and rules for applying, and for their own closing date for applications.
You must make your application using the CSC’s Electronic Application System (EAS).
Your application must be submitted to and endorsed by one of the approved nominating bodies listed above. The CSC will not accept any applications that are not submitted via the EAS to a nominating body in your home country.
All applications must be submitted by 23.59 (GMT) on 19 November 2015 at the latest. Please note that this is an earlier deadline than in previous years.
For further details and application please visit the Commonwealth Medical Fellowships page.
