Application Deadline: 23.59 (GMT) on 19 November 2015
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.
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
- Approved airfare from your home country to the UK and return at the end of your award (the CSC will not reimburse the cost of fares for dependants, nor usually the cost of journeys made before your award is finally confirmed
- Research support grant, payable to your host university hospital
- Stipend (living allowance) at the rate of £1,580 per month, or £1,959 per month for those at universities in the London metropolitan area (rates quoted at 2015-2016 levels)
- Reimbursement of the fee for a single English language test and the fee for General Medical Council (GMC)/General Dental Council (GDC) registration
- Arrival allowance
- Study travel grant towards the costs of approved travel within the UK or overseas
- If you are widowed, divorced, or a single parent, child allowance of £444 per month for the first child, and £109 per month for the second and third child under the age of 16, if you are accompanied by your children and solely legally responsible for them. The level of financial support provided through family allowances is under review and subject to change in both eligibility and rate
Nominating Agencies:
Eligible African Coutries and Nominating Agencies:
Botswana – national nominating agency details
Cameroon – national nominating agency details
Ghana – national nominating agency details
Kenya – national nominating agency details
Lesotho – national nominating agency details
Malawi – national nominating agency details
Mauritius – national nominating agency details
Mozambique – national nominating agency details
Namibia – national nominating agency details
Nigeria – national nominating agency details
Rwanda – national nominating agency details
Seychelles – national nominating agency details
Sierra Leone – national nominating agency details
South Africa – national nominating agency details
Swaziland – national nominating agency details
Tanzania – national nominating agency details
Uganda – national nominating agency details
Zambia – national nominating agency details
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).
Enquiries?
All enquiries about these fellowships should be directed to your nominating body in your home country.
For More Information: