We are committed to ensuring that clinical researchers working in a university setting receive a salary uplift in line with their colleagues working as consultants and junior doctors, soon to be called resident doctors, in their local NHS provider.
Salary uplift
Professor Patrick Chinnery, the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Executive Chair said:
Clinical researchers deliver world-leading biomedical and health research in the UK.
They enable an NHS fit for the future, with research active hospitals consistently delivering better patient outcomes.
They also kickstart economic growth with every £1 invested in medical research delivering a further 25p return for every year thereafter.
MRC colleagues will support researchers to ensure the pay uplift can be implemented and will provide additional guidance to you.
The salary uplift is available to MRC-funded clinical researchers in receipt of any of our fellowship or grant awards.
Additional funding
If the announced step change in salary is difficult to manage within the limit of existing funding awards and puts the funded project at risk, researchers will be able to request additional funding. We will confirm the details of the process as soon as possible via email.
MRC clinical fellowships support researchers at key transition points in their careers. Funding from MRC helps to develop skills and the new knowledge needed to strengthen the scientific community as it responds to current and future challenges in medical research.
Future of clinical research
However, we are acutely aware that the future of clinical research is under threat due to a clearly documented decline in clinical research staff. This decline is both in absolute numbers and, more strikingly, in proportion to the expanding NHS workforce.
A forthcoming report, commissioned by the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research and led by MRC, will evaluate the current situation, determine underlying causes and define necessary actions.
Top image: Credit: FatCamera, E+ via Getty Images
