MRC/Pancreatic Cancer UK Fellowships

Pancreatic cancer research is currently extremely underfunded. Pancreatic Cancer UK is therefore committed to attracting new research talent into this field to build critical mass and provide future leadership. As a result one of the key strands of our new research strategy is the development of a Future Research Leaders Fund.

Clinical Research Training Fellowships in pancreatic cancer will once again be available via joint funding between Pancreatic Cancer UK and the MRC and will be the first investments from our new Future Research Leaders Fund.

The Fellowships provide up to three years support for clinically qualified, active professionals to undertake specialised or further research training within the UK. A further year's training is designed to accommodate the dual clinical-research training path by allowing fellows to spend up to 20 per cent of their time on NHS sessions.  Fellows are required to register for a research degree, normally a PhD, based on research undertaken during the fellowship.

Applications can be made online through the Medical Research Council web site: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Fellowships/Clinicalresearchtraining/index.htm  

The application schedule for Round 2 of the 2011 Clinical Research Training Fellowships is as follows:

15th September 2011 - Closing date for applications

January 2012 - Shortlisting

1st & 2nd March 2012 - Interviews

March-August 2012 - Take-up date  

The application schedule for Round 1 of the 2012 Clinical Research Training Fellowships is as follows:

19 January 2012 - Closing date for applications

May 2012 - Shortlisting

28th & 29th June 2012 - Interviews 

August 2012 - January 2013 - Take-up date

Current Fellowships

Our 2010 Clinical Research Training Fellowship, funded jointly with the Medical Research Council was awarded to Mr Douglas Morran who is working with Professor Owen Sansom at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. Mr Morran's research focuses on personalised therapy of pancreatic cancer. "Previous research carried out in our laboratory working with human pancreatic cancer has hinted that not every pancreatic cancer is the same and each may be sensitive to different drugs or combinations of drugs. This project aims to investigate whether or not this is true, and if so, can we predict which cancers will respond to new treatments we are trialling, using only small amounts of tissue similar to those we already routinely obtain in order to diagnose the cancer. This will hopefully lead to treatments being tailored for each patient's individual cancer depending on their expected response and reducing the number of unnecessary drugs each patient receives."