This SMSTDA-Project award enables the medical student to work on a project with a Supervising Faculty (i.e. a named assigned faculty) of an Academic Clinical Programme (ACP). The theme of the project can be Research, Education, Clinical Quality/Innovation or Clinical Audit (e.g. genomic studies; education applications; diagnostic device, audit on complication rates etc.), and other worthwhile initiatives (e.g. leading an overseas humanitarian medical outreach project). Funding Support i. The duration of the funding support is 18 months with no further extension . ii. The quantum of each project award will be S$7,000 , which comprises: S$2,000 merit award which will be presented to the medical student upon submission of his/her end-of-project report at the end of the Funding Period. S$5,000 which will be available for the duration of the Funding Period on a reimbursement basis to the ACP hosting the medical student. This money will be used to help defray project-related expenses. Fundable expenses typically include local training courses/conferences, supplies, stationery, refreshments, journal subscription/books and local transportation. Please refer to SMSTDA-Project Funding Guidelines for more information.

Application for FY2025 Cycle 2 is now open from 1 September – 15 October 2025! Click here for more information on SingHealth Medical Student Talent Development Award (SMSTDA). Click here for SMSTDA (Project) Funding Guidelines. Click here for SMSTDA (Travel) Funding Guidelines. Please submit your application through AMgrants System . Click here for account creation guide and training videos. Click here for application guide for SMSTDA (Travel) Grant. Click here for application guide for SMSTDA (Project) Grant).

SMSTDA

Q: Eligibility Criteria

SMSTDA is open to local/overseas Medical Students who meets the following eligibility criteria: i. Singaporeans/PRs studying in one of the three local medical schools: National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Duke-NUS Medical School (including MD-PhD students) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (a partnership between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Imperial College London) Invitations to apply for the award will be initiated through their respective medical society. OR ii. Singaporeans/PRs studying in overseas medical schools. Invitations to apply for the award will be initiated through the Education Office of the Hospital Institutions or Medical Speciality Centres. iii. The applicant must be in the last three years of the medical school programme at the start of the funding period in one of the above-mentioned schools. Students in their final year are allowed to apply even if they graduate within the funding period. The supervising faculty will have to be from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Clinical Programme (ACP). Please refer to the full list of Faculty Members from each ACP .

The SingHealth Medical Student Talent Development Award (SMSTDA) is an Academic Medicine initiative designed to provide developmental opportunities for promising medical students. Some of its key features are:

Allow talented medical students an opportunity to participate in academic medicine through engagement with our Academic Clinical Programmes (ACPs) and their faculty.
Cultivate and support partnerships and interactions between high-potential medical students and the faculty.
Create an opportunity for medical students who are accepted into an established project in any SingHealth institution to experience the implementation of cutting-edge research. (Please refer to Annex A for the list of SingHealth institutions).
Enhance learning opportunities for medical students who will gain practical skills and knowledge that are applicable in their careers after graduation.
Allow ACPs, Programme Directors (PDs), Clerkship Directors/Coordinators and faculty to better understand students’ aspirations in order to help them develop their career in medicine.

There are two (2) categories of SMSTDA: namely the Project Award (SMSTDA-Project); and the Travel Award (SMSTDA-Travel)

Timeline

Important dates to note	Details
1 September 2025	Start of grant call
15 October 2025	Close of grant call
1 January 2026	Announcement of Grant results via email

For any enquiries, please contact:

Respective ACP administrators:

Enquiries about the use of funds

For all other queries, please reach out to:

Lin Fenru (lin.fenru@duke-nus.edu.sg) - SURG ACP
Yeng Ai Foong (aifoong@duke-nus.edu.sg) - OBGYN, EYE, and ORH ACPs
Jobeth Lim Kar Yee (jobethlim@duke-nus.edu.sg) - MED, NEUROSC, ONCO, and FM ACPs
Ranjan Sekeran (ranjan.sekeran@partner.nus.edu.sg) - PAEDS, EM, CVS, PATH, RADSC, ANAES, and MSKSC ACPs

More Information on SMSTDA

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This SMSTDA-Project award enables the medical student to work on a project with a Supervising Faculty (i.e. a named assigned faculty) of an Academic Clinical Programme (ACP).

The theme of the project can be Research, Education, Clinical Quality/Innovation or Clinical Audit (e.g. genomic studies; education applications; diagnostic device, audit on complication rates etc.), and other worthwhile initiatives (e.g. leading an overseas humanitarian medical outreach project).

Funding Support

i. The duration of the funding support is 18 months with no further extension.

ii. The quantum of each project award will be S$7,000, which comprises:

S$2,000 merit award which will be presented to the medical student upon submission of his/her end-of-project report at the end of the Funding Period.
S$5,000 which will be available for the duration of the Funding Period on a reimbursement basis to the ACP hosting the medical student. This money will be used to help defray project-related expenses. Fundable expenses typically include local training courses/conferences, supplies, stationery, refreshments, journal subscription/books and local transportation.

Please refer to SMSTDA-Project Funding Guidelines for more information.

The SMSTDA-Travel award is an individual award to accord recognition and support to medical students who have performed well in an academic project. In an application where the project was completed by a team/group of medical students, the applicant must be recognised as the official medical student project leader (i.e. the Principal Investigator) of the team/group.

This award enables the deserving medical student to travel so that he/she can participate and present his/her project at an overseas international seminar/conference.

Funding Support

i. The duration of funding support is 12 months with no further extension.

ii. The quantum of each travel award will be S$3,000. Disbursement of the merit award will be on a reimbursement basis made after completion of the international conference/seminar.

iii. This merit award will be used to help the medical students defray the costs of his/her participation and presentation of an abstract/poster of the study outcome at an overseas conference/seminar, including payment of conference/seminar fees and travel expenses associated with the conference.

Please refer to SMSTDA (Travel) Funding Guidelines for more information.

Application for FY2025 Cycle 2 is now open from 1 September – 15 October 2025!

Click here for more information on SingHealth Medical Student Talent Development Award (SMSTDA).
Click here for SMSTDA (Project) Funding Guidelines.
Click here for SMSTDA (Travel) Funding Guidelines.

Please submit your application through AMgrants System.

Click here for account creation guide and training videos.
Click here for application guide for SMSTDA (Travel) Grant.
Click here for application guide for SMSTDA (Project) Grant).

SMSTDA is open to local/overseas Medical Students who meets the following eligibility criteria:

i. Singaporeans/PRs studying in one of the three local medical schools:

National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Duke-NUS Medical School (including MD-PhD students)
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (a partnership between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Imperial College London)

Invitations to apply for the award will be initiated through their respective medical society.

ii. Singaporeans/PRs studying in overseas medical schools.

Invitations to apply for the award will be initiated through the Education Office of the Hospital Institutions or Medical Speciality Centres.

iii. The applicant must be in the last three years of the medical school programme at the start of the funding period in one of the above-mentioned schools. Students in their final year are allowed to apply even if they graduate within the funding period.

The supervising faculty will have to be from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Clinical Programme (ACP). Please refer to the full list of Faculty Members from each ACP.

MANDATORY DOCUMENTS: File Naming Conventions

All supporting documents for the application are to follow the stipulated file naming conventions stated below prior to submission via AMgrant system. (Note: Applications with attachments not named according to the stipulated naming conventions will not be accepted)

Documents to be submitted

To Be Renamed to the Following

Letter of invitation for the applicant to present his/her completed project at the international conference/seminar from the organizer.

(for SMSTDA-Travel only)

(PDF format)

3 Letter of Invite

Important Advisory: The awardee shall be solely responsible to obtain official leave of absence from the medical school to travel and participate in the conference/seminar. SingHealth faculty and staff are not obliged to facilitate the awardee’s application of such leave of absence from the medical school.

Transcript for the last two Academic Years

(PDF format)

4 Transcript or 4 Transcript (<Academic Year>)

E.g. 4 Transcript (AY20XX-XX)

Supporting documents for all awards listed in Section 4

(PDF format)

A1 Supporting Doc, A2 Supporting Doc… or

A1 to A2 Supporting Doc (if all supporting documents are in one file)

*Attachments numbering should follow order as stated in application form.

Supporting documents for all scholarships listed in Section 4

(PDF format)

S1 Supporting Doc, S2 Supporting Doc… or

S1 to S2 Supporting Doc (if all supporting documents are in one file)

*Attachments numbering should follow order as stated in application form.

Abstracts for articles listed in Section 5

(PDF format)

PB01 Supporting Doc, PB02 Supporting Doc… or

PB01 to PB02 Supporting Doc (if all supporting documents are in one file)

*Attachments numbering should follow order as stated in application form.

Abstract for posters listed in Section 5

(PDF format)

PR01 Supporting Doc, PR02 Supporting Doc… or

PR01 to PR02 Supporting Doc (if all supporting documents are in one file)

*Attachments numbering should follow order as stated in application form.

Letter(s) of support from Supervising ACP faculty/ other ACP faculty

(PDF format)

L1 from <Designation and name of Supervising ACP faculty> e.g. L1 from Dr XXX

L2 from <Designation and name of other ACP faculty> e.g. L2 from Assoc Prof XXX

Curriculum Vitae of applicant

(PDF format)

CV_<Name of applicant>

E.g. CV_XXX

Supervising faculty will have to be from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Clinical Programme (ACP).

Please refer to the full list of Faculty Members from each ACP here: Academic Clinical Programmes | Duke NUS

1. Can I apply for both SMSTDA-Travel and SMSTDA-Project in the same cycle?
Ans: Each student shall only apply for either SMSTDA-Project or SMSTDA-Travel in each cycle. Students are not allowed to apply for both categories in the same cycle.

2. How many times can I be awarded under SMSTDA?
Ans: Throughout the medical school years, each student can only be awarded once for each category.

3. Is an official transcript from the school required?
Ans: Unofficial transcript from the school is acceptable.

4. When can I start spending the award funding?
Ans: Please note that all expenditure for the project must be incurred within the Funding Period. Expenses are deemed incurred only when the goods are received or services are rendered. Any expenditure incurred before/after the award start/end date will not be claimable. The overseas conference/seminar has to be within the funding period to be supported.

For enquiries on SMSTDA, please contact Joint Office of Academic Medicine - Academic Programmes Management Department (JOAM-APMD) at academic-medicine@duke-nus.edu.sg