NMRC Research Training Fellowship (RTF)

​

The NMRC Research Training Fellowship (RTF) is awarded to outstanding and talented clinicians and health science / healthcare professionals for research training to have qualifications and skills to become Clinician Scientists.

While the RTF programme is open to all applications on all research areas, applications focusing on translation of research and innovations into healthcare in the following strategic areas (covering both expertise in technology as well as use case areas) will be prioritised:

• Medical Technology (MedTech), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science and Digital Health

• Epidemiology, Population Health and Implementation Science

• Precision Medicine

• Healthy and Meaningful Longevity

• Family Medicine and Primary Care
  

Eligibility Criteria

1. Applicants must be medical doctors/dental surgeons (i.e., with MBBS/MD/BDS degree) who are registered with the Singapore Medical Council/Dental Board. Residents or AST/BST trainees who wish to pursue research training in the midst of their clinical training will be required to submit additional documents. Medical/House officers are not eligible to apply.
   

2. Health science / healthcare professionals with non-medical degrees, such as nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professions listed on MOH’s website here and possess PhD or equivalent degrees are eligible to apply. Those without PhD or equivalent degrees may apply for training leading a formal postgraduate degree.

3. Applicants must be Singapore citizens or Permanent Residents at point of application.

4. Applicant must hold a primary appointment in a local public hospital/public health institutions/national specialty centre/public university/Academic Medical Centre (AMC) and be salaried by the institution.

5. Applicant must remain employed in a public institution in Singapore during and throughout duration of the award. Applicant will also be required to serve a bond with the Government of Singapore upon the completion of training.

6. Applicant should not have outstanding reports from NMRC grants and other national grants.

7. Applicant is only allowed up to 2 resubmissions following an unsuccessful first submission.

For more details for eligibility criteria, please refer to NMRC's website here (internet accessible link).

Types of Award

Applicants may apply for (i) local/overseas formal research training or (ii) local/overseas research attachment.

Please note that applicants are strongly encouraged to apply for local training where available and that overseas training will be awarded only to very exceptional applicants with strong justifications. For overseas training, applicants are required to provide compelling justifications for proposing overseas training over local training (if there are equivalent or similar local courses/expertise) and the potential positive impact of the training.

As different types of courses or research training may have different enrolment dates, applicants are advised to check the registration and acceptance timeline of the proposed research training and cater sufficient time for the RTF application and review process (of at least 5 months) to avoid delay in the submission of the application and commencement of training.

Funding Details

1. Local/Overseas Formal Research Training

           Components of this award include:

• Local: Award value of up to S$500K per awardee for up to 3 years (extendable to 4 years for PhD degree). Clinicians pursuing overseas full-time PhD training may request for up to S$800k.
• Overseas: Award value for an overseas full-time PhD training - clinicians may request for up to S$800K for up to 4 years, while non-clinicians may request for up to S$500K for up to 4 years. For other overseas non-PhD training, the award value is up to S$300K per awardee for up to 3 years for all eligible applicants.
• Salary support in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and NMRC's Annual Salary Cap based on clinical grade
  
• For full-time training, the awardee can be allowed up to two clinical sessions (8 hours) per week to maintain clinical competence where necessary based on institution's arrangements
• For part-time training, the awardee may request for salary support for the time required for research training only. The host institution is to provide salary for the remaining time (i.e. clinical duties).
• Maintenance allowance and others (e.g. return air travel, health insurance) in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and institution's existing guidelines for awardees pursuing overseas training.
• Tuition or course fees charged by the training institution
• Overseas conference support of up to $6K per year. Allowable only if the awardee is a speaker or presenting a poster at the conference on a topic relevant to the research project under the award. Costs related to conference e.g. maintenance allowance should be indicated as "overseas conference support" under "overseas travel (OT)" vote on IGMS and budgeting should be done in accordance to MOH HMDP terms.
• Eligibility to apply for a research seed funding of up to $30k for duration of 2 years (subject to NMRC's prevailing eligibility criteria and approval)  via IGMS upon completion of training.

2. Local/Overseas Research Attachment

          Components of this award include:

• Award value of up to S$500K per awardee of up to 2 years.
• Overseas: Award value of up to S$300K per awardee for up to 2 years. Institutions are encouraged to co-fund the overseas training if required.
• Salary support in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and NMRC's Annual Salary Cap
  
• Maintenance allowance and others (e.g. return air travel, health insurance) in accordance to the institution's guidelines for awardees going on overseas training.
• Overseas conference support of up to $6K per year. Allowable only if the awardee is a speaker or presenting a poster at the conference on a topic relevant to the research project under the award. Costs related to conference e.g. maintenance allowance should be indicated as "overseas conference support" under "overseas travel(OT)" on IGMS and budgeting should be done in accordance to MOH HMDP terms.
• Eligibility to apply for a research seed funding of up to $30k for duration of 2 years (subject to NMRC's prevailing eligibility criteria and approval)  via IGMS upon completion of training.
  

For more information, please visit NMRC's website here (internet accessible link).

Submission

Note: SingHealth PIs are to please refer to your respective Institutional Research Administrators for guidance on internal deadlines and submission procedures set by your institutions.

Contact Person

Ms Hiu Ai Ping

Email: aiping.hiu@mohh.com.sg

Additional Information

• Please download the 'Application Guide and Template' documents from NMRC's website here.