Applications for the 2023 ARC Mental Health Fellowship are now closed.
Who is the fellowship aimed at:
This fellowship is for people based in the East of England who work in an area of mental health, including mental health practitioners, clinicians, NHS managers, health and social care practitioners and those who work in education or third-sector settings. The Mental Health fellowship is aimed at people who are keen to develop an understanding of the research environment, and to develop skills in research methodology, service redesign and change management. The focus is on local applied research and evaluation projects, building local capacity for evidence-informed practice, and facilitating networking across health and social care.
What will the fellowship involve:
The successful fellows will pursue an 18-month supervised project in an area of mental health. Fellows will spend 12-months on a mental health research project, attend bespoke educational seminars, followed by 6-months working on a mental health implementation project. This fellowship is a collaboration with the Eastern Academic Health Science Network who will be delivering the implementation project.
The NIHR ARC East of England will fund backfill costs for one day a week for 18 months, from April 2023 to the end of September 2024. The maximum funding that the ARC can offer to fund backfill for the 18month fellowship is £18,750 per fellow. Any applicant interested in applying for a Mental Health Fellowship must ensure that any funding gap to backfill their one-day-a-week project time will be covered by their own organisation. In the event of a funding gap, the applicant must provide a letter from the organisation confirming this agreement.
The successful applicants will be part of the ARC EoE’s Mental Health over the life course theme. Led by Professor Kristy Sanderson, this theme involves researchers from the University of Essex, University of Cambridge, University of Hertfordshire and University of East Anglia. Addressing a wide range of areas that impact mental health in the UK, ARC East of England researchers are working towards achieving key aims, such as: building a research infrastructure to fill the damaging gap between physical and mental health services; working to improve identification of children’s and young people’s emotional and wellbeing problems through to adulthood; and exploring better ways to support the mental health and wellbeing of health and social care staff. Find out more about their current projects here.
The Mental Health Fellowship is part of our highly successful ARC Fellowship programme which has been running since 2010. Since then 120 fellowships have been awarded. Our fellows have come from a wide range of clinical and non-clinical backgrounds — Registered Nurses, Dieticians and Pharmacists, General Practitioners, Consultant Psychiatrists, NHS managers, Clinical Psychologists, and Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologists, from all across the East of England.
How to apply:
You should choose a project that interests you. It may be something that you have wanted to do for a long time, but haven't had the time to dedicate to it. If possible, contact the theme lead, Kristy Sanderson (and cc the ARCoffice@cpft.nhs.uk) to advise you on your project protocol to ensure it is feasible and fits within the Mental Health over the Life Course theme. Our team will then help support you in identifying a suitable supervisor for your project and offer advice with writing your proposal ready for applying. When you are ready to apply, application forms and guidance can be found here.
Key dates:
Fellows will begin their fellowship on 3rd April 2023 for 18 months until the end of September 2024.
- Applications open: Monday 17th October 2022
- Deadline for applications is Wednesday 30th November 2022
- Interviews will be on Friday 3rd February 2023.
- Induction day: Thursday 6th April 2023.