Partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences strengthens future of clinical research

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences to widen opportunities for early-career clinical academics through the long-running Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers scheme, helping safeguard the UK’s clinical research pipeline.

The Lister Institute recently partnered with the Academy of Medical Sciences, joining its prestigious consortium of funders for the Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers (SGCL) scheme. The agreement represents a significant strategic step for the Lister Institute, strengthening its efforts to encourage more clinicians to undertake biomedical research and support excellence in this field.

Why the SGCL scheme matters

The SGCL scheme supports medical, dental and veterinary Clinical Lecturers whose posts provide limited or no funds for research. Awards – worth up to £40,000 over 12 to 24 months – help these lecturers generate preliminary data and publish papers to underpin competitive follow-on bids for fellowships or major grants. For early-career clinicians striving to build research-active careers alongside demanding clinical roles, these grants provide vital breathing space: modest awards that unlock data, collaborations and confidence at critical moments.

Since its launch in 2008, the scheme has supported over 750 individuals, with compelling evidence that these Starter Grants influence research quality, career development and the long-term retention of clinicians in research. Awardees consistently report that the grants improve their ability to secure subsequent funding and strengthen their research portfolios – an outcome that directly aligns with Lister’s own mission to nurture exceptional early-career biomedical researchers.

Strategic alignment with national need

The Lister Institute’s interest in supporting clinical academics has grown in response to serious national concerns. A report published in 2025 by the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) highlighted a long-term decline in the UK’s clinically trained research workforce, especially among senior academic roles, with insufficient replacement of retiring clinical academics. The pressures on those attempting to sustain research careers were significant, the report found. In March 2026 the Academy launched a new UK Medical Science Careers Taskforce; it brings together senior leaders from academia, the NHS, MedTech and the pharmaceutical industry to identify and address gaps across clinical and non-clinical career pathways. Lister trustees and Academy Fellows Muzlifah Haniffa and Rosalind Smyth are both members.

Lister’s director, Julie Goodley, identifies the shortage of clinician-researchers as a key driver for joining the SGCL consortium. “The Lister Institute has an impressive heritage in nurturing the future leaders in biomedical research. We fund bold, clinically relevant research; much of the fundamental research we support underpins huge breakthroughs in preventive medicine, diagnosis and disease treatments,” Julie explains. “But as clinician-scientists are dwindling in number, supporting the SGCL scheme makes perfect sense.”

Julie says that through SGCL, early-career clinical academics get access to the resources they need to conduct preliminary research, which is crucial for securing larger grants and advancing their careers. There is also a natural pathway from SGCL awards to the possibility of a Lister Prize, as the scheme is designed to nurture talent and provide a first step towards conducting the bolder, career-defining research that Lister typically funds.

“Supporting SGCL offers many co-benefits for us and the Academy,” Julie adds. “We know that the conversations, connections and mentoring that goes on between our Fellows and Members collectively shape world-class research; the SGCL awardees we support will have access to this incredibly supportive community. Meanwhile, the Lister will gain extra visibility among clinical biomedical researchers. And all this without significant additional resource burden to our very small operational team, thanks to the scheme’s mature operations.”

How the partnership works

As a new SGCL consortium member, the Lister Institute will contribute funding for awards over an initial three-year period. As director, Julie will represent the Lister as an observer at the SGCL selection panel, giving good insight into the breadth of clinical research across the UK and hearing the discussions that underpin funding decisions. Observers can veto applications outside their remit before the final selection.

The SGCL co-funding model offers awardees several attractions:

• Greater leverage and reach: Funders with general research remits, such as Lister, can support projects beyond the scope of more disease-focused members of the consortium.

• Shared infrastructure: Consortium funding delivers efficiencies in mentoring, career development and scheme administration.

• Community signalling: The co-branded scheme demonstrates a united effort from major biomedical funders, providing reassurance to early-career clinicians that their research careers matter and are supported at national level.

Lister-funded SGCL awardees will also be invited to the Lister Institute’s Annual Meeting, enabling them to join our vibrant community of Fellows and Members, and benefit from mentorship, networking and leadership development.

A shared commitment to nurturing clinical talent

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Our collaboration with the Academy of Medical Sciences on the Starter Grants scheme is a natural extension of the Lister Institute’s mission to support the very best early-career clinical scientists. The scheme is highly effective, offering comparatively small but truly transformative awards that help talented clinicians remain in research and build long-term careers._”

Professor Sir John Iredale, Chair

Professor Sir John Iredale, a Fellow of the Academy and Chair of the Lister Institute, is convinced that the SGCL scheme offers the same kind of career transformation that Lister Prize winners currently enjoy. “Our collaboration with the Academy of Medical Sciences on the Starter Grants scheme is a natural extension of the Lister Institute’s mission to support the very best early-career clinical scientists,” he remarks. “The scheme is highly effective, offering comparatively small but truly transformative awards that help talented clinicians remain in research and build long-term careers.”

John notes that the flexibility and disciplinary breadth of SGCL also echoes the ethos of the Lister’s longstanding support for bold, curiosity-driven biomedical research. “We are particularly proud to contribute flexible, non-hypothecated funding. It holds real value for both the Lister and the Academy of Medical Sciences because it will allow the scheme to back the strongest ideas regardless of discipline. This partnership ensures that outstanding clinical academics receive the support they need to thrive, and we are delighted to play a role in strengthening the UK’s biomedical research community.”

By enabling talented clinicians to pursue their most promising ideas – without rigid disease-area restrictions – the Institute will foster professional development and evidence-led clinical insight at precisely the point where many emerging clinical researchers struggle for support.

Looking ahead: strengthening the UK’s clinical research pipeline

By joining the SGCL consortium, the Lister Institute strengthens this already proven national mechanism for stabilising and nurturing the clinical academic workforce. We are looking forward to helping equip the next generation of clinician-researchers to generate preliminary data, build collaborations, secure research leadership opportunities and sustain careers that bridge the clinic and the laboratory. In return, we hope the researchers we support through the scheme will become champions of excellence, diversity, ambition and community – all core values reflected across Lister’s existing activities.

The next SGCL funding round window will open in late summer 2026, but the message is clear: the UK’s biomedical research community is stronger when it invests in people early, consistently and collaboratively. With this partnership, the Lister Institute and the Academy of Medical Sciences are working together to ensure that clinical researchers have the support they need not just to stay in touch with science, but embrace it as part of their practice.