FAQs

You must be a practising Allied Health Professional, Nurse or Midwife and registered with a national professional regulatory body in the UK/Republic of Ireland (e.g. HCPC, NMC)

While we require you to be clinically active, your clinical work does not need to be your primary occupation. For example, a lecturer working on bank with the NHS is eligible to apply. We are using the NHS definition of Allied health professionals - check whether your profession qualifies as an AHP.

The programme is recruiting AHPs, nurses and midwives only to its October 2026 intake. If your profession is not on this list, you are not eligible to apply.

You must be a UK applicant

This programme is not open to international applicants. Further information on our Home/UK student criteria can be found in the Studentship page within the Eligibility section.

You must hold a Bachelor's degree

The minimum entry requirement for a research degree programme is an upper second-class honours degree (or an equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant subject. This criterion must be met at the point of application; current final year Bachelor’s students (or equivalent oversees qualification) are not eligible unless they already meet this criterion from a prior qualification.

However, in exceptional circumstances, a special case for admission may be made based on one or more of the following criteria:

• other qualifications held
• training and experience
• published works
• upper second class strengths demonstrated in relevant modules of first degree

Special cases for admission to a research degree programme will be subject to approval from the Dean of the Doctoral College.

Your English level must meet our English language requirements

To check whether you fulfil English language requirements or whether you may need to prove English language proficiency and what documentation you will need to do this. Find out more about our English language requirements.

This programme requires our fellows to be present in either Leicester or Loughborough at least 3 times a week (sometimes more). Therefore this programme is not suitable for those who cannot feasibly commute, are not already based in Leicestershire or surrounding areas, are unwilling/unable to relocate to participate in this programme.

The programme is recruiting AHPs, nurses and midwives only to its October 2026 intake.

Please note we are using the NHS defition of an Allied Health Professional. If your profession is not in this list, you will not be eligible.

When we applied for the grant, we did so on the premise that there is an under-representation of certain clinical professions in academic research. The professions we focused on based on the expertise available at the University of Leicester are AHPs, nurses, midwives, doctors in training and GPs*.

While this is not an exhaustive list of clinical professions experiencing underrepresentation in research, our grant was awarded to us on this premise. We are unable to change our requirements to include any other profession as part of this programme.

Please note the programme is recruiting AHPs, nurses and midwives only to its October 2026 intake. If your profession is not on this list, you are not eligible to apply.

Unfortunately a clinically trained person who is no longer practising would not be eligible for this programme. The fellowships are intended to allow applicants to combine a clinical and academic career, hence the specific eligibility expectations.

Applicants must provide all of the following with their application:

An up-to-date CV including details of professional registration

CVs should contain information about education (degrees and classifications) and professional experience. Applicants should highlight any research experience they have.

It must include include details of registeration to a national professional regulatory body in the UK/Republic of Ireland (e.g. HCPC, NMC).

Learn how to craft a competitive CV on our application help page.

Degree Certificates and Transcripts

Evidence of study already completed and, if applicable, transcripts to date of study currently being undertaken

A 1000 word personal statement

Personal statement should include:

• Applicant name
• The title of the preferred project(s) - applicants can list up to 2 projects, making clear which is their first and second choice
• The supervisor(s) of the preferred project(s)
• An outline of why they are applying for our programme
• References (if relevant)

Learn how to craft a personal statement on our application help page

Two references

We accept either academic or employer references (or one of each). Applicants can either enter their contact details in the boxes provied during the application process, or upload reference letters if already obtained. References should demonstrate academic ability and/or professional experiences. Applicants should ask referees before putting their names down, and it always helps for them to know about the scheme you are applying for.

Complete our Widening Participation Questionnaire

Applicants need to download the questionnaire from the How to apply section of our Studentship page. Their completed questionnaire needs to be uploaded to the Research Proposal section of the application form.

Confirmation of preferred project and supervisor

Applicants can list up to 2 projects, making clear which is their first and second choice. They will need to provide these details in the Research Proposal section of the application form.

We do not accept original project submissions. All of our advertised projects are developed through a co-design pathway, where we encourage projects to have a combination of different methological approachs. We believe exposure to such variety enhances the research training received by our fellows throughout the programme.

Please review the Studentships page for details of the projects and supervisors that are available for our October 2026 intake.

It is not necessary for applicants to already be an expert in the subject of the project they are applying for. We will provide training to our fellows, ensuring their skills and knowledge are expanded during the programme.

We strongly encourage applicants to demonstrate their interest in the subject of the project within their 1000 word personal statement, as well as longlisted candidates who can elaborate on this during interview.

Aside from evidence of the appropriate skills to conduct the PhD, we are interested in candidates who show enthusiasm for their chosen subject and good potential to thrive in the research environment. In addition, candidates will be selected on the basis of fitting into the cohort that we are building each year. We strongly encourage applicants to highlight their skills in their application; successfully longlisted candidates will have additional opportunity to demonstate this to our Interview Panel. 

Learn how to craft a competitive CV and personal statement on our application help page.

PhDs are difficult and require a lot of dedication and passion. We will look for highly motivated candidates who show an enthusiasm for their projects and a keen interest in research work. Within each project we will also look for particular skills to ensure that an appointed candidate can successfully complete the PhD.

An academic/clinical background in the relevant subject is preferred but not essential. Your skills and potential are key.

Absolutely! Once applicants have identified the project(s) they will be applying for, we encourage them to reach out to the First Supervisor for the project(s) in advance of their application submission to our October 2026 intake.

Contact information can be found within their project details on our Studentship page. They will be expecting to hear from our applicants interested in their projects and will be happy to answer any questions.

While applicants are required to choose a project and supervisor from the list on our Studentships page, we encourage them to contact the First Supervisor of the project(s) they are applying for to discuss these interests and how/whether they fit into the remit of the project(s).

The application deadline for our October 2026 intake is Wednesday 18 February 2026. Application reviews will take place once this deadline has passsed and we anticipate outcomes will be provided 2-3 weeks after our application deadline.

Applicants who are successfully longlisted to the programme will be invited to interview. These 30-minute interviews are conducted on Microsoft Teams and we anticipate them taking place w/c 23 March 2026.

Applicants who are not successful will be informed 2-3 weeks after our application deadline. Their application will also be formally updated by our PGR Admissions team to reflect this outcome.

Candidates will only be interviewed once and evaluated on the basis of being suitable for their first choice project. To support our application review and interview preparations, applicants must make clear which is their first and second choice project in their Research Proposal section of the application as well as in their 1000 word personal statement.

Please note even if longlisted candidates select one project only during the application process, they may still be asked in interview whether they are able to identify a second choice project.

Following interview, shortlisted candidates will be provided confirmation of the project and supervisor they have been matched too. We aspire to match candidates to their preferred projects, however the outcome may be that an alternative project is offered instead for two reasons:

• Their first choice project is matched to a higher scoring candidate whom shared the project as their first choice
• Our Interview Panel determined the candidate would be better matched to an alternative project

Candidates will not be interviewed again on this basis - it is up to them to decide whether to accept the offer to join our programme or not.

University accommodation may be available for successful candidates who require it. Our Accommodation Team will help with finding a suitable place.

Our funding does not cover University accommodation costs.

We are happy to discuss any needs you have. The University has a wide range of helpful options to make applying and studying with us as easy as possible.

Applicants can discuss any particular needs with the First Supervisor of the project(s) they are applying for. Contact information can be found within their project details on our Studentship page.

Alternatively applicants can contact our PhD Programme Coordinator with any questions they may have: lhiip@le.ac.uk.

This programme aims to be as inclusive as possible and support those undertaking a PhD around busy family lives or other commitments. We suggest any applicants who are interested in undertaking the programme part-time reach out to our PhD Programme Coordinator and discuss this further: lhiip@le.ac.uk.

Please note part-time working is not permitted for the purposes of continuing clinical training or to maintain another salaried position. Fellow salaries must be 100% attributed to the fellowship.

Yes - we recognise the importance of maintaining clinical skills whilst undertaking our programme. Fellows are permitted to devote up to 0.2FTE of the programme to clinical work for the purpose of maintaining your skills, as this is also stipulated as a requirement by Wellcome - our funders. In terms of their requirement, they are very flexible on when/how often this takes places; it does not need to be a continuous activity that takes place every week throughout the duration of the programme.

You are welcome to find out more about how any of our current fellows are approaching this alongside their studies. Check out who they are on the Our fellows page.

Please note fellows are not permitted to take up any paid additional work during their contracted hours on the programme. Contact our PhD Programme Coordinator if you have any questions about this: lhiip@le.ac.uk.