About

The Clinician Scientist-Individual Research Grant (CS-IRG) is provided to Clinician Scientists (CS) to enable them to carry out medical research on a specifically defined topic for a period of 3-5 years in local public institutions. All CS-IRG applications will be evaluated through a single-stage review process by the Review Panel (RP).

Research Theme

The CS-IRG is open to application on all research themes. Applications are assessed based on scientific merit at the international level and relevance to Singapore, but should prioritisation be required between meritorious applications, the following seven disease areas have been identified as national priorities for research:

• Cancers and neoplasms
• Cardiovascular
• Eye
• Infection
• Mental health
• Metabolic and endocrine
• Neurological

Evaluation Criteria

Selection of successful proposals would be based on the following evaluation criteria:

• Scientific excellence
• Feasibility of study in local context
• Productivity
• Overall impact in local context
• Track record of investigators

Eligibility Criteria for CS-IRG

Each CS-IRG application must be led by a Clinical Principal Investigator (PI) who has to fulfill the eligibility criteria listed below:

1. PI must be clinically qualified (i.e. with MD/MBBS/BDS) and preferably with post-graduate clinical training and experience.
2. Allied Health Professionals who meet the following conditions may apply:
   1. Non-medically trained PIs who are nurses, pharmacists or other allied health professions listed on the MOH’s website in clinical practice, doing research in clinical settings or doing research with clinical and healthcare applications/relevance, are eligible to apply.
   2. Applicants who are working in human clinical research, including epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and whose research is clinically relevant and has potential health impact, will be considered as exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
   3. Non-medically trained applicants conducting wet laboratory based research are not eligible.
   4. Applicants must possess a minimum academic qualification of a PhD or the equivalent training.
   5. Recipients of NMRC Human Capital Awards, Transition Award and NMRC Research Training Fellowship are eligible to apply.
3. A*STAR CS scholar from the National Science Scholarship (NSS) (MBBS-PhD) or NSS (MD-PhD) schemes and who fulfil the following may apply:
   1. hold primary appointments in Academic Medical Centres (AMCs), public health institutions (PHIs) or medical schools; or
   2. hold primary appointments in A*STAR but (with mutual agreement of A*STAR and the AMC/PHI/medical school) also hold a joint appointment in the AMC/PHI/medical school, provided that any such grant application is supported by the AMC/PHI/medical school.The institution/school should also consider if these A*STAR CS scholars are able to demonstrate that they can act as a bridge between A*STAR and the healthcare system.
   3. submit the grant application through AMCs/PHIs/medical schools as host institutions.
4. For proposals involving patients, the clinical PI or co-I should be SMC registered; or should be able to demonstrate ability to access patients through SMC registered collaborators. For some CS-IRG proposals it is recognized that some studies may be pre-clinical and not require the PI to be SMC registered.
5. Only one PI is allowed per application. The number of applications by an individual (as PI) is capped at 1 grant application per grant type in a grant call.

Additional eligibility criteria include

1. Hold a primary appointment in a local public hospital/public health institutions/national specialty centre/public universities/Academic Medical Centres and salaried by the institution.
2. Be an independent PI with a demonstrated track record of research as evidenced by the award of nationally competitive funding (international funding to be considered on a case by case basis) or substantial publication record.
3. Have a laboratory or clinical research program that carries out research in Singapore.
4. Hold a minimum of 9 months employment with a local public institution. Upon award, the PI must agree to fulfill at least 6 months of residency in Singapore for each calendar year over the duration of the grant award.
5. No outstanding reports from previous BMRC, NMRC grants and other national grants.

Grant Call Frequency

There will be two grant calls per year (Jan and Jul).

Funding Quantum:

The CS-IRG will provide a funding quantum of up to S$1.95M per project (inclusive of up to 30% indirect costs^) for up to 3 years. Projects involving prospective patient/subject recruitment may apply for up to 5 years.

^Indirect costs is not applicable for research scholarship budget

Submission

It is mandatory for all applications to be submitted and endorsed by Director of Research (DOR) online via IGMS by 6 February 2025, 5pm. We will not entertain any late submissions or submissions from individual applicants without endorsement from the Host Institution.

Please download the CS-IRG Guide and Application Form for more information. 

Review Panel

The composition of the CS-IRG Review Panel 2024-2026 is listed in the table below.

Applicants are not allowed to approach any of the panel members to discuss or solicit information related to their application review or funding decisions. NMRC may impose a suspension and/or debarment on such applicants.