The NMRC Research Training Fellowship is awarded to outstanding and talented clinicians and health science professionals for research training or to pursue a graduate degree in research.  

The aims of the Fellowship are:  

• To train clinicians to have the qualifications and skills to become Clinician Scientists.
• To equip health science professionals with the qualifications and skills to become Principal Investigators

A) Areas of Research

This programme is open to applications on all research areas. Applicants 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 Productive Longevity
• Family Medicine and Primary Care

B) Eligibility

Clinical and Academic Requirements

• Applicants must be medical doctors/dental surgeons (i.e., with MBBS/MD/BDS degree) who are registered with the Singapore Medical Council/Dental Board; or 

• Practicing health science professionals who fall within the list of professions shown in Table 1 below may apply. Health science professional applicant must either be a PhD degree holder or applying for training leading to a PhD degree.

  Table 1: List of Professions
  Audiologist	Dietitian	Optometrist	Prosthetist/Orthotist
  Biostatistician	Epidemiologist	Pharmacist	Radiation Therapist
  Clinical Pharmacologist	Nurse	Physiotherapist	Radiographer
  Clinical Psychologist	Occupational Therapist	Podiatrist	Speech Therapist

Other Mandatory Requirements

• Applicants must be employed in a public institution in Singapore during and throughout duration of the award. They will also be required to serve a bond with the Government of Singapore upon the completion of their training.

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

• Applicants are encouraged to apply for local training if expertise is available locally so that knowledge acquired is applicable in the local context. 

• The curriculum of the formal degree should be research-based. Applicants are advised to apply to the university of interest and liaise the necessary arrangements for their research training or degree programme concurrently with this fellowship application to avoid delay in the submission of the application and commencement of training. 

• Applicants must prepare all necessary documents and information prior to submission. The sample application form may be downloaded on the “Downloads” page

Note:
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. Please refer to the sample application form for more details. Medical / House officers are not eligible to apply for this programme.

C) Types of Awards

Applicants may apply for (i) local/overseas training leading to a graduate degree (Master's/PhD) or (ii) local/overseas research attachment.

i) Local/Overseas Training Leading to a PhD or Master’s Degree

Components of Award:

• Award value of up to S$500k per awardee for over 2-3 years (extendable to 4 years for PhD degree). Clinicians pursuing overseas full-time PhD training may request for up to S$800k.

• Salary support^ in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and NMRC’s Annual Salary Cap based on clinical grade (Table 2)
  • 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).

^ Salary includes base salary, annual wage supplement, contributions to the Central Provident Fund, fixed clinical allowance, and performance bonus. Salary increments and all other benefits and payments are to be paid to the Fellow in accordance to the Host Institution’s policies. Claims must be certified correct by the Host Institution’s Human Resource office or its Payroll Department.

• 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 fees for PhD or Master’s degree studies.
• 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 is to be indicated as “overseas conference support” under “overseas travel (OT)” on IGMS. Budgeting to 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 the approval of a research proposal. You may apply for seed funding via IGMS upon completion of training. Residents or BST/AST trainees who have completed their PhD training and need protected time for research during clinical training years may apply up for salary support capped at $60k up to 2 years (subject to necessary approvals).

ii) Local/Overseas Research Attachment

Research attachment applications that encourage collaborations between local institutions, or local institutions with overseas institutions will be prioritised.

Components of Award:

• Award value of up to S$500k per awardee of up to 2 years.
• Salary support^ in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and NMRC’s Annual Salary Cap (Table 2).
• 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. e.g. maintenance allowance is to be indicated as “overseas conference support” under “overseas travel(OT)” on IGMS.
• Awardee who is supported for 12 months or more for training is eligible to apply for research seed funding of up to $30k upon return from training (subject to the approval of a research proposal). Returning Fellows may apply to seed funding via IGMS.

D) Bond

Recipients of the Fellowships are subject to signing a bond to serve the Government of Singapore or as directed by the Government of Singapore. The bonding policy of the NMRC is in Table 3 and Table 4:  

• The bond period imposed will run consecutive to any existing other government bonds. Existing institutional bonds may be served consecutive or concurrent according to institution’s guidelines. 

• Unless there are pre-existing government bonds to be served, the bond must kickstart immediately after completion of the Fellowship training. For training leading to formal degrees (e.g. MPH, Master’s Degree and PhD), the completion of the Fellowship training refers to the conferment date. For research attachments, completion of the Fellowship training refers to the completion of the research proposal proposed.

• The length of the bond period is determined by the nature of training (i.e. location of training, part/time-training and type of training).:  

Table 3. Bond service duration for training in local institutions 

Table 4. Bond service duration for training in overseas institutions

E) Review Procedures 

All applications are reviewed by the Scholarship Administration Panel which will provide awarding recommendations. The review process takes about 4 to 5 months after closure of the call and applicants may be called up for interviews as part of the review process. 

F) Application Procedure and Closing Date

The deadline for endorsed submissions via IGMS is 16 December 2020 for applicants.

Click here to download the application templates and IGMS user guide. 

Please read the instructions and ensure all sections are completed. Other than letters of support, CVs and where signatories are captured (e.g. HOD), please upload all documents in MS word format. For Residents and AST/BST trainees, please include approval received from the Residency Advisory Committee (RAC), Programme Director (PD) and DIO. The endorsed revised training plans (if applicable) from the PD is required.

Please note on the internal instructions from your institution if any.

Only endorsed and completed applications submitted online via IGMS will be accepted. Late or incomplete submissions will not be accepted.

For more information, you may contact Ms Hiu Ai Ping at hiu_ai_ping@moh.gov.sg.