C) Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants should hold a clinical qualification (e.g. MBBS, MD, BDS or equivalent) with specialty training beyond medical or dental school (including specialists, family physicians and public health practitioners)1,2.
- Applicants should have a strong track record of scientific achievement, conduct cutting edge translational and clinical research and produce outstanding research output with clinical and health impact.
- Applicants who are PhD holders working in human clinical research (including PhDs in areas such as biostatistics, epidemiology, behavioural science, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, and allied health) and whose research is clinically relevant and has potential health impact, will be considered an exceptional and case-by-case basis3.
- Non-medically trained PhD applicants conducting laboratory based research are not eligible.
- Applicant must hold the following appointments:
- A primary appointment in a local public hospital/public health institutions/national specialty centre/public university/Academic Medical Centre and be salaried by the institution;
- A regular-rank faculty/academic appointment in one of the academic medical centres (AMC) or medical school within 3 months of award conveyance.
- Agree to fulfil at least 9 months of residency in Singapore for each calendar year over the duration of the grant award (Host Institution must provide a letter, to commit that the STaR applicant will spend at least 75% of their time in Singapore upon award);
- Applicant must generally not be beyond retirement age at the point of first award1.
- Conduct the research in Singapore at a public research institute, hospital/centre or medical school.
Notes:
1. Existing holders of NMRC Human Capital Awards (i.e., TA, CSA and STaR) are exempted.
2. Clinicians with recognised specialty training are
- Clinicians who have full, conditional or temporary registration with SMC as specialist; or
- Clinicians who have SMC recognised postgraduate qualifications as provided in the MOH website, which includes registration with specialist boards or specialist colleges (e.g., American Board of Internal Medicine, Royal College of Physicians), but not necessarily registered in SMC’s Register of Specialists.
- Clinicians who do not fulfil the above but are able to demonstrate completion of specialist training in countries which do not have specialist boards/colleges and are holding consultant positions as a specialist may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
3. Applicants who are submitting on an exception basis are to submit their CV (with track records including publication records and grants held as PIs/Co-PIs in the past 5 years) to the Secretariat to determine their eligibility prior to submitting a full proposal.