Following completion of a review of MRC’s strategic skills priorities, the revised priority list has now been published on their website along with a report of the skills survey outcomes.
The review has brought a refocus of the early career Skills Development Fellowships (previously Strategic Skills Fellowships) and will support training in two main areas:
– Development of Quantitative Expertise: covering mathematics, statistics, computation and informatics applicable to any biomedical or health related data sources, from molecular to population level.
– Development of Expertise at the Social Science interface: with a focus on areas of health economics and/or mixed methods research.
Applicants can either be seeking to move from a quantitative/economics/mixed methods background to biomedical research or can have a background in biomedical sciences and be seeking to develop skills in one of the priority areas. All proposals must include development of new expertise and skills in the areas described above. Eligible applicants would normally be in the early years of post-doctoral research or seeking a clear change of discipline to one of the priority areas. Pre-doctoral applicants or those ready to transition to independence will be redirected to other MRC support mechanisms.
The next deadline for this competition is 16th June 2015. For further details, deadlines and how to apply, please visit the pages here: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/skills-careers/fellowships/skills-development-fellowships/ . If you have any specific MRC queries, please contact the team at fellows@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
If you wish to apply to this scheme then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team in the first instance.











SPROUT Returns: Designing Sustainability in Research Practice – Wednesday 20 May 12-2pm
Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Supervision: Selected Case Studies
3C Event: Research Culture, Community & Canapés-Tuesday 19 May 1-2pm
New chapters published in maternity book on risk
The British Academy European Research Council Grant Support Sessions
Grant Writing Workshops: Master the Art of the Winning Proposal
Apply now to take part in the 2026 ESRC Festival of Social Science
Reminder: Register for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 Information Session
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply now
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Application Deadline Friday 12 December
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease