The College’s Clinical Studies Group runs various awards throughout the year. Details of awards and competitions can be found below, along with details on how to enter.
+ RCEM Undergraduate Essay Prizes 2024
This call has now passed. The next application window will open in November 2024.
This year the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is pleased to announce two prize categories:
The prize for each category includes: £500, a one-year RCEM membership, and reasonable travel, accommodation, and registration fees for the RCEM Annual Scientific Conference 2024 (ASC24).
In addition, winners of both categories will be invited to present their work as an oral presentation at RCEM Annual Scientific Meeting 2024, which will take place in Gateshead between 8-10 October.
Submissions are invited from undergraduate students (medical and non-medical) at a recognized teaching institution in the UK and Ireland. Individuals are not required to be RCEM members.
The essays should describe original research or quality improvement, and should have clear applicability to emergency medicine. The work must not have been published in a journal or presented at a major UK or international conference. The essays should be written in English and not exceed 1500 words (excluding title, sub-titles, and references) – up to two tables/figures are allowed.
Essays must not include reference to an institution (or anything else that may reveal the identity or affiliation of the author). One applicant can be considered per submission, and individuals cannot submit to both categories. The applicant must have played an important part in the research / quality improvement described, and must have personally written the submitted essay.
Submitted essays will be scored by an expert panel convened by the RCEM Research Committee.
When the new window is open essays (in Word file format) should be submitted electronically, together with a completed application form to: policy@rcem.ac.uk.
Please contact:
Dr. Ed Barnard, Emergency Medicine Consultant, Cambridge – edward.barnard@nhs.net – Research Essay Prize
Dr Aileen McCabe, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland – aileen.mccabe@tuh.ie – Quality Improvement Essay Prize
Application form available here (Pdf version)
Application form available here (Word version)
The next round of applications for Blue Sky Ideas will open in 2025.
Do you have a fantastic research idea you are struggling to get off the ground? This section of the research engagement day is open to all clinicians or researchers to pitch a research idea (5 slides max) to the meeting. There will be open critique and review from ED research experts and advice on potential funding streams.
There is up to £5000 funding from RCEM available to support the best Blue Sky ideas which will be decided by a panel on the Research Engagement Day.
We invite applicants to consider the James Lind Alliance priority setting partnership when submitting their ideas. Other research ideas are welcome for open peer and professional review.
Please submit your research on a single page in PICO format: P – Patient, problem or population
I – Intervention
C – Comparison, control or comparator O – Outcomes
The closing date for submission of abstracts will be announced when the new application window opens. All abstracts will be reviewed, and the top scoring ones will be shortlisted for oral presentation. Applicants will receive email notifications containing a decision about their submission from the following week.
All submission forms will be discarded 3 months after the event date. The information supplied in this form will be shared with judges. Your name and email address will be kept on record for three years so we can contact you about the outcome of this submission and when future opportunities to submit abstracts arise. Should you wish to remove your details from our database, please email events@rcem.ac.uk
Download the application form here PDF version
Download the application form here Word version
Category A: Early Career Researcher* and those new to research showing a significant contribution to recruitment into NIHR portfolio studies
Targeted towards Medical professionals (including consultants within three years of consultant start date) working in Emergency Care Research. The panel will be looking for evidence to support all of the following criteria:
Category B: Early Career Researcher* and those new to research from all nursing and allied health professional groups showing a significant contribution to recruitment into NIHR portfolio studies
Targeted towards nurses and all allied health professionals working in Emergency Care Research, including, but not limited to: Nurses, Pharmacists, Physician Associates and Emergency Nurse Practitioners. The panel will be looking for evidence to support all of the following criteria:
Category C: Emergency Care Research Team making an outstanding contribution to the NIHR portfolio studies in 2020-2022
Targeted towards the entire spectrum of clinical trials teams contributing to Emergency Care research. The panel will be looking for evidence to support all the following criteria:
Application Process and Judging of Applications
Award Presentations
The awards will be presented during the next RCEM Research Engagement Day, date and venue to be announced when the new application window opens. There is an expectation that the winning applicant of each category will be available to attend the ceremony.
Application Form
Download the application form and send the completed form to policy@rcem.ac.uk. If you have any questions, please email policy@rcem.ac.uk.
Supporting information
Royal College of Emergency Medicine and NIHR Awards Application Guidance Notes | NIHR
Download the application form (Pdf version)
Download the application form (Word version)
*Please note: an Early Career Researcher (and those new to research) is defined as being a health care, social care and public health professional currently in training posts or within 5 years (excluding career breaks and extended pro rata for those in less than full-time work) of appointment to substantive NHS (or equivalent) positions. Special consideration will be given to those who can demonstrate they were only able to take up research opportunities later in their career.
+ Doctoral Research Fellowship 2024
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is launching the next round of the RCEM PhD Fellowship Scheme. Applications are invited from trainees in Emergency Medicine (EM) from CT1 and above, who wish to develop academically. As the scheme aims to support the development of research capacity to improve emergency health care. This scheme will fund Fellowships to undertake research involving patients, samples or data from patients, people who are not patients, populations, health technology assessment and health services research. The RCEM does not fund research work involving animals and/or animal tissue.
Potential applicants and their host organisations should note that the RCEM PhD Fellowship Scheme is a personal award designed to contribute to an individual’s salary costs (the remainder being provided by the applicant’s supporting consortia) on completion of the PhD research project.
The Doctoral Research Fellowship (RCEM-DRF-Policy) is aimed at individuals of outstanding potential, early in their research careers. It aims to fast-track them through a customised research training programme in an environment reflecting their individual talents and training needs. It is anticipated that successful applicants would become independent research leaders within 6 to 10 years of completing the RCEM-DRF award.
Following completion of a RCEM-DRF, the Fellows are expected to have successfully completed a robust research and training programme and be able to show evidence of:
Evidence of the above will be sought through interim and final report monitoring.
Research projects undertaken as part of a RCEM Fellowship will be included on the NIHR portfolio. Local Research Design Service (RDS) https://www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/support/research-design-service.htm support should be available for all NIHR portfolio project research proposals.
Interviews will be held either online or in London at College buildings. Successfully shortlisted applicants will be notified as soon as feasible.
Please send your Application along with a copy of your CV to policy@rcem.ac.uk deadline by 1st January 2025 at 17:00.
For more information, please click here: RCEM PhD Application Call Advert 2025
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is launching the second round of the RCEM TERN Fellowship scheme. This scheme will provide up to 50% of the applicant’s salary (capped at £23,101) each year over a two year period subject to progress.
Applications are invited from trainees or clinical fellows in Emergency Medicine at ≥ST3 level or equivalent who wish to develop this exciting project, with academic support and mentorship from the previous TERN fellow, college professors and the RCEM research committee.
TERN aims to improve research opportunity for all trainees, advanced practitioners and fellows in emergency medicine by facilitating multicentre research projects selected and designed by trainees. Such networks have been hugely successful in the allied specialties of anaesthesia, neurosurgery and general surgery leading to increased research awareness, improved academic training, co-authored publications and changes to clinical practice 1-3. Network projects present a strong opportunity for both academic and non-academic trainees to engage with national research, thus maximising output and impact from non-clinical time. Although still a relatively new network, TERN has already delivered several trainee conceived and designed national portfolio-adopted projects across over a hundred UK sites; successfully collaborated with Australasian colleagues to deliver an international headache project; secured NIHR partner funding for a 2022 research study on a JLA priority topic; and has published a number of articles on our work.
This fellowship scheme supports TERN through dedicated funding to support project development, co-ordination and delivery. Academic mentorship for the project and fellowship will be provided throughout the post by the RCEM Professors and local supervisors. Assistance with infrastructure, meeting rooms, communications and networking will be provided through use of the RCEM facilities and a modest dedicated budget line.
This scheme is an ideal opportunity for those who have a desire to engage with academic emergency medicine and consider development of a portfolio career. The role will offer significant exposure to project development and delivery, including liaison with research design services, ethics committees, research and development services and use of the IRAS platform. Previous research experience in these areas would be advantageous, but is not essential. Applicants could take up this role either on a Less than Full Time training basis, or as a dedicated and prearranged OOPFR placement.
Potential applicants and their host organisations should note that the RCEM TERN Fellowship Scheme is a personal award designed to contribute up to 50% towards base salary costs (capped at £23,101 each year with the remainder being provided by the applicant’s supporting consortia).
Interviews will be held either online or in London at College buildings. Successfully shortlisted applicants will be notified as soon as feasible.
To apply, please send your CV with a covering letter highlighting how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for the post to policy@rcem.ac.uk deadline to be announced when the new window opens.
For more information, please click here: Tern Fellowship Application
+ RCEM/NIHR Clinical Research Network Associate Professor Scheme
The RCEM/NIHR Clinical Research Network Associate Professor scheme is aimed at recognising and supporting NHS clinicians who are delivering high quality research at a level which is broadly comparable with an academic clinical senior lecturer.
Key elements of the scheme led by the College in partnership with NIHR CRN include:
Person specification:
Role description
The next application window will open late 2025.
Any queries please contact policy@rcem.ac.uk
The RCEM Professorship post runs for 4 years and is awarded in recognition of sustained and continued excellence in academic emergency medicine. This appointment is intended to promote the profile of the recipient, their work and their academic profile along with that of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
The primary purpose of the post will be to give recognition to sustained and continuing excellence in academic emergency medicine (which would apply to both university academics and those undertaking academic work outside of a university setting). The appointment will promote the profile of the recipient, their work and by association the academic profile of RCEM.
Essential Criteria
Desirable Criteria
*A letter signed by the applicant’s Clinical Director and local University Academic Division Lead should be provided in support of these criteria.
For a full description of the role, please see the RCEM Professor job description. (pdf)
