Academic Recruitment in NHS England – Wessex
Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACFs)
In Association with Southampton Clinical Academic Training Scheme (SoCATS) Wessex offers several Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) opportunity’s each year.
For more information on the ACF programme or Posts available please visit – SoCATS
The duration of an ACF will be for a maximum of 3 years or 4 years in General Practice. During this time the trainee combines clinical specialty or core training with academic training which is geared to competing for a training fellowship.
When trainees successfully obtain a fellowship, they normally spend 3 years outside of their clinical programme in Out of Programme Research (OOPR) working towards the completion of an MD or PhD (or equivalent).
On completion of a training fellowship, they will return to the clinical programme and at an appropriate point may competitively apply for a Clinical Lectureship provided that appropriate academic and clinical competences have been obtained or continue in clinical training.
Academic Recruitment 2026- 2027
| Timetable – Round 1 2026- 2027 | |
| Applications open | Thursday 2 October 2025 |
| Applications close | Thursday 30 October 2025 |
| Interview window | Monday 10 November 2025 to Friday 16 January 2026 |
| Initial offers released from | Tuesday 20 January 2026 |
| Hold deadline | Tuesday 27 January 2026 |
Round 2 Re-Advert Timetable is available on the main recruitment page.
Posts available are listed below – To apply for any of the roles please visit the Oriel Recruitment System.
Post 1 – *General Surgery, Neurosurgery or Urology
Post 2 – *Clinical Oncology, Haematology or Histopathology
Post 3 – *Paediatrics, Dermatology or Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Post 4 – *Anaesthetics, Clinical Genetics or Respiratory
Post 5 – Multiple Long Term Conditions – *Rheumatology or Public Health
Post 6 – Dementia – *Old age Psychiatry or Neurology
Post 7 – Clinical Education Research – *Clinical Radiology, Diabetes & Endocrinology or Medical Oncology
Post 8 – Primary Care and Community Care – General Practice
NIHR Competition Posts *Please note for the posts with two or more clinical specialties, you can apply to either, but only 1 ACF post is available.
Applicants applying for NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowships who require clinical benchmarking will be required to complete and submit both an academic application form and the associated clinical application form for the specialty in which they will require clinical benchmarking.
If shortlisted, academic applicants will be required to attend an integrated academic interview, consisting of both academic and clinical questions and assessors. Those who are considered appointable at the academic interview, who do not hold an NTN or DRN in the specialty, will be invited to attend a clinical interview in the same specialty, at the same training level, providing they have also completed the associated clinical application form. Any academic offers made will be conditional upon meeting the appoint ability threshold at the clinical interview.
Please see Specialty training guidance and the FAQ’s below for more information.
Academic Interviews this year will be an online virtual interview. A Microsoft Teams link will be sent by email a minimum of 1 working day prior to interview. Shortlisted applicants will be requested to email in ID Documents prior to interview, then show virtually on the day of interview.
Links:
- Oriel recruitment website
- National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)
- Specialty Training Website – includes person specifications for Clinical Programmes
- Academic information Page