NIHR GOSH BRC Catalyst Fellowship 2025

The Catalyst Fellowship aims to build the capacity of child health researchers to enable them to take the next step in their career and become the research leaders of the future.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR GOSH BRC) is a collaboration between Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH). The NIHR GOSH BRC provides cutting-edge facilities and world-leading expertise and access to over 200 rare disease patient populations allowing our staff and NHS, university and industry collaborators to conduct pioneering translational research into childhood illnesses. We were first awarded BRC status from the NIHR in 2007 and, in 2022, we secured £37 million for our fourth term until March 2028.

There are five research themes in the NIHR GOSH BRC:

• Genomic medicine (GM)
• Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM)
• Gene, stem and cellular therapies (GSCT)
• Accelerating novel therapies (ANT)
• Applied child health and informatics (ACHI)

Alongside our themes, our central development hub supports our career development academy, business development, equality diversity and inclusion and patient and public involvement and engagement activities, which support our continued efforts to translate research into patient benefits.

Another important aspect of the GOSH BRC is the Junior Faculty, a group of early- and mid- career researchers who support the career development of talented child health researchers by providing leadership opportunities and input to all BRC decisions. Essential to delivering the BRC’s strategy is also our newly created Paediatric Excellence Initiative, a partnership between the GOSH BRC, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Sheffield Children’s Hospitals.

The BRC Junior Faculty is pleased to launch the BRC Catalyst Fellowship scheme. The Fellowship is designed to facilitate recipients to make the next step in their career by providing salary costs for protected research time to develop and strengthen external Fellowship applications.

The Catalyst scheme is funded by the GOSH BRC and the GOSH Charity, and around £250,000 is available to support the 2025 Catalyst Fellowship call.

The Fellowship provides funding for salary costs for up to 18 months at up to 100% full time equivalent (FTE). In addition, applicants can apply for up to £10,000 for consumables. The successful applicant(s) can start their Catalyst Fellowship between 01 September 2025 and 31 March 2026. For details of future Catalyst calls, please see the Catalyst guidance and application form.

• Applications are welcome from researchers working in the areas of child health and substantively employed by either GOSH/ICH, or our partner hospitals (Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital or Sheffield Children’s Hospital). Honorary employees from academic institutes affiliated with the partner Trusts may be considered where their research is translational, clearly linked with the relevant Trust’s research objectives, and will be delivered in collaboration with the partner Trust. Please contact the BRC if you are unsure of the eligibility of your institute affiliation.
• Researchers working in the areas of child health from all professions are invited to apply, including clinicians, non-clinical researchers, nurses, allied health professionals, pharmacists, health care scientists and any others healthcare professions not mentioned here.
• You do not need to have had prior links with GOSH BRC to be eligible to apply.
• Applicants must have completed a PhD (or equivalent), or be a PhD student who has submitted their thesis and has a viva examination planned within four weeks of the Catalyst Fellowship deadline. There is no restriction on time post completion of PhD.
• Those who have already received an intermediate fellowship, or equivalent, are not eligible to apply.
• Salary costs can be requested for up to 100% FTE and for up to 18 months.
• Reduced FTE requests will be considered to reflect clinical responsibilities and individual circumstances. Catalyst Fellowships are aimed at providing protected research time during clinical training/from clinical duties and cannot be used to support clinical, non-research activity. If you are planning to apply for a part time fellowship, please contact the BRC to discuss your plans before starting your application.
• For doctors in training, any Out of Program for Research (OOPR) proposal for the period of the Catalyst Fellowship must have been agreed, in principle, by the relevant Deanery at the time of submission of your application.

• The proposed project should be in the areas of child health, translational and aligned with one of the NIHR GOSH BRC Research Themes. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method projects are also eligible.
• The BRC is not allowed to support any research using animals. However, as a portion of funding for the scheme will be provided by the GOSH Charity, it will be possible for projects to include a small component of animal work within a wider translational project with human relevance. If you plan to include any animal work in your application, please contact the GOSH BRC to discuss this with us before applying.
• Applicants can apply for up to £10,000 of non-pay funding. The budget can be used for consumables costs, reasonable costs associated with conference and training course attendance and to conduct patient and public involvement and engagement activities necessary to enhance external fellowship applications.

Successful Catalyst Fellows will be provided with a training package of support, including attendance at the NIHR GOSH BRC Academic Training Weekend, regular support and mentorship from the senior BRC leadership team or partner site representatives, and BRC Junior Faculty membership.

Successful Catalyst Fellows are required to identify appropriate external funding calls to submit applications to during their fellowship. The future fellowship will be based at GOSH, ICH or within one of our partner sites.

If a Catalyst Fellow holder secures external funding before completion of the Catalyst Fellowship, they will be expected to take up this external funding at the earliest opportunity.

The GOSH BRC management team, the GOSH BRC Junior Faculty and previous successful Catalyst Fellows will be holding two webinars for applicants to attend if they have any questions. The webinars will take place on:

• Thursday 20 February 2025 at 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
• Wednesday 12 March 2025 at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Applicants may also find it beneficial to view the GOSH BRC Junior Faculty Bitesize seminars, which provide additional advice on different aspects of research and may be helpful when preparing an application. You can find recordings of the Bitesize seminars on the NIHR GOSH BRC YouTube Channel

• The deadline for applications is Wednesday 30 April 2025, 5 p.m. Any application received after this time will not be considered for review.
• To apply for the Catalyst Fellowship, please read the Guidance and Application Form Document for further details about the call, including eligibility criteria, and to access the application form.
• Completed application forms as well as an up-to-date CV consisting of maximum 2 pages in length, and formal costings from your Research and Development office should be submitted as a word document and by e-mail to brc@gosh.nhs.uk by the deadline, Wednesday 30 April 2025, 5 p.m.

Following submission, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted by members of the GOSH BRC’s Leadership Team and the GOSH BRC Junior Faculty, in addition to internal and external members of academic staff. They will assess applications using the selection criteria outlined in the Catalyst Fellowship Guidance Document.

• Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview.
• Interview dates are being finalised, but they are likely to take place in the week of the 23 June 2025.
• Applicants shortlisted for interview will also be offered a mock interview which are likely to take place the week of 9 June 2025.
• Awardees will be notified within one week of the interview date.

Please contact brc@gosh.nhs.uk if you have any questions about the scheme.