King's College London

A minimum 2:1 undergraduate Bachelor’s (honours) degree

If you have a lower degree classification, or a degree in an unrelated subject, your application may be considered if you can demonstrate significant relevant work experience, or offer a related graduate qualification (such as a Masters or PGDip).

This course is aimed at experienced healthcare practitioners. Applicants may be from any UK-registered healthcare discipline, such as nursing, midwifery, medicine, pharmacy, and the allied health care professions (including healthcare scientists), or have worked in a relevant role with equivalent experience of clinical research for at least two years (e.g. clinical trials manager, clinical research practitioners, university postdoctoral researcher).

All applicants must be:

• Currently domiciled in the UK;
• Employed by a UK healthcare provider organisation during their studies;
• Able to nominate an experienced healthcare researcher to supervise their development of the research capabilities that form part of the Clinician Researcher Credentials Framework;
• Have the support of their employer to be studying alongside their employment, including the requirement to be released for ca. 600 hours of study time (equivalent to two days per week) during each academic year of their studies.

In order to meet the academic entry requirements for this programme you should have a minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree or above in the UK undergraduate marking scheme. If you are currently studying at postgraduate level, you should be achieving an average of at least 50% or above in the UK postgraduate marking scheme.

Please note, if you do not meet the normal entry requirements you should pay particular attention in preparing your supporting statement and CV to ensure that you draw attention to evidence of potential success at graduate level. This might include publications, preparation of substantial reports or active participation in networked clinical research.

Proposed RPE Supervisor – Students will undertake the practical Research Practice Experience (RPE1 and RPE2) modules whilst on the course. You must therefore provide details of a proposed supervisor for the Research Practice Experience module(s). This should be someone working in UK healthcare research with experience of leading networked clinical research, and capable of supervising staff on networked clinical research projects.

RPE supervisors are experienced clinical researchers who are working on a research study(/ies) within an NIHR local Research Delivery Network (RDN) as either a Chief or Principal Investigator. They will work with you to identify both your learning needs and the ways in which your Trust can facilitate your learning. They will support you throughout the RPE module and complete an end of module report to confirm that you are able to demonstrate the capabilities in practice identified in the NIHR-AoMRC Clinician Researcher Credentials Framework.

You must complete the RPE supervisor form and submit this with your application in the Admissions Portal. Your supervisor should be able to provide you with opportunities on the Research Practice Experience module(s) which allow you to develop the relevant stage(s) of the NIHR-AoMRC Capabilities in Practice.

If you are having trouble finding a supervisor, please contact your NIHR local Research Delivery Network (RDN) Team to ask for their assistance in finding you an RPE Supervisor in your area. Please check this link to determine the relevant NIHR RDN team relevant for your healthcare employer. 

If you do not have a supervisor at the point of application, we will provide prospective students with support to help you locate a supervisor. Please note: this may take us time to facilitate, so please ensure there is enough time to arrange this prior to the application deadline.

English Language: Applicants who hold a professional Registration with a UK Healthcare Regulator, such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council or the General Medical Council, and who have a minimum of 2 years’ experience of working in UK healthcare can be exempted from the requirement to complete an English language qualification. Please request this by sending a message in the application portal after submitting your application, and you will be provided with a form to apply for exemption from this requirement.