Clinical Research Training Fellowships are awarded to suitably qualified and practising health professionals, such as medical and dental graduates, psychologists, nurses, allied health professionals and other clinical researchers to enable them to undertake specialised or further clinical research training in areas that can improve health and economic outcomes or health services.

The fellowship offers a stipend plus university fees and research costs for up to three years full-time (or four years part-time). A maximum of $260,000 is available.

Eligibility criteria

You can apply for this fellowship if you are a New Zealand citizen or hold New Zealand residency at the time of application. You will need to be based in New Zealand and undertake the research activity in New Zealand.

You will need to be a practising medical graduate, dental graduate, psychologist, nurse, allied health professional, or a graduate with research ability, background training and expertise in fields relevant to clinical research. In addition, you will need to have a current clinical role.

You will also need to enrol for an appropriate postgraduate qualification with a research component, e.g. medical and dental graduates progressing to MD or PhD, or nurses and other health professionals progressing to MHSc, DPH, MPH or PhD. You will need to identify a suitable research training environment and develop a research training programme in consultation with your proposed supervisor and head of the relevant academic department(s).

How do I apply?

First, you’ll need to ensure that you have an up-to-date profile on HRC Gateway. You will then need to complete an online registration form via HRC Gateway to signal your intention to apply for this fellowship. Following registration, you’ll need to submit a full application online via HRC Gateway using the forms available below. Application guidelines are also available below.

Got a question?

If you have a question about this fellowship, please email info@hrc.govt.nz.

Documents

Guidelines

2026 Career Development Awards - Application Guidelines
3 Jun, 2025 6:53pm - 509KB

2026 Career Development Awards - Peer Review Manual
3 Jun, 2025 6:54pm - 503KB

Forms

2026 Career Development Awards - Budget Form
3 Jun, 2025 6:53pm - 34KB

2026 Career Development Awards - Clinical Research Training Fellowship Application Form
3 Jun, 2025 6:56pm - 768KB