MND Scotland Pre-Fellowship Scheme

Bridging fellowships to support early career clinical and non-clinical researchers in MND research conducting pump-priming projects to generate pilot data for a fellowship.

MND Scotland is a Scottish charity that provides guidance and support for people affected by motor neuron disease (MND) and funding for research into MND. Its ultimate objective is to improve the lives of those affected by MND and eradicate the disease in the future.

The MND Scotland Pre-Fellowship Scheme supports early-career clinical and non-clinical researchers conducting research projects over a 12-18 month period to generate pilot data to secure a fellowship. Applications are submitted by PIs based at a research institute in the UK to fund a pre-fellowship position for a clinical trainee at the pre-PhD level and/or a non-clinical scientist within five years of award of a PhD.

The Pre-Fellowship Scheme is funded by the Motor Neuron Disease Association (MNDA) and forms part of the MND Scotland virtual institute, which provides funding and a collaborative research environment to encourage early career scientists to continue their training and careers in MND translational research.

Proposed projects should be collaborative in nature and involve at least two laboratories/partners, where possible. Projects should also align with the aims and objectives of the virtual institute which are to accelerate the discovery of effective therapies for MND by:

• Developing better tests to measure MND progression
• Improving MND registers so doctors can collect better data about the disease, and understand which patients are most likely to respond to a particular drug and therefore recommend them for the trials most likely to benefit them.
• Supporting people to take part in clinical trials more easily developing better and more robust laboratory tests to support a pipeline of potential therapeutic agents that could ultimately be used as MND treatments, and fast-track the most promising therapies to clinical trials.

At the end of the scheme, candidates will be expected to prepare fellowship applications to the relevant funding bodies.