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NF Senior Clinical Fellowship advice to applicantsDecember 2017
Senior Clinical Research Fellowship – advice to applicants
General
The Senior Clinical Fellowship has been set up to encourage research projects in neurology that address the more immediate problems of patients with neurological disorders. The Foundation hopes to promote the investigation of areas such as new techniques of diagnosis and treatment, clinical audits, formal trials, epidemiological studies and correlations between clinical and pathological findings. The idea is to fund clinicians so that, by arrangement with hospital management, they can split their time between clinical practice and clinical research. Applicants will have completed their formal training in their discipline, which can be any of the clinical branches of the neurosciences, such as neurology, neurosurgery, clinical neurophysiology or neuroradiology. They will have had training in clinical and laboratory research methods and completed research projects to demonstrate their ability as independent investigators. As well as working in their own field, it is hoped that they will be interested and involved in other areas of the neurosciences, and be ready to promote cooperative research.
A clinician with these qualifications who wishes to apply for a Fellowship will be asked to submit a program of investigation using the Foundation’s Senior Clinical Research Fellowship application form. The Foundation expects some discussion between its Scientific Advisory Committee and the applicant to ensure that the aims of the Foundation will be met but, within these limits, will allow the Fellow scientific freedom to develop the research. The Foundation will however retain the right to discontinue support if the Fellow’s research becomes, in its view, unproductive or moves to fields that it considers inappropriate.
Mental health Research. The Neurological Foundation will accept applications designed to further the knowledge and treatment of primary neuropsychiatric or neuropsychological disorders, provided the research takes a mechanistic approach to discovering or treating a component of the disorder that might be due to an underlying neurological problem. Applications which deal only with the clinical management of mental health disorders will not be considered.
Conditions
The Fellowship will be tenable only at an approved Institution. Applications will need to be accompanied by a formal agreement from the Institution’s management to the terms of the Fellowship. These terms would normally result from discussions between the applicant, Institutional management and the Foundation, and be agreed to in principle before the lodgement of an application with the Foundation.
Salary
The Foundation accepts that special conditions of employment are needed, and will offer security to a Fellow comparable to that of a colleague who is pursuing a purely clinical career. A continuing appointment will therefore be secured by a rolling tenure, of a duration to be determined by negotiation, but likely to be four or five years. The Foundation may however require that the initial appointment be for a fixed period, depending on previous experience and the nature of the program. At the end of this period a continuing appointment may be negotiated.
Making an application
The Foundation will make it known from time-to-time, through Hospital and University Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and through the Neurological Association of New Zealand, that it is in a position to appoint a Senior Clinical Research Fellow. Closing dates would normally be April 1st and September 1st to allow time for interviews to be arranged, and for the application to be circulated to members of the Scientific Advisory Committee prior to their biannual meetings. Applications should be made using the form available from the Foundation’s website An original containing signatures plus15 double sidedcopies are required. Please submit an electronic copy of the form (in MS Word please, NOT a PDF) to .
Adjudication and Confirmation
The Scientific Advisory Committee will consider the application as advisors to the National Council. If the National Council approves the application, a continuing appointment may be recommended, and a term of tenure negotiated with the applicant and the Department. An initial appointment for a fixed period may be required, and the arrangements for this will be negotiated. Acceptance of the Fellowship and the conditions will be embodied in a formal contact between the Fellow and the Foundation.
For further Information please contact:
Dr Douglas Ormrod
Research Manager
Neurological Foundation of New Zealand
PO Box 110022
(66 Grafton Road, Auckland 1010 – for courier)
Auckland 1148
Phone:(64 9)3097749
E-mail: