ICAT (Irish Clinical Academic Training)

A funded PhD integrated with higher specialist training for doctors pursuing clinical research.

How the length works

Adds a funded three-year PhD (four for the CAI fellowship) to the base pathway.

Duration: Pre-PhD clinical academic year (fully training-accredited) + funded 3-year PhD (4 for the CAI fellowship), then completion of HST

Annual intake: ~8 to 9 fellowships per annual call; 42 fellows planned across five ICAT-2 intakes

Competition: Applicant numbers not published; national programme across all specialties with one fellowship ring-fenced for under-represented specialties

Applications: Annual late-summer call (2025/26: 13 Aug to 17 Sep 2025); interviews in Dublin early December; fellowships start July

Entry: During or after BST/core training (specialty-dependent)

ICAT combines a funded PhD with specialist training. Trainees retain a national training number and trainee salary during the programme.

Programme structure

Applications are accepted from eligible doctors in training, from BST or core training onwards, with at least a year of HST remaining. An accredited pre-PhD year develops the proposal, followed by three funded PhD years, or four for the anaesthesiology fellowship. Trainees then complete HST with protected academic time.

Selection

Applications include research experience, a proposed project and named supervisors. Three international peer reviewers score the written application before interview. An intern research or audit rotation can provide experience for a later application.

How selection is scored

Eligibility: clinical trainees in any specialty of human medicine, surgery, dentistry or veterinary medicine, enrolled or eligible to enrol in higher specialist training in Ireland or Northern Ireland, pre-CSCST/CCT, with at least one year of training remaining at fellowship start. Applicants already enrolled in a PhD are ineligible. No minimum HST period is required, allowing later-stage entry.

Selection: each application is scored by at least three independent international peer reviewers; combined scores set the shortlist against a threshold. Shortlisted candidates present on a pre-assigned topic and interview in Dublin before a panel of senior academics and clinicians. One fellowship is ring-fenced for under-represented specialties, and offers are contingent on training-body approval.

Selection wants evidence you can already do research (publications, a coherent project idea, named supervisors) and a specialty story that makes sense with it.

Where you train

Six partner institutions and their affiliated clinical sites across Ireland and Northern Ireland: Trinity College Dublin, UCD, RCSI, UCC, University of Galway and Queen's University Belfast.

Where this leads

Continues into HST with an academic component; the intended destination is consultant + principal investigator.

Facts last verified 2026-07-13. Scheme details change year to year; always confirm against ICAT consortium (six medical schools + HRB/Wellcome)'s current documentation.