develop skills to help with generating fellowship and programme ideas
deepen your understanding of how to pitch for funding
improve your grant writing skills
have the opportunity to apply for a £25k award to build your research niche
discover how to lead and manage a team in an academic environment
observe a fellowship interview through one of our funding panel meetings
build confidence in negotiating and securing a group leader post
access networking opportunities with your cohort and beyond
The bridge to academic leadership programme is open to all non-clinical postdoctoral researchers who wish to transition to an independent group leader role in cancer research within two to three years. We invite applications from postdocs based at any UK institution, whether funded by Cancer Research UK or another funder. You will not be eligible if you've previously participated in any equivalent training courses, for example, the ICR Pathway to Independence course or Francis Crick Institute's Postdoc to PI.
We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, as we believe a diverse workforce will help us to beat cancer sooner. In particular, we welcome applications from researchers from ethnic minority groups, women and non-binary researchers and researchers who are disabled or have a long-term health condition.
Places will be allocated on a competitive basis. Diversity information will be used to prioritise researchers who fall into groups underrepresented among our fellowship applicants.
Six sessions will take place in a six month period during each programme round. These will be a mixture of online and in-person sessions, consisting of talks, group activities and facilitated discussions. Participants are required to attend all sessions and will be expected to commit time to completing assignments between sessions. These assignments will help build an application submission for the bridge to academic leadership award to be used towards building your research niche. Travel and accommodation costs for the in-person sessions will be covered.
Applications close 23 June 2026.
Participants in the bridge to academic leadership programme will be invited to apply for the bridge to academic leadership award. Successful applicants will receive up to £25k to use towards activities that help build their own research niche, including generating data to support independent grant applications and travel for research visits and conferences.
Applications will be assessed by an Expert Review Panel and the final funding decision will be made by our Research Careers Committee.
Learn more about the committee
Our research careers programme managers are here to help our research community and advise researchers who are interested in making an application. Email us to access support.
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