Talent Development

Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award
The STaR Investigator Award is a prestigious award offered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC) to recognise and support internationally renowned and outstanding investigators in Translational and Clinical Research (TCR), Health Promotion, Preventive Health, Population Health and Health Services Research (HPHSR), and/or Health Technology.

The STaR Investigator Award is a talent award for an individual. A large collaborative project involving themes not driven/led by the same investigator would be deemed unsuitable for this programme. The proposed research should also have sufficient scientific depth.

• Funding quantum: S$6M over 5 years, inclusive of the PI’s salary support up to S$600k per annum, and direct costs and up to 30% indirect costs.

Clinician Scientist Award (CSA)
The Clinician Scientist Award (CSA) aims to provide salary & funding support for selected outstanding clinician scientists, to enable them to carry out internationally competitive translational and clinical research, to bring bench discoveries to bedside applications.

Investigator (INV) Category

• ​Funding Quantum: Up to S$675k grant support, with up to 30% indirect costs and between 0.5 FTE to 0.7 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 3 years.

Senior Investigator (SI) Category

• Funding Quantum: Up to S$1.75M grant support, with up to 30% indirect costs and between 0.5 FTE to 0.7 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 5 years.

Clinical Innovator Award (CIA) 
The Clinician Innovator Award (CIA) aims to support clinicians with healthcare innovation ideas such as in disease diagnosis, medical treatment, and/or improvement of human health and quality of lives. This programme provides salary and funding support, to enable the clinician innovators to bring their ideas to the next level, towards the commercialization end-point.

​ Investigator (INV) Category

• ​Funding Quantum: Up to S$250k direct costs, with up to 30% indirect costs and up to 0.3 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 2 years.

Senior Investigator (SI) Category

• Funding Quantum: Up to S$500k direct costs, with up to 30% indirect costs^ and up to 0.3 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 2 years.

HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award (HCSA)
The HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award (HCSA) aims to provide salary & funding support for selected outstanding clinician scientists, to undertake research in the areas of Health Promotion, Preventive Health, Population Health and Health Services Research (HPHSR), bringing about significant and sustainable impact to health outcomes of the nation.

​ Investigator (INV) Category

• ​Funding Quantum: Up to S$500k grant support, with up to 30% indirect costs^ and between 0.5 FTE to 0.7 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 3 years.

Senior Investigator (SI) Category

• Funding Quantum: Up to S$1.3M grant support, with up to 30% indirect costs^ and between 0.5 FTE to 0.7 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 5 years.

Transition Award (TA)

The Transition Award (TA) aims to provide salary & mentored funding support for budding, young clinician scientists who have just completed their formal research training, to build up their capability in research. The award aims to help them to transit to a stable independent research position or other independent research funding.

The long-term goal of the award is to increase the cohort of new and talented, NMRC-supported independent CSs in the three CS tracks: Translational & Clinical Research (TCR), Health Promotion, Preventive Health, Population Health and Health Services Research (HPHSR) or Health Technology.

• ​Funding Quantum: Up to S$300k grant support, up to 30% indirect costs and 0.5 FTE to 0.7 FTE salary support for protected time in research over 4 years.

NMRC Research Training Fellowship (RTF)

The NMRC Research Training Fellowship (RTF) is awarded to outstanding and talented clinicians and health science / healthcare professionals for research training to have qualifications and skills to become Clinician Scientists.

As the RTF is a talent pipeline programme, priority will be given to talent who are at a relatively early stage of their research career.

• ​Funding Quantum: Up to S$500K (local) or S$300K (overseas) for up to 3 years and salary support in accordance to the MOH HMDP terms and NMRC’s Annual Salary Cap.

Estimated Annual Cycle: Jan & Jul, opens for 1 month only
For more information about NMRC Talent Development Programmes, click here.

NRF Investigatorship
The NRF Investigatorship provides opportunities for scientists and researchers to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk research. It is designed to support a small number of excellent Principal Investigators who have a track record of research achievements that identify them as leaders in their respective field(s) of research.

• ​Funding Quantum: S$3.25M, inclusive of indirect costs; direct costs are capped at S$2.5M
• Funding Period: 5 years
• Candidates will be nominated by the eligible institutions.

For more information about NRF Investigatorship, click here.

NRF Fellowship
The Singapore NRF Fellowship provides opportunities for early career researchers to carry out independent research in Singapore, over a five-year period. It is open to all areas of science and technology and outstanding young scientists and researchers of all nationalities are welcome to apply.

Each Fellow is provided with a research grant to support projects that exhibit high likelihood of a research breakthrough. The research grant can be used to cover personnel, equipment and consumables costs.

• ​Funding Quantum: S$2.5M, exclusive of indirect costs
• Funding Period: 5 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: Quarter 1

For more information about NRF Fellowship, click here​. ​

LKCMedicine Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship 

To nurture a cadre of talented biomedical and clinical research scientists at the School, the School launched the LKCMedicine Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme. Successful applicants of NMRC OF-YIRG or other competitive grants of equivalent award quantum will be conferred the fellowship.

• Funding Quantum: Salary support
• Funding Period: In line with the awarded project duration

NTU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship 

The Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship provides the opportunity for early career researchers from Singapore and around the world to conduct independent investigations in any discipline at NTU, often regarded as the most research intensive university in Asia. The postdoc appointment is intended to provide a pathway to an academic appointment as an assistant professor or another international postdoctoral assignment​​.

• Funding Quantum: Two-year tenure with salary of S$80K per year, research grant of up to S$100K per year, housing grant of S$18K per year with eligibility for subsidized apartment.
• Funding Period: 2 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: Feb-May

For more information about PPF, click here.

Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship (LKYPDF) 

The prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship (LKY PDF) supports and promotes young and outstanding researchers to realise their full potential in the areas of Engineering, Science and Medicine. The Fellowship will be awarded concurrently with the candidate's appointment as a research staff in NTU.

• Funding Quantum: Three-year tenure and research grant of up to S$180K
• Funding Period: 3 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: May-Jul

For more information about LKYPDF, click here.

ASEAN - India Research Training Fellowship (AI-RTF)
To promote mobility of scientists and researchers from the ASEAN-Member Countries to India and provide them opportunity to work at Indian R&D/ academic institutions to upgrade their research skills and expertise.

To facilitate exchange of information and contacts between the scientists and researchers of India and ASEAN Countries and create a network for building research collaborations.

• Funding Quantum: Round trip international airfare from the applicant's home country to the host institution in India; visa fees, overseas medical insurance etc; a consolidated Fellowship amount of Indian Rupees (INR) 60k per month; one-time grant of INR 40,000/- as research contingency expenses, airport transfers, domestic travel for attending scientific/ events and field-trips within India; institutional overhead charges @ Rs. 2,500/- per month
• Funding Period: 2 to 6 months
• Estimated Annual cycle: Throughout the year in 2 cycles.

For more information about AI-RTF, click here.

AXA Post-Doctoral Fellowship
The AXA Fellowship is a funding scheme aimed at supporting young promising researchers on a priority topic aligned with AXA and the Society.

• Funding Quantum: EURO €140K per annum
• Funding Period: 2 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: Apr-May (IOI), Jun (full application)

For more information about AXA Fellowship, click here.

Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Postdoctoral Fellowship
The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Applications for high-risk projects are particularly encouraged. The projects should be interdisciplinary in nature and should challenge existing paradigms by using novel approaches and techniques. Scientifically, they should address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field.

• ​Funding Quantum: Not stipulated. Fellows are granted a living allowance as well as a research and travel allowance.
• Funding Period: 3 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: Mar-May (IOI), Aug-Sep (full proposal)

For more information about HFSP Fellowship, click here.

Mistletoe Research Fellowship (MRF)
The Mistletoe Research Fellowship awards research grants to postdoctoral fellows and advanced PhD candidates as well as providing the opportunity to collaborate with startups with a high potential for social and humanitarian impact.

It was created with three goals in mind: (1) Funding scientific research and providing professional development training for early-career academics; (2) Helping frontier startups to succeed in advancing nascent technologies with social and humanitarian impact; and (3) Creating a bridge between the academic and entrepreneurial communities that will lead to new career opportunities, increased partnership and collaboration, and research innovation.

• ​Funding Quantum: MRF Startup Collaboration and Unfettered Research Grant of USD10K.
• Funding Period: 1 year
• Estimated Annual Cycle: Jul

For more information about Mistletoe Research Fellowship, click here.

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, aims to accelerate the next scientific revolution by applying AI to research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

• ​Funding Quantum: Two-year tenure
• Funding Period: 2 years
• Estimated Annual Cycle: May-Jul

For more information about The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, click here.

Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholarship (NPGS)

The Nanyang President's Graduate Scholarship (NPGS) is a competitive and prestigious scholarship scheme designed to encourage outstanding graduates or final-year students to take their first step towards a leading research career by studying for a full time PhD at NTU.

The scholarship covers the annual tuition fee, provides a monthly stipend as well as other allowances (conference, book, IT and thesis). The award is tenable for one year in the first instance and is renewable subject to good progress. The maximum period of the Scholarship is 4 years for PhD candidates, as determined by school as well as availability of research funding in each case.

For more information about NGPS, click here.

NTU Research Scholarship

The NTU Research Scholarship is awarded to outstanding full-time candidate pursuing a Graduate Research programme at NTU.

The scholarship covers the annual tuition fee and provides a monthly stipend. The award is tenable for one year in the first instance and is renewable subject to good progress. The maximum period of the Scholarship is two years for Master's candidates and four years for PhD candidates, as determined by school as well as availability of research funding in each case.

Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA)

The Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) is a collaboration between the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Singapore Management University (SMU).

PhD training is carried out in English at a student’s chosen lab at A*STAR research institutes and NTU/NUS/SUTD/SMU. Upon successful completion, students are conferred a PhD degree by either NTU, NUS, SUTD or SMU.

For more information about SINGA, click here​.

The LKCMedicine PhD by Research Programme​ admits students from a variety of backgrounds – natural science, medicine, social science, and engineering, and exposes them to a range of topics and disciplines such that on completion, graduates will have a deep knowledge and appreciation of both translatable and translational medical research methods.

It is designed to train and equip students with essential skills that will enable them to conduct cutting-edge research in one of the following domains:

• ​Neuroscience & Mental Health
• Nutrition, Metabolism & Health
• Population & Global Health
• Respiratory & Infectious Diseases
• Skin Disease & Wound Repair
• Data Science
• Developmental Biology & Regenerative Medicine
• Microbiome Medicine