Fellowships, scholarships & placements
There are various programmes designed to enhance your medical education and help you acquire new skills and specialised knowledge in your chosen field. They support the integration of international best practice in healthcare, encourage innovation and leadership skills among NCHDs, and help in the retention of talented medical professionals within the healthcare system, ultimately improving patient care and health outcomes.
Irish Clinical Academic Training (ICAT) Programme
Open to NCHDs who have completed basic specialty training (or equivalent) and are entering higher specialist training (HST), this programme is a unique, all-island, cross-institutional PhD programme for clinician scientists in human, veterinary, and dental medicine. This training is integrated with the health services and university clinical research centres and provides an integrated pathway for clinical academic training. ICAT provides clinical academic training to excellent postgraduate clinical trainees through a programme which integrates PhD research training with higher specialist training (HST).
Learn more about this programmeAspire Post-CSCST Fellowship Programme
Open to NCHDs who have completed Higher Specialist Training (HST), Aspire Fellowships provide opportunities for doctors who have completed specialist training in Ireland to access high-quality training in a specialised area of clinical care in Ireland.
Aspire Post CSCST Fellowships offer an important alternative to overseas fellowships. They enable our newly qualified specialist doctors to remain in Ireland while they pursue subspecialty expertise. For our health service, they facilitate new service development & expansion, succession planning and innovation.
Aspire Fellowships are facilitated and funded by HSE Health Regions, supporting a range of fellowship opportunities across the health service.
Applications are now being accepted for Aspire Post CSCST Fellowships commencing in July 2027.
The application form can be downloaded here.
Spark Innovation Programme
Open to NCHDs who have completed medical internship, the Spark Innovation Programme encourages and empowers healthcare workers to develop and implement new ideas with the potential to improve the services in which they work.
Spark was established by NDTP to encourage and support innovation. The programme includes NCHDs, consultants, nurses, midwives, and health and social care professionals. It is supported by the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) and the National Health and Social Care Professions Office (NHSCPO).
Learn more about the programme