Population and Behavioural Science Research Division

PBS Division – Our Clinical General Practitioners

The School of Medicine is becoming one that excels in clinical medicine both in research and teaching. Because St Andrews is a small town without a major hospital, our strategy is to concentrate efforts in medicine in the community and primary care. We have developed our undergraduate courses in this way and have established a track record of research in primary care.

Clinical Academic Opportunities for General Practitioners at all stages of your career

If you are a GP who is interested in exploring the possibility of an academic career, then please do get in touch. Academic careers are varied and flexible, incorporating both research and teaching, and spanning the spectrum from clinicians supporting undergraduate teaching to full-time roles. We are always happy to discuss the possibilities. Key opportunities are summarised below.

Research Opportunities

GP SCREDS (for GPs in clinical training)

The Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme (SCREDS) gives protected time to clinicians in specialist training to develop research skills. GP SCREDS posts are usually appointed in the middle of the GPST2 year to start at the beginning of GPST3. For GP SCREDS, your training programme is extended to four years and you do 50% clinical and 50% academic work in ST3 and ST4 giving you one year of protected time to develop academic experience (in practice, the time split is often more like 60% clinical in ST3 and 40% in ST4 to fit around clinical training and MRCGP). The aim of this post is to give you enough experience to decide if an academic career is right for you, and if it is, to prepare you for an application for a research fellowship to complete a PhD. You will typically therefore spend time doing methods and skills training, collaborating on existing projects, and developing and running your own work. We do expect you to contribute to teaching, but the focus is on clinical research. We currently have one GP SCREDS post, which is therefore only available every second year.

Post-CCT Clinical Academic Fellowships (for GPs in ST3 or who have recently completed training)

NHS Education for Scotland fund post-CCT Clinical Academic Fellowships across Scotland. These are appointed in a single annual process where you nominate where you would like to work (Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, or St Andrews), and how many academic sessions (ie half-days) you would like to work (minimum 4 sessions, maximum 8 sessions). These normally advertise between late March and end of April and start in August. You are eligible provided that you have fairly recently completed GP training, although the time limit applied varies with individual circumstances. You organise your own clinical or other work in the rest of the week. The posts are for one year, although you can apply for a second year in open competition. Like GP SCREDS, the aim of this post is to give you enough experience to decide if an academic career is right for you, and if it is, to prepare you for an application for a research fellowship to complete a PhD. You will typically therefore spend time doing methods and skills training, collaborating on existing projects, and developing and running your own work. We do expect you to contribute to teaching, but the focus is on research, although for Clinical Academic Fellows it is possible to focus on educational or workforce research if that is your primary interest. Across Scotland, there are normally around 6 GPs appointed annually to these posts.

NHS Research Scotland Fellowships (for GPs who are more established in practice)

NHS Research Scotland (NRS) fund fellowships intended to bring established practitioners into research. These are funded at the consultant scale for one day per week for two or three years, and as of 2020 there is a single annual national appointment process for GP applicants (consultants, nurses and allied health professionals are also eligible but are appointed separately). They typically advertise in the final quarter of the year, with interviews in January or February, and two GPs were appointed in the 2019/2020 round. The application involves completing a form that includes a project proposal, so if you are interested in one of these then please get in touch to discuss. 

School of Medicine Colleagues

Sarah Mills, Lecturer in Academic General Practice

Sarah Mills is a Lecturer in General Practice (Research & Education) and a GP in clinical practice in Cupar.  She completed her PhD, funded through a Chief Scientist Office (CSO) Clinical Academic Training Fellowship, with a thesis on ‘Use of unscheduled care by people who die from cancer’ at the University of Dundee in 2021.  Dr Mills obtained her clinical medical degree from the University of Cambridge and her undergraduate BSc (Hon) in medical science from the University of St Andrews.

Her research interests are in health data science, with a focus on unscheduled care and primary palliative care.  She has published work in subject-leading journals, and won the Howard Elder Prize and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) A&M Wilson Award for excellence in research.