The University of Leeds, in partnership with NHS England North East and Yorkshire and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, have developed an exciting pathway of academic clinical training opportunities.

Applications are now invited for an Academic Clinical Fellowship in Dental Core Training (ACF) DCT1/DCT2/DCT3 level in Leeds from August 2027.

The following posts are available:

Up to two posts in Dental Core Training at DCT1/DCT2/DCT3 level. (Please note, an appointment may not be made in this specialty. There will be 2 ACF posts in either Dental Core Training or Oral Surgery)

Please read through all the relevant information available on the NHS England DCT ACF Webpage (https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/acf-dental-core-training-leeds-0) and associated links before beginning your application (link available through Oriel).

Applications open at 10am on 1 October 2026 and the closing date is 4pm on 29 October 2026. You will not be able to submit your application after this time. Please ensure that you have completed all the relevant sections of the application forms as missing information will deem your application incomplete and it will not be considered.

Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACFs) are 3-year fixed-term national training posts. They attract an NTN(A) and trainees undertake 75% clinical and 25% academic training over the term of the post. They are employed by the NHS Trust (in this case Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) and have an honorary contract with the University of Leeds. ACF trainees undergo training in the generic skills required for a clinical academic: scientific methods, statistics, research governance, critical appraisal of research publication, grant writing etc.

This training is via a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research provided by the University of Leeds and for which funding is provided by NIHR (https://courses.leeds.ac.uk/8455/health-research-pgcert). Academic Clinical Fellows will join the well-established Leeds Integrated Clinical Academic Training programme within the Faculty of Medicine and Health (https://medicinehealth.leeds.ac.uk/medicine-clinical-academic-training/doc/training-programme-overview).

Trainees can use the Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research as a stepping stone to undertake further modules leading to a Postgraduate Diploma or Masters in Health Research. NIHR provide an academic training budget of £4,500 for each trainee, additional costs beyond this funding ceiling would be covered by the trainee. The major part of the academic placement will be the preparation of scientific research proposal for a PhD project, funding for which will be sought from an external body such as the NIHR, MRC or the Wellcome Trust. Generally, the preparation of the proposal is based on preliminary experimental data gathered while on the research placement. Trainees are also eligible for a £1,000 bursary per year to support research training activity (e.g. to attend and present at academic conferences).

ACF trainees are expected to complete and submit an external funding application for a research fellowship to enable them to complete a higher degree (PhD) following the completion of their ACF fixed-term post, which would be completed as Out-of-Programme-Research (OOPR).

Please note: All applicants who do not already hold a National Training Number (NTN) or Deanery Reference Number (DRN) in the GDC specialty to which they are applying will be required to undertake the national clinical recruitment process and attend an assessment/interview for that GDC specialty as appropriate.

All applicants must have full GDC registration by the interview date. Applicants must also be eligible for the Performers List.

Eligibility requirements for Dental Core training can be found here: Eligibility for Dental Core Training (https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment/dental-core-training-dct/dental-core-training-recruitment/eligibility)

We advise all applicants to read through all the relevant information available on the NHS England DCT ACF Webpage (https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/acf-dental-core-training-leeds-0) and associated links before beginning your application through Oriel.

Including

• The Job Description
• The Person Specification
• The Timeline
• Interview Structure and location

The qualifications and professional registration requirements plus other eligibility criteria can be found in the person specification. The person specification for this specialty is available from the Job Description or the Dental Specialty Training website (https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment).

Please upload all required evidence of competences to your online application form when completing the application form online. For those experiencing difficulties when uploading evidence, please ensure you email the evidence to the following email address by the application deadline: england.academicrec.yh@nhs.net with “your name” and “competencies” in the title of the email.

Eligibility requirements pertaining to UK Visas and Immigration are available on the Dental Specialty Training Website (https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment).

Please note that there is a strict application policy that applications cannot be accepted after the deadline.