My winning proposal: What academy mentors taught me

Helena Lee had several failed bids before winning a MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship, and she doubts she’d have done it without her mentors at the Academy of Medical Sciences. She passes on their wise words to Beckie Smith.

Helena’s top tips

• Input from patients is invaluable to fellowship bids, especially in ensuring clarity and impact.
• You should start preparing for clinical fellowship applications months before opening dates.
• Despite scientific complexity, remember that writing a bid involves telling a story.
• Doctors are high academic achievers who are not used to failure, but failure is the norm for funding bids—learn to accept that.

Helena Lee is a Medical Research Council clinician scientist fellow and clinical lecturer in ophthalmology at the University of Southampton. Before winning her MRC fellowship she won an Academy of Medical Sciences Starter Grant and joined the academy’s SUSTAIN mentorship scheme. That programme is run in tandem with other funders and ultimately aims to boost the number of women in senior research roles.