Academy

Members-only content and awards

Some of our awards, content and events are only open to Academy members. You’ll be able to read about them, as they become available here. We’ll also make it clear in our Open Calls and Deadlines section if the award is only for Academy members so that you can look into joining.

Academic and clinical researchers

We currently offer online masterclasses delivered by Professor Mags Watson of Watson Research & Training Limited, as well as two annual Excellence Awards which provide the opportunity for one senior leader and one “rising star” in ageing-related research to win flexible three-year funding to support their personal research activities. Early career researchers can also apply to observe a Research Grants Committee meeting to help gain an understanding of the review process.

Supporting Personal Development and Effectiveness Through Mentoring and Coaching: Thursday 26th October 2023 (Zoom)

This Masterclass will be suitable for individuals who are new to mentoring and coaching or to individuals who wish to refresh their training on these activities. The session will comprise practical tips and advice, the differences between these roles and discussion of good practice. The event will be 3 hours’ duration and delivered online.

To secure your free place, email: academy@dunhillmedical.org.uk

One-to-one Coaching of Mentors/Coaches

One-to-one sessions will be available (with approval from DMT) for individuals who have attended the Supporting Personal Development Workshop, who wish to develop their mentoring and coaching practise. It is anticipated individuals will be new to mentoring and coaching. These sessions will be delivered online by M Watson and each individual will have up to 3 one-hour sessions within a 12-month period. It is anticipated that individuals will require no further sessions after the first year. The capacity for this service is 10 individuals per year.

To secure your free place, email: academy@dunhillmedical.org.uk

How to write a funding application: Thursday 23rd November,10-1pm (Zoom)

This Masterclass is suitable for anyone who is planning to prepare a research funding application. The Masterclass will be interactive, with participants having the opportunity to ask questions and discuss points throughout.  The session will be a maximum of 3 hours’ duration, which includes ‘stretch and refresh’ breaks when required.

The objectives of this Masterclass are to:

  • provide insight and discussion of the processes involved in developing a research funding application
  • facilitate understanding of what to include in a research funding application (content)
  • provide practical advice about what and how to write.

To secure your free place, email: academy@dunhillmedical.org.uk

How to write a CV: Thursday 11th January 2024, 10-1pm (Zoom)

This Masterclass is suitable for academics, people wishing to move into academia or people considering moving from academia to different sectors/roles. The Masterclass will be interactive, with participants having the opportunity to ask questions and discuss points throughout.  The session will be a maximum of 3 hours’ duration, which includes ‘stretch and refresh’ breaks when required.

The objectives of this Masterclass are to:

  • Discuss the main sections of a CV
  • How best to present yourself within the CV
  • Tips on do’s and don’ts

To secure your free place, email: academy@dunhillmedical.org.uk

The 2023/24 Excellence Awards are now open for nominations. Once you have read the guidelines for the awards, you can start your nomination on our online Grants Management Portal. The deadline for nominations is 5pm on 3rd November 2023.

Awarded annually these awards celebrate success, achievement and ambition in ageing-related research. The first round of the Excellence Awards will be made in memory of Professor Stuart Parker, who was a member of our Board of Trustees and Research Grants Committee, as well as a great advocate for the use of the “gerontological lens” in research.

Members of the DMT Academy may self-nominate or nominate another member, and explain in the nomination form how they have:

  • Demonstrated research excellence, commensurate with experience and taking into account the impacts of COVID-19 on research activity.
  • Influenced ageing-related policy / practice at a local, regional and/or national level.
  • Demonstrated a commitment to capacity building and/or mentoring in ageing-related research, and contributed to a positive research culture.
  • Promoted patient, carer and/or public involvement and engagement (PPIE) in ageing-related research.
  • Promoted equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in ageing-related research.

Two awards of £40k per year for three years (£120k in total per award) will be made to:

  • One early to mid-career “rising star” in ageing related research.
  • One senior leader in ageing-related research.

The awards are intended to be flexible and can be used to support ageing-related research activities and/or career development – some examples of how the funds can be used are provided in Section 2.3 of the award guidelines.

Shortlisted nominees will be invited to attend an interview on 16th January 2024.

If successful, award-holders will be invited to attend and speak at the formal announcement of the award at the Trust’s 2024 Annual Lectures event. Award-holders will also be expected to participate, from time to time, in Academy training or other activities, for example panel review within their areas of expertise. Full details of the nomination process and timeline are provided in Section 3 of the award guidelines.

You can download the correct PDF template nomination form from our website:

If you are nominating yourself:

If you are nominating somebody else:

Please note, however, that these PDF versions are only provided for planning purposes – only nominations made before the deadline via the online Grants Management Portal will be accepted.

Apply now: you can start your nomination on our online Grants Management Portal.

There are many formal mentoring and coaching schemes available, including ones provided by universities and learned societies. We have therefore decided not to replicate these and provide yet another formal mentoring and coaching scheme. Rather, we would like to support Academy members in finding and building their own mentoring relationships. Also, many schemes will match one mentor and mentee, but they may not necessarily be able to support you in all areas or your career so having more than one person each, with their own specific expertise, supporting you might suit your needs more effectively.

To assist you, we have made the following resources available:

Mentoring and coaching masterclass

For those who have offered themselves as mentors, we have partnered with Professor Mags Watson of Watson Research & Training Limited to deliver a master class: Supporting Personal Development and Effectiveness Through Mentoring and Coaching. Details of how to sign up and the date of the next masterclass can be found in the members-only content and awards section.

One-to-One support

For those who are new to mentoring and coaching and have attended the Supporting Personal Development and Effectiveness Through Mentoring and Coaching masterclass, Professor Watson is able to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Further details can be found here.

Online resources

  • The Academy of Medical Sciences has a wide range of resources that can be accessed here.
  • BBSRC has an Academic career mentoring best practice guide.
  • The Royal Society has a useful guidance on how to create an effective mentoring pair.

How do I get involved?

When creating your profile for the Academy, you are asked to indicate whether you are available to be a mentor or are looking for a mentor. mentor or mentee. Members who have done so may then be identified via the search function on the Academy website. If at any time you wish to change your preferences, you can do so by emailing academy@dunhillmedical.org.uk

As part of our strategic commitment to supporting the career development of researchers in ageing-related research, we are introducing a new opportunity for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to get an insight into how research proposals are assessed and how funding decisions are made, by attending one of our Research Grants Committee meetings.  

Ahead of the meeting, you’ll be given access to the meeting paperwork and we’ll arrange a briefing chat to take you through how the meeting will run. You’ll be present throughout the panel discussions (subject to conflict checks) and will see how this feeds into the final funding decisions.

If you consider yourself to be an ECR and would like to attend one of our meetings, you can register your interest, by filling out this short survey. There will be a limited number of places available at each committee meeting and observers will be selected on a first come first served basis, with priority given to those that have been funded by the Trust and those who are planning to apply for an ageing-related research grant in the near future (either from the Trust or elsewhere).

Research Grants Committee meetings take place at the Trust’s office in London but there will be the option to attend remotely according to preference. The Trust will provide reasonable expenses for travel, accommodation, and dependent-related care costs.

If you are not selected to observe a meeting initially, we will keep you on our waiting list, but places are limited, and we cannot guarantee that you will be allocated a place at a future meeting. There is no closing date for the survey and so the waiting list will remain open to join.

To be eligible for this opportunity, you must be a member of The DMT Academy. It’s free to join and you can read more about the benefits of being a member and apply to join here.

Community organisations

We’re in the course of curating a range of what we hope will be useful content for community organisations on developing financial sustainability, evaluating impact, becoming research-ready and commissioning. Take a look at our plans for our Capability Development Programme below.

Dunhill Medical Trust is partnering with the team at Moore Kingston Smith Non-Profit Advisory and the University of Birmingham’s School of Social Policy to deliver high quality training as part of a Capability Development Scheme. The training forms an integral part of the Trust’s Academy offering for community-facing organisations.  The Academy aims to bring community-facing organisations together with academic and clinical researchers and other experts in the field to improve organisational resilience and effectiveness and help to deliver evidence-informed systemic change.

The programme is aimed particularly at community-facing organisations working to support older people to thrive in safe, healthy and well-connected homes and communities. Free of charge, it will be delivered principally via a series of webinars: Focusing on Impact, Creating Financial Sustainability, Research Capacity and Effectiveness and Re-Imaging Organisations and Design Thinking. These will be supplemented by downloadable videos exploring related topics in more detail. All of the material, including the webinar content, will be available via the Academy webpages, allowing you to access it at a time convenient to you.

Our first webinar – which will be on Impact – will take place on November 28th. This webinar will be run by Karl Leathem, from Moore Kingston Smith Non-Profit Advisory who has worked with hundreds of community-facing organisations over twenty-five years, assisting them with evaluating and communicating social impact.

We then have a further three webinars:

  • Creating Financial Sustainability – 10 January 2024
  • Developing Research Capacity and Collaboration –6 March 2024
  • Re-imaging Organisations and Design Thinking – 22 May 2024

Time 09.00 – 10.30.

To book a place on any of these webinars please email [email protected].