HEE-funded places on the Topol Digital Fellowship Programme are open to all clinical staff working in the NHS in England. A limited number of sponsored places will also be available to applicants throughout the UK. Full details of these places will be published when the application window opens. 

You will complete and submit an application form (available from September via this web page) which will invite you to detail: 

• Your experiences, enthusiasms, aspirations and career plans that you feel make you suited to take on a role as a champion of digital change
• The problem that you would like to explore and address in your time as a Topol Digital Fellow.

As part of the application process you will need to supply evidence that you have the support of your training programme director, supervisor and/or senior manager in your organisation for the required amount of protected time.  This confirmation is vital as backfill funding will be provided to your organisation.  

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to an interview which could be either online or face-to-face. You will then be notified of the outcome of your interview shortly afterwards. 

For guidance, the annual recruitment cycle is outlined below. Specific dates will be released annually by August.  

• September: Applications open
• October: Applications close
• October: Shortlisting and invitations to interview
• November: Interviews for shortlisted applicants
• December: Interview outcomes communicated
• February: Programme begins

If you are intending to complete the Fellowship as part of a training programme you must ensure that you have Training Programme Director approval and, if necessary, agreement for Less Than Full-Time training to facilitate the required protected time. For medical trainees, the process to apply for LTFT training can take up to 12 weeks.

To achieve a professional diversity across cohorts, we actively promote the fellowship opportunity right across the spectrum of healthcare professions. Additionally, we will actively monitor application trends during the application window, enabling us to target and promote the programme to under-represented groups. 

To address the possibility of bias in the selection process, everyone involved in the shortlisting and interviewing process will receive guidance and training about bias before they undertake their selection tasks.