HEE-funded places on the Topol Digital Fellowship Programme are open to clinical staff working in, or delivering services to, the NHS in England who are Band 5+ or post FY2. A limited number of sponsored places will also be available to applicants throughout the UK, such as those sponsored by the British Association of Dermatologists, described below. 

You will complete and submit an application form (available from November 6, 2021 via this website) 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 or supervisor and/or a senior manager in your organisation for the required protected time.  This confirmation is vital as a £15,000 bursary will be provided to your organisation.

If your application is successful, before you begin the programme you will need to supply details of a project sponsor who will champion and support you within the organisation. They should be able to advise and support you to navigate local governance structures as well as support you to deliver your project.

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to an online interview. You will then be notified of the outcome of your interview shortly afterwards.

The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) is pleased to partner with HEE to sponsor up to six places for its members on the Topol Digital Fellowship programme. These places are intended to develop successful applicants into digital leadership and technological literacy champions within dermatology.

BAD members are invited to submit applications via the ‘normal’ Topol fellowship application process proposing to work on projects for digital innovation in a dermatology setting. As with all applications for a place on the fellowship, these proposals should describe the unmet need, the local support for it and an anticipation of the impact the digital innovations could have.

These fellowships are open to all members of the BAD across the four nations of the UK and are intended for delivery over two days a week for a 12 month period. Block periods of study are not possible. Successful candidates will be appointed having gone through the same rigorous application and recruitment process as all of the participants on the fellowship programme. Appointed fellows in dermatology will also be part of the technology workstream part of the Education Unit at the British Association of Dermatologists.

The usual application cycle for the programme is as follows:

• November: Applications open
• December: Applications close
• December: Shortlisting and invitations to interview
• January: Interviews for shortlisted applicants
• April: Programme begins

We will publish specific dates for the next round of applications closer to the beginning of the next cycle.

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.