BACD-Castang Fellowship 2026
Apply for Round 4 of the BACD-Castang Fellowship
The British Academy of Childhood Disability (BACD) and the Castang Foundation are pleased to announce Round 4 of the BACD-Castang Fellowship Programme for 2026
Deadline to apply: 1700 on Thursday 11 December 2025
For full guidance of the aims of the Fellowship, how to apply to Round 4, and how applications will be assessed click here (or download below).
- Fellowships are available to UK-based candidates from a relevant professional discipline (i.e. within neurodisability-related health care, education, social care, or research).
- The Fellowship programme includes:
- Individual mentoring from a member or collaborator of the BACD SRG
- Interactive learning workshops about key childhood neurodisability research topics, methodologies, and funding streams
- An intensive grant sprint experience, where candidates iteratively present and develop their grant applications with support from expert clinicians, practitioners, methodologists, and BACD-Castang Fellowship peers
- Multidisciplinary networking with experienced childhood neurodisability researchers and collaboration with BACD-Castang Fellowship peers.
- National opportunities to disseminate Fellowship outputs and raise their professional profile within the childhood neurodisability research community.
- Fellowships include financial support up to the value of £1,000 for each successful candidate to cover:
- standard class travel to Sheffield on 9 March and return on 11 March (to be booked in advance by the BACD office)
- B&B accommodation at the Royal Victoria Crown Plaza Hotel on 9 & 10 March 2026
- lunch and dinner on 9 and 10 March (conference gala dinner on 10 March 2026)
- complimentary registration to the BACD Annual Scientific Meeting on 11 March 2026
Castang Foundation funding will be held and administered by BACD. Unused funds will be retained by BACD.
Fellowship Guidance Round 4 (PDF)
Eligibility Round 4 of the BACD-Castang Fellowship Applications includes two types of awards, both of which are open to UK-based multidisciplinary candidates:
| Pipeline Fellowship for candidates who want to secure a funded PhD/MD award | Advanced Fellowship for research-experienced candidates who want to secure their next award |
| - For applicants at different stages of their clinical/practice career, ranging from relatively newly qualified to well-established clinicians and practitioners. Or applicants from an academic, teaching, or research background (i.e. non-clinicians / non-practitioners). - For applicants who want to secure a pre-doctoral funding award or equivalent (e.g. an NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship). - For candidates who want to secure a doctoral funding award or equivalent (e.g. funded MD). | - For applicants who are close to finishing their PhD or MD (i.e. submitting within the next 6 months approximately) and who want to secure their next research funding award. - For post-doctoral applicants in health or social care settings or universities or other settings who want to secure their next research funding award. - For research-experienced applicants (with or without a PhD or MD) with strong early-career researcher CVs who want to secure their next research funding award. - For established researchers, or clinical/practitioner academics, or educators with experience in leading research who want to secure their next funding award and/or re-work funding applications that have not yet been successful. |
Candidates must be a BACD member or be committed to becoming a BACD member if their Fellowship application is successful.
Our goal is to identify and encourage people from diverse professional backgrounds with the potential, intention, and commitment to lead UK research in childhood neurodisability. We aim to be inclusive and to grow the childhood neurodisability research community. Please do get in touch if you’re not sure about your eligibility or whether one of these awards is for you. Applicants are welcome to contact [email protected] or [email protected] with any queries.
How to apply Applications should be made on the BACD-Castang Fellowship application form which can be found here (or download below). This consists of:
- A short CV (brief details of past posts, focus on recent/current posts and roles).
- A covering letter describing how the candidate meets the eligibility and assessment criteria.
Candidates are required to attend all key dates (see below). Please do not apply if you cannot attend the March 2026 dates in Sheffield.
Applications should be received by email to [email protected] by no later than 1700 on 11 December 2025 – applications received after this time will not be considered.
Following the submission deadline, applications will be checked for eligibility and completeness and distributed to BACD SRG members for review. The SRG will assess all eligible and complete applications using the assessment criteria above. All unsuccessful candidates will be encouraged to contact BACD SRG for feedback after the funding decisions have been made.
Fellowship Application Form Round 4 (Word)
Key Dates Candidates are required to attend all key dates (see below). Please do not apply if you cannot attend the March 2026 dates in Sheffield.
| 22 October 2025 | Launch of BACD-Castang Felllowship Round 4 |
| 22 October 2025 | Submissions open |
| 11 December 2025 | Submissions deadline |
| 22 December 2025 | Decisions and feedback sent out to candidates |
| 9 March 2026* | Fellowship Day 1 (Sheffield) |
| 10 March 2026* | Fellowship Day 2 (Sheffield) |
| 11 March 2026* | Fellowship Day 3 – BACD Annual Scientific Meeting (Sheffield) |
| Dates to be negotiated with successful applicants | Four online workshops in February, June, September & December 2026 |
* In-person attendance in Sheffield is required (no on-line option will be available)
