Ethicon Foundation Fund short-term clinical visits
Enhance your specialty skills and experience with our Ethicon Foundation Fund. This fund supports a short period of travel (up to three months) to gain experience that would not routinely be available in your own hospital.
Career stage
Consultant surgeon
Funding amount
Up to £400 to support travel costs only.
Deadline
31 October 2026 at 2pm.
Please note all our grants and fellowships are reviewed annually, so the information on this page may be subject to change before the next round opens.
Duration
Up to three months.
Eligibility
In order to apply for this grant, you must hold a consultant's post or equivalent consultant level grade. You must also:
- be member or fellow of the College;
- be travelling in the UK or Europe for a period of up to 3 months, to gain surgical experience not routinely available in your own hospital;
- be sponsored by the head of the department where the research will be conducted, who can offer facilities and technical assistance for surgical experience in your chosen field;
- plan to begin your travel within six months of the award date (February/March each year);
- not have received an Ethicon Foundation Travel Grant or an Ethicon Foundation Fund Short-term Clinical visit grant from RCS England before.
You must apply for the fund prior to embarking on the visit, as we cannot make the award retrospectively.
About the Ethicon Foundation Fund Short Term Clinical Visit
The Ethicon Foundation Fund offers a travel grant, which supports consultants or equivalent surgeons embarking on a period of travel overseas to further enhance a specialty skill or experience that is not routinely available in your own hospital. The grant does not support travel for the sole purpose of attending a scientific meeting.
The awards are for your travel costs only, and cover economy class transport up to the value of £400. The grants are not available to support the travel costs of a spouse, partner, or companion.
Please note: the number of grants awarded depends on the standard of applications and available funding.
What’s expected from grant holders
We award these grants on the understanding that you, your host centre, and supervisor agree to the Terms and Conditions relating to the scheme and any amendments issued during the course of the grant application and visit. You will be responsible for ensuring your position is confirmed.
Additionally, you will be expected to:
- begin your project within the academic year of the award date;
- only use your grant funding for the travel and purpose detailed in the application form;
- travel to gain surgical experience not available in your own hospital;
- have obtained prior approval for the visit from the appropriate training authority in the country of application;
- commence travel by the date stated on your application, and within six months of the award;
- notify us if there is any change of circumstance from those originally approved, or which prevent you from completing your overseas visit, at which point further advice will be provided;
- advise us if you are awarded any additional funding to support the visit;
- remain in good standing order with your RCS England membership fees throughout the tenure of the award.
You will be expected to provide a report about your visit for inclusion in our surgical research report within six weeks of your return.
How to apply
You can apply for this grant via the application form on our research funding portal. Select '2027 travel grants' from the list of available grants.
Before you start
The form has six sections. These cover your details, basic eligibility, organisation, and proposed research project.
You will be asked to include details of any other active travel grant applications, including other RCS England travel grants, travel grants already awarded for this visit, salary or stipends to be paid during the period of the visit.
If a salary is offered during any part of the duration of the fellowship, you must make this clear in the financial summary section of the application form.
You will also be asked to upload to the portal:
- a letter of support from the head of the department or consultant under which you are currently working
- a letter of support from another, independent referee
- a two-page CV
It is your responsibility to make sure every part of the application is complete and submitted by the deadline.
You can save your application and return to it at any time.
What happens next
We check every application against the eligibility criteria, and all eligible applications will go through an independent peer review process.
Applications are ranked and awarded based on the combined peer review scores and comments.
We will advise applicants of the grant outcome in the spring. If successful, you will be asked to sign the grant terms and conditions.
You will be expected to provide a report for inclusion in our surgical research report once you have completed your project.
How this grant is funded
This funding is possible thanks to the Ethicon Foundation Fund.
Contact
If you have any questions about applying for an Ethicon Foundation Fund grant, please email research@rcseng.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help.