Welcome to the School of Clinical Academic Training at Severn Postgraduate Medical Education
Severn Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) is one of only a small number of deaneries in England to have a dedicated school for clinical academic training. Set up at the end of 2009, mainly to look after the needs of the NIHR ACF and ACL trainees, it has expanded to include clinical lecturers funded through other agencies and offers associate membership to those doctors out of programme undertaking a higher research degree (MD or PhD). We currently have a trainee cohort numbering about 85 which is increasing every year. We are very successful in attracting and appointing high quality candidates to our posts following initial adverts. In August 2023 we welcome 14 new ACFs. We are able to offer posts in a wide range of specialties in a partnership between the University of Bristol and NHSE Southwest (Workforce, Training and Education (WTE): paediatrics, psychiatry, general practice, public health, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedics, anaesthetics, emergency medicine, haematology, renal medicine, medical oncology, neurology, obstetrics and gynaecology and ophthalmology. There is also a flourishing academic dental programme.
The Heads of School are Dr Helen Winter and Professor Yoav Ben-Shlomo, and the School Support Manager is Marie Burgess.
The school has an Academic Board which meets every six months with trainee representation. It puts on various academic/social functions each year. The ethos of the school is to provide a focus for academic trainees and to ensure that they get the most out of their integrated academic training. It has very strong links with the NIHR Academy and trainees are encouraged to attend their annual meetings as well as those arranged by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the BMA specifically for doctors on the academic career track.
Severn Academic School Website
The website contains important information relevant to your academic training. You will find information on study leave, study leave funding, what is expected of you at your annual assessment and information on upcoming training opportunities. The website will be one of the primary methods of communication between the school and yourselves. It is a good idea to save the website to your favourites so that you can access it easily in the future.
University of Bristol Website
We now have a direct link the the Clinical Academic Training pages on the UoB website. This outlines the clinical academic training pathway available to you, with the various stages along the way.
NIHR
This guide outlines the arrangements for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Integrated Academic Training (IAT) Programme in England.