Supporting your career development
We offer a range of training and career development opportunities to support your professional development as an independent MS researcher.
You can find further information, including dates and deadlines, under each opportunity.
Training and resources
Our ECR Assessment Framework outlines the skills and training we look for if you apply to our Early Career Fellowships. You don't need to demonstrate every item in the Framework. But you should think about what you can evidence in your application. And where there are gaps in your skillset, don't ignore them. Instead, tell us how you're working to gain those skills or experience.
In this webinar, we discussed our funding opportunities and what you need to do to make your application as competitive as possible when applying to us. We covered our different award types, making sure your application is in remit, our Research Strategy and patient and public involvement.
Watch the webinar recording on Youtube
Read more about our research awards
In this webinar, we hosted a conversation with Professor Sue Pavitt and Professor Patrick Lewis, Chairs of our Career Development Award and Catalyst Award rounds. We spoke about what happens once you’ve submitted your application, what our review panels are looking for in an application and common reasons why applications may not get funded.
Watch the webinar recording on Youtube
Current opportunities
When: 09.00-11.00 on Thursday 31 October
Deadline to sign up: 12.00 noon on Monday 14 October
Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is when people with personal experience of health conditions work in active partnership with researchers. Or research funders like us.
We believe that involving people affected by MS will strengthen the quality and relevance of your research. And we can help you develop the skills you need to carry out involvement in your studies.
This virtual workshop is intended for early career researchers working in MS who have limited experience of PPI.
We'll cover:
- What is PPI?
- How and when to involve
- Thinking about PPI in your research
- How we can support you to involve people affected by MS
Upcoming events and opportunities
Date: January 2027
Registration will open in November 2026.
Hear from our Research Communications team on how to effectively engage the public when talking about your research.
In this webinar, we’ll discuss the value of communicating well with people affected by MS and the public. We'll talk about getting to know the needs of your audience and building an understandable research story. Plus we’ll cover writing in plain English and accessibility. We'll also hear from people affected by MS from our Research Network as they share how clear lay communication makes a difference to the community.
Past events and opportunities
In May 2025, we held an ECR Retreat alongside the Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair Annual Symposium. ECRs came together for two half days of networking, talks and workshops. We spoke about developing a leadership vision for research and applying for MS Society Early Career Fellowships. We also held a mock funding review panel, where ECRs discussed real funding applications and learned more about our process for funding new research.
In November 2023, we invited PhD Fellows to our London office for a day of networking, talks and workshops. We spoke about patient and public involvement (PPI), developing independence and communicating research to a non-specialist audience. We also had a talk from one of our Early Career Fellows about their journey to an MS Society Early Career Fellowship.
We'll run this workshop again in 2027.
In this workshop, we discussed the value of communicating well with patients and the public. We spoke about getting to know the needs of your audience and building an understandable research story. We also covered writing in plain English, accessibility, and using social media.
Can you tell us why your research matters to someone affected by MS?
In 2023 and 2024, we ran a blog competition for ECRs. The winning blogs were published in our MS Matters magazine, with the runners up published on our website.
Read the winning entry from 2023: How cognitive reserve keeps your brain flexible
Read the winning entry from 2024: Making it easier to have your say in MS research
In 2025, we ran a video competition for ECRs to talk about their research in under a minute. The winning video and the runners up were shared on our social media pages.
