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
Submit your entry by 12 noon on Tuesday 14 April 2026.
Can you explain your research, and why it matters for people living with MS, in just one minute? This is your chance to sharpen your communication skills and share your work with the wider MS community. We’re inviting PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to step in front of the camera for our inaugural ECR video competition.
The winner will receive a book voucher. And the winner and runners-up will have their videos showcased at our MS Frontiers conference. They'll also be featured on our social media channels. Everyone who enters will get personalised feedback on their video from our Research Communications team.
Who can enter?
You can enter, either individually or as a team, if you’re:
- a PhD student or postdoctoral researcher funded by the MS Society.
- an undergraduate, Masters, PhD student, or postdoctoral researcher working in MS research in the UK, regardless of your source of funding.
Please note: You can submit one entry only, either as an individual or as a team. If you’ve entered our blog competition previously, you’re very welcome to enter this video competition.
What are we looking for?
Your ‘elevator pitch’ should answer two questions: “What am I researching?” and “Why does my research matter to people affected by MS?”.
Entries will be judged by our panel that includes Research Team staff and Research Network members with lived experience of MS. This will be based on:
- clarity and accessibility. Can a non-scientist understand your project? Have you avoided or clearly explained complex jargon?
- engagement and storytelling. Is your video interesting and easy to follow? Does it grab the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds?
- impact. Do you clearly explain how your work could improve the lives of people with MS, either now or in the future?
- delivery. Is your pacing comfortable? Do you come across as confident and passionate about your work?
How do I enter?
You should read the ECR video competition guidelines, which outlines the video requirements. And includes some top tips for filming your submission.
Download the ECR video competition guidelines [PDF, 520kB]
You should use WeTransfer to send your video to [email protected]. You'll also need to complete our Media Consent Form and download our 'video competition entry submission form' from the sidebar of this page. By entering, you agree to us sharing your video across our social media, website, and communications.
Once you've sent your video by WeTransfer and completed the Media Consent Form, you should email your completed entry submission form to [email protected] by 12 noon on Tuesday 14 April 2026.
We'll announce the winner at our MS Frontiers conference in June. And share their video across our social channels over the summer.
Our MS Frontiers conference is back for 2026! We'll be meeting in Edinburgh in June, bringing together scientists, clinicians and health care professionals to network and share the latest advances in MS research.
Before the main conference, we're holding an event just for ECRs, designed specifically to support those who are in the early stages of their career in MS research. You'll be brought together with other ECRs for learning, development, networking and collaboration.
Upcoming events and opportunities
Applications will open in April 2026.
We're inviting ECRs to observe our Catalyst Award funding panel meetings. We hope this gives you insight into our grant review process. And supports you in developing your own successful funding applications.
Please note, you can't apply for this opportunity if you're involved in any capacity in an application to our 2026 Catalyst Awards.
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 2024.
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.
