Clinical Fellow in Infection Diseases, Medical Microbiology or Virology

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated registrars in Infectious Diseases, Medical Microbiology, Virology, Public Health or Paediatrics to join UKHSA as a clinical fellow.

This fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for the individual to gain experience and expertise at a national level in areas including investigation and management of major incidents and outbreaks; infectious disease surveillance; guidance and policy development and implementation; research; service development and improvement including close collaborative work across regional reference laboratories, directorate and divisions.

An individual plan will be agreed with the Fellow depending on prior experience and interests, setting out their duties and objectives. The agreement will be tailored to take in consideration the both the needs of the Directorate/Division and the individual. It will include objective setting, and mapping expected outputs and timescales for any projects.

Job description

There a fellowship opportunity within the HCAI and AMR division for 12 month Out of Programme Experiences (OOPE) posts to prior to September 2026 or as agreed with the successful applicant. This is aimed at Infectious Diseases, Medical Microbiology, Virology registrars current on training programmes with a National Training Number (NTN). The registrar MUST have OOPE/OOPT approval from their TPD.

HCAI, Fungal, AMR, AMU & Sepsis Division

This clinical fellow training placement is an outstanding opportunity for the individual to gain experience and expertise at a national level in areas including: investigation and management of major incidents and outbreaks; infectious disease surveillance; antimicrobial resistance and stewardship; infection prevention and control; guidance and policy development and implementation; research; service development and improvement including close collaborative work with the Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections Reference Unit ( AMRHAI). Prior fellows have worked on a range of projects including national incident work related to Burkholderia cepacia complex, Group A Streptococcus, C.auris, C.difficile, M.chelonae and the National Action Plan for AMR.

The appointee will be embedded within the Incidents, Outbreaks and Infection Guidance ( IOIG) team within the HCAI and AMR Division.

Please refer to the attached Job Description & Person Specification for full details.

Person specification

The StR is expected to:

• Take responsibility for arranging 1:1 sessions with their supervisor(s)
• Inform their educational supervisor of any special requirements, ideally at the pre-placement meeting;
• Inform their education supervisor promptly of any difficulties, including concerns about lack of opportunities to gain experience;
• Attend the workplace as required and on time;
• Share their diaries with UKHSA staff;
• Notify their educational supervisor (or unit/department administrator if unavailable) when unwell;
• To deliver the objectives set out in the plan the SpR will be expected to work closely with members of the individual teams
• Short induction including familiarisation with base, the team, and organisational arrangements.
• Dealing with enquiries from across UKHSA and government
• Issuing clinical and public health advice on individual incidents
• Participating in investigation of clusters/ outbreaks
• Attendance at (and presentation where appropriate) key meetings relevant to the division
• Attendance at cross UKHSA, meetings relevant to training, and /or projects
• Work on projects which contribute to the strategic work of the division and which are appropriate to the individual SpR
• To meet regularly with their project and educational supervisors.
• To complete an evaluation of the placement.
• The SpR should pursue a programme of continuing professional development in accordance with any relevant professional registration or statutory requirements, whilst maintaining appropriate awareness of service provider requirements.

The SpR is encouraged to attend:

• Unit/departmental education meetings
• Educational meetings with partner agencies
• Other local/national training as appropriate

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

Reasonable Adjustments

The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

BENEFITS

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

External - Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Applicants are strongly advised to use the criteria in the Person Specification of the Job Description as sub-headings in their application to make it clear how they meet each of the selection criteria.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of
• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• a 1000 word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

Please do not exceed 1000 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible.

Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered .

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2 - Interview

You will be invited to a virtual interview, currently scheduled for Friday 27th February 2026; please note that this date may be subject to change.

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview .

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.

For Temporary Appointments, if you are not currently a civil servant, you will take up the post on a Fixed Term appointment. You may be able to take this role up as a Secondment. If you are an existing Civil Servant, based outside of the UKHSA, you will take up the post as a loan which you will need your department to agree. You cannot take the post up as a fixed term. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Mariyam Mirfenderesky, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiologist
• Email : m.mirfenderesky@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.mdrecruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

919-KP-307977-EXT_Job Description.mm.kw Opens in new window (pdf, 235kB)