We are thrilled to announce that The Kennedy Trust and Medical Research Council (MRC) are co-sponsoring two Daphne Jackson Fellowships to aid supporting research returners.

The Kennedy Trust provides sustainable, long-term funding of medical research into rheumatic and related musculoskeletal, immunological and inflammatory diseases. Dr Stephen Simpson, CEO of the Kennedy Trust comments; “The Kennedy Trust is delighted to partner with the MRC over the sponsorship of these Daphne Jackson Fellowships. The Kennedy Trust has been a long-term advocate for the important work of the Daphne Jackson Trust and we recognise the exceptional mentorship and retraining their Fellowships provide to returning researchers. We hope these new awards will continue to strengthen our partnerships with both organisations and we look forward to welcoming Elizabeth and Fatma into our growing community of Kennedy Trust Fellows.”

The Medical Research Council fund research at the forefront of science to prevent illness, develop therapies and improve human health. They have sponsored or co-sponsored a total of 35 Daphne Jackson Fellows. “MRC values our partnership with the Daphne Jackson Trust and recognises the excellent researchers that it supports. We wish the new Fellows all the best with their exciting new research plans”, MRC Training and Careers Team.

We hope you join us in congratulating Dr Fatma Scerif and Dr Elizabeth Clay with their Daphne Jackson Fellowships and huge thanks to their sponsors.

• Fatma is hosted in the group of Dr Suzanna Eldridge at Queen Mary University of London, The William Harvey Research Institute – Centre for Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology, working on a project entitled “Investigating the therapeutic of Agrin in osteoarthritis.
• Elizabeth is hosted in the group of Professor Adam Croft at the University of Birmingham, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing – Rheumatology Research Group, working on a project entitled “Synovial Lymphocyte diversity and origin in childhood onset arthritis”.

Daphne Jackson Fellowships

The Daphne Jackson Trust is dedicated to returning researchers following a career break for a family, caring or health reason.

Daphne Jackson Fellowships are unique – they offer professionals wishing to return to a research career after a break of two or more years, the opportunity to balance an individually tailored retraining programme with a challenging research project in a suitably supportive environment. The unparalleled support offered by the Trust’s Fellowship Advisors and administrative staff, coupled with mentoring and retraining provided during the Fellowship, give returners the confidence and skills they need to successfully return to research.

For further details about the eligibility criteria and application process, please visit www.daphnejackson.org or please contact the Daphne Jackson Trust via email at djmft@surrey.ac.uk.