The duration of the MB/PhD Programme is six academic years, starting in September of year one and finishing in June of year six (5 years and 9 months).

Clinical Component – 3 Years

The clinical course is based in Cambridge but students will also study at a number of Regional Partner NHS Trust hospitals and in general practices throughout the East of England, to take advantage of the different educational opportunities which they are able to offer. At the beginning of each year of the course, each student receives a detailed personal schedule which shows the length and locations of their placements.

Students attend Year 4 of the Standard Clinical Course for one year, culminating in a laboratory-based Student Selected Component and the Final MB Part 1 examinations. They then take up their full time research studentships. After three years of research, students resume clinical studies for a final two years.

Research Component – 3 Years

The research component is based in Cambridge; students retain their medical student status and remain on the Medical Student Register throughout the research period. Students are required to continue to devote time to their clinical work while undertaking research including:

• weekly one hour clinical supervisions (including bedside clinical teaching) as for the Standard clinical
• monthly clinical-topic The curriculum for the monthly seminars is mapped to the Standard clinical curriculum with a rolling three year programme reinforcing student’s prior learning in Year 4, delivering core clinical educational content (e.g. basic life support), and giving students insight into some of the common clinical problems they may encounter in Year 5.
• The programme generally includes in each one-year cycle:
  • a review of several clinical problem areas encountered Year 4
  • at least one clinical problem area they will encounter in Year 5
  • a review of practical procedures learning from Year 4
  • a Basic Life support review course
  • a review of a Year 4 Clinical Communication Skills component
  • a review of a Year 4 patient investigation component
  • a review of a Year 4 radiology component

Course content is monitored by the Clinical School’s Curriculum Committee to ensure compliance with the requirements of the GMC Outcomes for Graduates and the QAA Benchmark Statement for Medicine.

Researcher Development – Throughout the Research Component

Students are expected to take full advantage of the University’s Researcher Development programme which, following an initial skills analysis, provides an extensive menu of courses themed into four main areas which cover fifteen key competencies. There is a ‘core skills’ programme for first year students, which provides key research skills needed from the very start of the course, and which lays the foundation for the training opportunities provided in further years.

For more information on Researcher Development within the Graduate School of Life Sciences (of which the Clinical School is a part), please see https://www.gradschl.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/GSLSRD .

Transferable Skills

Students are required to complete ten days of transferable skills training a year, accumulating 60 credits over a period of three years. Some courses are compulsory, others are determined by the students in consultation with their supervisors. Optional courses include:

• Bioinformatics Introductory Practical Course;
• Communicating with the Public
• Ethical Conduct
• How to make a Poster;
• How to Write Your Dissertation;
• Identifying and Commercialising Intellectual Properties;
• Interview Techniques for PhD Life Scientists;
• Keeping a Lab Notebook;
• Project Management;
• Teaching Undergraduates;
• The First Postdoc;
• The Skilled Graduate;
• What is expected of a PhD Student;
• Writing a Research Grant Application;
• Writing a Scientific Paper