Ethicon Foundation Fund travel grants
Further your training in your chosen surgical discipline with our Ethicon Foundation Fund. This grant supports your travel overseas for a period of 3–24 months to gain relevant surgical experience not normally available in your home country.
Career stage
In training, first year as consultant
Funding amount
Up to £1000 to support travel costs only.
Deadline
31 October 2026 at 2pm.
Please note all our grants and fellowships are reviewed annually, so the information on this page may be subject to change before the next round opens.
Duration
Normally for a period of between 3 to 12 months, although visits of up to 24 months may be considered.
We recommend you read the information below fully before starting an application.
Eligibility
To apply for this grant, you must be travelling overseas for a period of between 3 and 24 months to gain surgical experience not regularly available in your home country. You must also:
- be a surgical trainee or within the first year of appointment as consultant;
- be a member or fellow of the College;
- be sponsored by the head of the department where the research will be conducted, who can offer facilities and technical assistance for surgical experience in your chosen field;
- plan to begin your travel within six months of the award date (February/March each year);
- not have received an Ethicon Foundation Travel Grant or an Ethicon Foundation Fund Short-term Clinical visit grant from RCS England before.
You must apply for this grant prior to embarking on the visit, as we cannot make awards retrospectively.
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About the grant
Our Ethicon Foundation Fund offers a travel grant, giving you the opportunity to travel overseas and obtain further experience in your surgical discipline. The visit should be an opportunity to obtain relevant surgical experience not normally available in your home country. We cannot support travel for the sole purpose of attending a scientific meeting.
The awards are for your travel costs only, and cover economy class travel up to the value of £1,000. The grants are not available to support the travel costs of a spouse, partner or companion.
The Ethicon Foundation Fund travel grant is open to trainee grade fellows and members or first-year consultants.
Please note, the number of grants awarded depends on the standard of applications and available funding.
For consultants attending a short-term visit (up to three months) within Europe, please look at the Ethicon short-term clinical visit award.
What’s expected from grant holders
Ethicon Foundation Travel Grants are awarded on the understanding that you, your host centre and supervisor agree to the Terms and Conditions relating to the scheme and any amendments issued during the course of the award. You will be responsible for ensuring your position is confirmed.
Additionally, you will be expected to:
- commence your project within the academic year of the award date;
- only use your grant funding for the travel and purpose detailed in the application form;
- be travelling to gain surgical experience not available in your home country;
- have obtained prior approval for the visit from the appropriate training authority in the country of application if appropriate;
- commence your travel by the date stated on your application, and within six months of the award;
- notify us if there is any change of circumstance from those originally approved, or which prevent you from completing your overseas visit, at which point further advice will be provided;
- advise us if you are awarded any additional funding to support the visit;
- remain in good standing order with your RCS England membership fees throughout the tenure of the award.
You will be expected to provide a report about your visit for inclusion in our surgical research report within six weeks of your return.
What you’ll gain from the grant
This grant helps you as you gain specialty skills or experience that are not regularly available in your own country.
We offer up to £1,000 for travel, that can be used flexibly across 3-to-24-month period for the purpose described in your application form.
How to apply
You can apply via the application form on our research funding portal. Select '2027 travel grants' from the list of available grants.
Before you start
The form has six sections. These cover your details, basic eligibility, organisation, and proposed research project.
You will also be asked to include details of any other active travel grant applications, including other RCS England travel grants, travel grants already awarded for this visit, salary or stipends to be paid during the period of the visit.
If a salary is offered during any part of the duration of the fellowship, you must make this clear in the financial summary section of the application form.
You must produce confirmation/evidence of prospective approval from the General Medical Council (GMC) if you wish for the post to count towards the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT).
You will also be asked to upload to the portal:
- letter of support from the head of the department or consultant under which you are currently working
- a letter of support from another, independent referee
- a two-page CV
It is your responsibility to make sure every part of the application is complete and submitted by the deadline.
You can save your application and return to it at any time.
What happens next
We check every application against the eligibility criteria, and all eligible applications will go through an independent peer review process.
Applications are ranked and awarded based on the combined peer review scores and comments.
We will advise applicants of the grant outcome in the spring. If successful, you will be asked to sign the grant terms and conditions.
You will be expected to provide a report for inclusion in our surgical research report once you have completed your project.
How this grant is funded
This funding is possible thanks to the Ethicon Foundation Fund.
Contact
If you have any questions about applying for an Ethicon Foundation Travel Grant, please email research@rcseng.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help.