Clinical Training Scholarships at the Cambridge Vet School
Our Environment
Cambridge Vet School runs a well-established and successful clinical hospital: “The Queens Veterinary School Hospital” near the centre of the beautiful historical city of Cambridge.
We are a multi-disciplinary referral hospital (Internal Medicine, Soft Tissue Surgery, Orthopaedics, Oncology, Opthalmology, Dermatology, Cardiology, Anaesthesia, Neurology, Diagnostic Imaging, Clinical Pathology and Anatomic Pathology) employing over 50 veterinary surgeons with a successful long-standing residency and internship programme. We also run a successful first-opinion charity medicine clinic.
The Hospital plays a fundamental role in teaching our undergraduate students during their clinical rotations, providing them with exposure to both referral-level and first-opinion veterinary work. We also have a strong research programme with the ultimate aim of improving the health and welfare of our patients.
Our Values
We pride ourselves on our close-knit veterinary hospital environment with small undergraduate year groups and robust residency and internship training programmes, allowing us to focus on high-quality teaching and research, in addition to providing exceptional clinical care. At the heart of our ethos are a focus on staff and student well-being, job satisfaction and supporting our colleagues to thrive in their chosen field!
Examples include:
- Provision of Higher Education training programmes for staff allowing them to obtain further qualifications in education, e.g. AFHEA/FHEA
- Dynamic flexible working environment with off-clinic provision to support research and teaching roles, or ample study/elective time for residents and interns
- Access to the expertise of the wider University allows One Health and lab-based research collaborations
- First opinion charity medicine service provides routine and emergency healthcare to local eligible animals, whilst also strongly augmenting undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
- Clear career progression pathways in clinical, teaching and research roles
- Sociable hospital with a good work-life balance
- Supportive supervisors and accessible mental health provision for all members of staff
- Renowned clinical research groups, including Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome and Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy groups.
Our Mission
The mission of the Department of Veterinary Medicine is to improve the health and welfare of animals and people in the context of the environment they live in and share through the provision of excellence in education, research, clinical practice and outreach.
Our graduate and post-graduate training programmes prepare the next generation of researchers, clinicians and clinician-scientists, and our clinics deliver state-of-the-art medical and surgical treatments for companion animals, equines and food-producing animals.
The Department is committed to the delivery of a world-class education that is based on scientific scholarship, and makes use of cutting-edge teaching methods that are validated through outcomes assessment.
Our researchers work at the forefront of the biomedical sciences, undertaking cross-disciplinary research to address the pre-eminent One Health challenges. The Department is committed to outreach activities that disseminate the results of our scholarship, attract the best and the brightest students irrespective of background, and inform and shape the future of veterinary medicine
What makes the Cambridge Vet School a great place to complete an internship or residency?
The wonderful thing about Cambridge is job variety and the people!
We ensure staff have access to resources and dedicated time to develop their area of interest in the fields of clinical veterinary medicine, teaching and research.
No two days are the same: one day you could be teaching vet students about diarrhoea and the next day you are back on clinics performing a bone marrow biopsy on an anaemic cat!
The people at the Vet School are like family – we truly get on well and collaborate on those tricky cases, as well as collaborate on the football field on Friday evenings or, if you prefer, having a glass of wine at the on-site bar!
Location, location, location!
Cambridge Vet School is very fortunate to be based near central Cambridge, which is steeped in culture and is part of one of the oldest Universities in the world!
We are based on the West Cambridge site which is now home to a state-of-the-art shared study space, restaurant and bar to allow networking and social opportunities for staff and friends.
Our ideal candidate
We would like to think we are hiring candidates on their individual merits and this doesn’t necessarily fit an “ideal proforma!”
Successful candidates are not solely based on grades and academic achievement: by far the most important qualities we look for in our candidates are integrity, motivation and a team player……(the football team always needs new players ;))
Flexible work initiatives at Cambridge Vet School
For interns, we offer a flexible 6 weeks of off clinics time which comprises of 4 weeks holiday and 2 weeks externship. During the year, we are flexible if you need to rearrange timings to attend interviews, visit other hospitals prior to residency applications and arrange to attend conferences of interest.
For residency and clinician applications, we offer generous off clinics allowance to pursue research and study, alongside flexible working arrangements when off clinics.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion intiatives at Cambridge Vet School
The Department of Veterinary Medicine renewed its Athena Swan Bronze Award in 2020, having received its first award in September 2013.
Athena SWAN is a Charter to advance women’s careers (https://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan/ ). Its Bronze, Silver and Gold awards celebrate good practice in recruiting, retaining and promoting women within Higher Education.
The Vet School Equality & Diversity committee meet regularly and run a range of events to understand the challenges the Department faces and solutions to these.
Sustainability initiatives at Cambridge Vet School
The Department has devised a sustainability strategy and has recently set up a Department “green” team.
Internship recruitment
When the Internships become available they are advertised on our main webpage under vacancies: - please visit Department of Veterinary Medicine - Jobs
We recruit 6 interns for June 1st start every year: -
· Applications open 20th December
· Applications close 20th January
· Interviews held early-mid February
We recruit 6 interns for December 1st start every year: -
· Applications open 1st July
· Applications close 30th July
· Interviews held mid-late August
Summary of benefits
· High residency success rate – 84% of our interns who have been pursuing a residency have successfully achieved this
·Tax-free stipend plus accommodation in Central Cambridge and bills included in package
· Truly rotating internship through all specialties including flexibility to pursue extra time in rotations of your choice!
· Good work-life balance with manageable weekend and night work, the latter 1:12!
· University library and journal access
· Monthly seminars with complementary food and drink!
· 2 weeks of externship/dedicated research time on top of holidays
· Academic opportunities, e.g. teach Cambridge students during rotations and College supervision opportunities; weekly Department research and clinical seminars; journal and book clubs
· Proven track-record with publications and research projects with guidance on presentation and scientific writing skills.
· Assigned intern supervisor: - regular progress meetings, interview practice, provision of professional references and CV/cover letter proof reading by experienced senior clinicians to aid residency applications
· Generous CPD allowance and encouragement to present at scientific meetings £750
· RECOVER CPR training
· First opinion service including surgical cases
· A number of service-specific internships (orthopaedics, anaesthesia, oncology, diagnostic imaging) and residency opportunities encourage career progression following internship
Our Junior Clinical Training Scholarships
Click on the links for a full overview of the full-time One-year Junior Clinical Training Scholarships available in the Department of Veterinary Medicine.
