Clinical Academics in Training Annual Conference

The Academy of Medical Sciences Clinical Academics in Training Annual Conference (CATAC) is a cross-speciality conference for all aspiring clinical academics currently working in the UK. We use the term “clinical academics in training” to refer to any early-career researcher in medicine or health, with clinical backgrounds in medicine, nursing, midwifery, dentistry, veterinary sciences, physiotherapy, radiography, or any other clinical profession.This unique event brings together clinical academics from across disciplines to present their work, and to develop their networks with each other and senior researchers.

CATAC 2025 will be held on Thursday 8 May at Leeds City Museum.

The application period for the conference competitions has been extended, and now closes on Monday 13 January 2025 at 4pm GMT. Please note, if you haven’t already started your abstract submission, you will be able to apply via Flexigrant from Thursday 2 January 2025.

General registration for CATAC 2025 will open in early 2025.

Find out more & submit an abstract

Event Competitions

We hold three competitions at CATAC for all early-career researchers in medicine and health (with clinical backgrounds in all disciplines and specialities) currently working in the UK:

•    Post-Doctoral Plenary Competition – This competition is for clinical researchers who have passed their PhD viva, at the abstract submission closing date. If selected, you will be asked to prepare a 10-minute oral presentation, followed by 5 minutes of questions from the audience. A panel of judges will score the presentations. The winner and runner-up of this competition will receive a monetary prize.

•    Pre-Doctoral Plenary Competition – This competition is for clinical researchers who have not yet passed their PhD viva at the abstract submission closing date. If selected, you will be asked to prepare a 5-minute oral presentation, to be followed by 2 minutes of questions from the audience. A panel of judges will score the presentations. The winner and runner-up of this competition will receive a monetary prize.

•    Poster Competitions – This competition is for all clinical researchers. If selected, you’ll be expected to prepare a poster and a 2-minute presentation. Posters will be grouped randomly not by broad research categories.

Like last year, posters will be judged by your peers, the CATAC attendees. All attendees will be randomly assigned a poster group for which they will act as judge. Poster competitors are not permitted to judge this competition. There will be one winner and one runner-up for each group who will each receive a monetary prize.

Further details and application guidance can be found under the ‘Downloads’ section on the right-hand side of the page.

Please note that participation in the competitions is not compulsory. You can attend the conference without competing.