I'm a medical student and recently completed a bachelors in biochemistry, where i enjoyed the lab project so much that i'm now planning on taking a parttime PhD in biochemistry alongside my medical studies for the next 3 years. I don't think there is any funding available for a parttime phd, therefore decided to take-out a graduate studies loan. But before i can do so, i need to what is the basic salary of a clinical researcher, so that i can plan out my future repayments! Any advice will do, thanks.

A few things to consider; 1) A part-time PhD will take significantly longer than 3 years (usually at least 5 years). 2) Will you be able to devote enough time to this during your PRHO/HO/SHO years? 3) Have you thought about the prospect of taking an MD (Medical Doctorate)or PhD when you are a few years post-grad (I think this is a more 'normal' route for medics)? Don't want to be discouraging, just a few things to think about. Perhaps have a chat with your tutors about your plans? Good luck :o)

Will you be not going into medical training after graduating? If so it may be better to complete your basic medical training first.
You will have a beter chance of becoming a Clinical Scientist if you do a more
medically based research degree. Financially, you will have a better wage as a doctor and easier to support any further research later.

I'm planning todo 3years parttime and a fourthyear fulltime-study, in order to obtain the doctorate by the age of 25. I've been looking at bank loan and found that i can borrow between £8-25k. This will probably have to bve towards the latter end to pay for the college fees and travel expenses as my current university does not do parttime PhD's in biochemistry. Due to the high intrest rate, i need to know what the average salary for a clinical researcher is and if any funding is available?, are many jobs in clinical research?

I am intending to take up honorary posts in JRHO/SHO/SpR to complement my research. the major point of taking a PhD now is that i am young and quite frankly have no responsibilities, I can't say if i will be in the same position in a few years or if i would be then willng to leave a resonably well paid job in order to study. ThankYou

My point was that you probably wouldn't need to leave a well-paid job later to do your PhD - I have medical doctor friends doing MD/PhDs as clinical research fellows. They are paid their normal registrar wage, do their research full-time whilst keeping up some clinical commitments.

I didn't know about that, can i ask do they get to do their own research or is their research topic deteremined by a lecturer. Also wouldn't it be more beneficial to do a PhD now, so that i can have my own team to do research based on my ideas? Do you know what the salary of a clinical researcher is, is there a career structure. My lecturers won't really talk to me about clinical research, here at Oxford.

Sorry, to 'boggle' you again, but i would like to make it clear, that i want to do a PhD in core biochemistry and not in clinical research itself.

My friends have chosen projects in their clinical specialty but the specific project has been chosen by the group leader. You are obviously very ambitious and have strong ideas about doing your own research and running your own group (which is great) but (unless you have wads of cash and can fund yourself) you have to prove your research capabilities (by doing a PhD and then further research, winning grants and writing papers) before you are in a position to head your own group. Not many people are in that position at age 25!

Salary and career structure will vary depending on whether you aspire to an academic career or would want to work in industry (industry better paid). Why don't you make an appointment with a careers advisor at Uni, I'm sure they will be able to help and advise you, if your lecturers are not being very forthcoming! All the best.