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MHRA Graduate Scheme

Published 28 February 2023

Details of the scheme

Applications are currently closed.

Register your interest in future intakes

The MHRA Graduate Scheme is a three-year graduate development scheme that provides an exciting opportunity to play a critical role in protecting public health and positively influencing patient safety. You would play a part in:

• enabling the development of medical products in an agile and flexible way, in support of the Government’s life sciences innovation agenda
• critically appraising the benefits and risks of medicines and medical devices to inform robust decisions about healthcare quality and access
• using robust vigilance processes that can quickly detect, monitor and evaluate adverse effects and challenges with medicines and medical devices.

Joining a cohort of eight graduates, you will have the opportunity to undertake several placements in London or South Mimms (Hertfordshire), working closely with highly skilled multidisciplinary teams across our three core operating groups: (1) Science Research and Innovation (2) Healthcare Quality and Access (3) and Safety and Surveillance. There may also be an opportunity to undertake a short-term secondment in industry.

The scheme provides a fully financially supported study package towards a Level 7 (degree level) apprenticeship in Regulatory Affairs, with 20% of your time dedicated to this course. There is the option to convert this into an MSc qualification.

Following the scheme, you will be in a strong position to apply for more senior roles at the MHRA. Working here can also be a brilliant grounding for a career across the health sector or in the pharmaceutical industry.

Your impact

• You will be operating at the heart of the UK health system, helping ensure that medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion meet safety, quality and efficacy standards.
• You’ll be helping educate the public and healthcare professionals about the risks and benefits of medicines, medical devices and blood components, improving their safety and efficacy.
• You’ll help to enable innovation and research and development that is beneficial to public health.
• To give an example of the MHRA’s impact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we authorised the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines for roll-out in the UK faster than any other regulator globally and we play an essential role in ongoing vaccine development. We continually assessed these vaccines to ensure they were safe. We also authorised antiviral medication and new respiratory devices at pace to improve patient outcomes.
• If you are motivated by contributing to an organisation that plays a critical role in public health and patient outcomes in the UK, we hope you’ll apply to join us!

What we can offer you

Salary and benefits

• A starting salary of £27-28k, with scope to apply for roles with a salary of £41-54k on completion of the scheme.
• Leave allowance – 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays rising by one day for each completed year of service to a maximum of 30 days. An extra bank holiday each year in May.
• Access to the mylifestyle portal, offering discounts at high street stores, access to the Cycle to Work Scheme, home technology and smartphone benefits, gym membership discounts, and more.
• Flexible working.
• Pension – enrolment on the generous Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• Up to three days of paid volunteering leave each year (five if the volunteering is in health and social care).
• Interest-free season ticket loan.
• Discounted health insurance.
• Access to a wide range of staff networks e.g. Wellbeing Champions,  Staff Inclusion Network.
• Access to the Civil Service Sports and Leisure Club.
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme

Learning and qualifications

All scheme participants will:

• Undertake a Level 7 degree level apprenticeship in regulatory affairs that you can convert into an MSc through writing a dissertation. 20% of your time will be dedicated to studying for this qualification. This is offered through TOPRA (The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs)
• Meet regularly in your cohort for core professional skills training e.g. presentation skills, influencing skills, and peer support.
• Have access to a cross-Agency programme of training and learning covering topics from innovation to leadership development to patient and public engagement.
• Be able to access the wealth of Government Campus learning and development resources, stretch project opportunities, conferences and events available to all civil servants.
• Be matched with an experienced, expert colleague as a mentor.
• Have the opportunity to reverse mentor a senior leader.
• Have the opportunity to take up coaching with a trained coach within the MHRA.
• Be invited to join the Agency apprenticeship network for additional support and training.

Your role and activities

Science, Research and Innovation (SR&I)

Help towards the development of medicines and medical devices

The MHRA’s Science, Research and Innovation Group works with innovators, start-ups and pharmaceutical companies to support research and development of medicines and medical devices and advise on their approval for use. The MHRA determines if a healthcare product is safe and effective before giving approval for its use to treat patients and this decision is based on a thorough evaluation of the scientific and medical evidence. The MHRA provides advice to make sure that the evidence generated is strong enough to support regulatory approval.

Help develop medicines in a role in the MHRA Innovation Accelerator

This is the entry point to the Agency for technical queries and you may help the team in understanding the question and then work with experts across the Agency to develop a response. You will both learn the technical challenges faced when developing a new medicine and device, and understand the challenges that a regulator faces when determining if a new product is really safe and gives benefits to a patient.

Identify and work with new sciences in the Horizon Scanning team

You may want to join the Horizon Scanning team. They work on identifying the new science emerging from the research base and help the MHRA decide what in-house scientific expertise it needs to develop to support new therapies that emerge from this area, or you may help win scientific grants to develop Agency expertise.

Work with clinical data in the Clinical Investigations and Trials team

An essential requirement for a new medicine or medical device is to have clinical data that shows its safety and effectiveness in patients. The Clinical Investigations and Trials team reviews applications and changes in trials for every clinical trial (medicine) or clinical investigation (device) in the UK, and works with international regulators to ensure the success of such trials. The work in this team will give you unparalleled experience in this vital step in getting a product to the clinic, and help you grasp the challenges to understanding how patients respond to treatment.

Work with biological medicines and generate public confidence in their use

We have projects on developing standards to support biological tests and medical diagnostics or for determining the quality of vaccines and protein therapeutics. The MHRA also has fundamental research projects to understand the future needs for vaccines and advanced therapies.

Healthcare Quality and Access Group (HQ&A)

Look at the evaluation of medicines, their changes and controls to ensure people have the right treatments in their homes.

This can be from assessing the latest innovations to treat previously untreatable diseases to the medicines to help things like pain, coughs, colds and the medicines most people take for the majority of their lives. There are many types of formulation that need to be understood, from creams, to tablets, and inhaled devices. You will work your way through gaining knowledge of the different aspects of evaluating a medicine, from the stability profile to the bio-equivalence profile.  We will be looking to define improvements and simplification to the pathways of regulation, where new ideas and challenge are welcomed.

Work with applications for licences in our Authorisation Lifecycle division

You could start your time in the Agency in our Authorisation Lifecycle division, in many ways the ‘front door’ to the Agency, where applications for licences are received and validated, but also with some of our specialist teams. For instance those dealing with the law on medicines advertising, resolving issues over products which are on the borderline between Medicines, Medical Devices and other products such as foodstuffs and biocides, and our team dealing with the registration of consumer e-cigarettes.

You might spend a few months with each of these specialist teams before moving into our data quality team where you will start to work on the initial steps following receipt of an application. Once you are more experienced you could work with Scientific Procedure Advisors and later, Scientific Assessors, building assessment skills as you go, including medical writing. Assessors are critical to the work of the Agency, applying their knowledge and skills to consider the evidence applicants provide to us that their medical product works and is safe.

Compliance of medicines and medical devices

You might be interested in being part of the work the Agency does to make sure medicines and medical devices remain compliant throughout the whole period they are on the market with the standards we set, for instance for good manufacturing or laboratory practices.

You would start with a period in our Standards team, understanding how we develop standards and getting involved with our regulatory testing programme in our laboratories in Teddington. This could be followed by a rotation within our medical devices compliance and approved body audit team. They ensure patients have access to safe and effective medical devices by auditing and inspecting those who certify medical devices as well as device manufacturers directly.

Later in your training you will work with medicines Inspectors, which will include being part of inspection teams visiting premises where medicines are manufactured, and you will learn how we deal with non-compliance when we find it. MHRA Inspectors are critical to maintaining patient safety throughout the product lifecycle and our Inspectors are globally recognised for their high standards.

Safety and Surveillance (S&S)

Ensure our medicines and medical devices are safe in our Safety and Surveillance division

Ensuring our medicines and medical devices are safe is at the heart of what everyone in Safety and Surveillance does. Medical products are approved on the basis of rigorous trials but some side effects are so rare that they can only be identified:

• when many more people have taken a medicine
• after a long time on a medicine
• when in association with other medicines, or
• be a result of specific genomic mutation which increases an individual’s susceptibility.

It can even be a result of what we eat or drink and often these types of adverse events cannot be detected in clinical trials. That’s why we have teams of experts, scientists, pharmacists, nurses and doctors critically assessing and evaluating information from healthcare professionals, patients, the public, data from electronic health records and information collected globally. This ensures we can identify a new adverse event as early as possible. We can put in place appropriate measures to reduce the risk to ensure all medicines and the devices are as safe as possible.

Detect and assess indicators of potential harms for medicines and devices in our Adverse Incident and Signal Analysis team

A placement in S&S could mean working in our Adverse Incident and Signal Analysis team, where you will learn how to detect and assess indicators of potential harms for medicines and devices to ensure safety issues and risks to public health are identified and evaluated.

Work with data and analytics in the Scientific Data and Insight group

For those who like working with analytical data, we have thousands of reports every year and we are constantly working to develop new methods to interrogate them. You could do a placement with our Scientific Data and Insight group developing new approaches to expand and interrogate the data sources we use to support our work.

Undertake in-depth clinical, technical and scientific assessments of potential safety issues with medicines and medical devices in our Benefit Risk Evaluation Therapeutic Area Units

These teams undertake in-depth clinical, technical and scientific assessments of potential safety issues with medicines and medical devices to ensure that benefits outweigh the risk and make recommendations to ensure residual risks are mitigated. You would gain experience in conducting assessments and developing papers for presentation to expert advisory committees, engaging with patients to understand their view on a specific safety issue and understand how we balance benefits and risks of medicines and medical devices to ensure they are as safe as possible.

Contribute to studies or support outreach to GPs in our Specialist Real World Data Unit

You could also work in our Specialist Real World Data Unit, contributing to studies or supporting outreach to GPs, or with CPRD’s interventional research team where you could learn how electronic healthcare records can be leveraged for clinical trials.

Whatever you choose, we will make sure it is fulfilling, challenging and provides you with new skill sets to progress into one of the many career paths in the Agency.

The kinds of roles this scheme could lead to for me

By undertaking this scheme, you will come away with a breadth of understanding and experience of the regulatory process. The scheme will provide a strong foundation for a wide range of Agency roles at the end of the three years. To give just a few examples of the kinds of roles graduates could apply for on completing the scheme. You could find yourself:

• working in the MHRA’s Innovation Accelerator team, connecting developers of innovative medicines and medical devices in a dynamic way with MHRA scientific expertise and regulatory guidance.
• going down the pathway of a Scientific Assessor in the Healthcare Quality and Access Group, overseeing regulatory applications to the Agency from the Pharmaceutical Industry.
• becoming a Benefit Risk Evaluation Assessor within our Safety and Surveillance Group, assessing safety signals (new or known adverse events) involving medicines or medical devices, and ensuring patient experience informs decisions about potential safety issues.

The scheme will provide participants with a foundation of regulatory insight that would make you attractive to both other public health bodies and pharmaceutical corporations.

Who we are looking for

• A 2:1 undergraduate degree (or an equivalent level of vocational experience) in a life sciences or biomedical discipline.
• A demonstrable interest in public health and the life sciences.
• Applications from existing Civil Servants and external candidates are both welcomed.
• Candidates who can demonstrate high potential in line with the Civil Service Accelerated Development Model of Potential (below)

Purpose: Purpose considers the motivation to succeed, with support, in a bigger or more demanding role. It considers the desire to progress and the willingness to learn and develop. Applicants should display a commitment to their own development. This can be displayed in passion and enthusiasm for a professional discipline and achieving objectives.

Values: The Civil Service values of Honesty, Integrity, Impartiality and Objectivity are at the heart of how all civil servants operate. High potential leaders are expected to personally role model these values, as well as demonstrate inclusive leadership, encouraging diversity and recognising the value it brings. To be able to work according to their values efficiently and effectively, applicants will seek to understand how their actions and activities impact others.

Performance: Performance is about how individuals set direction, engage people and deliver results. Setting Direction is about taking personal responsibility for driving forward the agenda, communicating clearly and concisely, with the ability to maintain a bigger picture view and to influence others effectively. Engaging People is about demonstrating an authentic and open leadership style, with a willingness to build diverse teams and relationships, to empower and develop others regardless of their background or position and to hold others to account. Delivering Results is about taking personal accountability to drive high performance, with an openness to others’ ideas and suggestions regardless of their role or grade, and a willingness to create an environment that promotes innovation and sustainable change.

• Please also see the level 2 descriptors within the Civil Service Success Profile Behaviours for expectations of candidates against the following behaviours: Seeing the Bigger Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing and Working Together.
• Please see the job description for an overview of the key roles and responsibilities you would undertake.

How we demonstrate our commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At the MHRA our aspiration is that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is interwoven into everything we do. Our commitment to DE&I is important to our Agency values and behaviours.

Involving and engaging patients in our work as a regulator is a central strategic priority for our Agency. Our Diversity and Inclusion team and Staff Inclusion Network work hard to review Agency initiatives and decisions from the perspective of their DE&I impact.

There are multiple staff networks you can join at the MHRA aligned to protected characteristics and other common identifiers e.g. colleagues from the EU, LGBT+, Neurodiverse colleagues etc.

We are placing increasing focus on attracting a more diverse range of candidates to our Agency, as we understand this will be critical to our capacity to innovate. As civil servants, we care that we are representative of the UK population that we serve.

For more information about DE&I at the MHRA, please contact diversity@mhra.gov.uk

How we demonstrate our commitment to well-being

At the MHRA we pride ourselves on being able to take care of our colleagues and providing them with the tools and support they need to support themselves. Our commitment to well-being is interwoven through our Agency values and behaviours. Taking care of ourselves means taking care of our patients and the public

• We have regular conversations on wellbeing covering everyday topics, including talks and events throughout the year
• We have two active networks and Mental Health First Aiders
• We have an Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health provider for anyone who needs.

For more information about well-being at the MHRA, please contact diversity@mhra.gov.uk

How to apply

Applications are currently closed.

Register your interest in future intakes

Stage 1: Written application (1500 words max)

• Please see the Civil Service Success Profile Behaviours and tell us how you meet the following behaviours at EO Level (Level 2): Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing and Working Together. Please write maximum 250 words for each of the four behaviours. Application link
• You will then be asked to include a short personal statement (max 250 words) about why you are applying to the scheme.
• You will also be asked to include a short statement (max 250 words) on how you meet the Civil Service Model of Potential.
• Finally, you will be asked to upload a copy of your CV. Please don’t include personal information that identifies you. This means we can recruit based on you knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity – it’s called name blind recruitment.

Stage 2: Pre-Recorded Video Interview

•If you are successful in getting through stage 1, you will have one week to submit a short video interview through the Shortlister web platform.

Stage 3: Assessment Centre Day

This full day event will include an in-tray exercise, a group problem-solving exercise, a presentation, a face-to-face interview and a Q&A session for candidates.

See further information on Civil Service recruitment processes and what to expect at each stage.

Application timelines

• This scheme opens on Tuesday 28 February for stage 1 applications.
• The applications window closes on Monday 17 April.
• Shortlisted candidates will be notified on Friday 21 April
• Stage 2 Pre-Recorded Video Interviews: Friday 21st to Friday 28 April
• Shortlisted candidates for Stage 3 will be notified by Friday 19 May
• Stage 3 Assessment centre dates: w/c Monday 19 June
• Successful candidates notified: Wednesday 28 June

Further information

Eligibility

This scheme is open to Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were;

• appointed on merit following a fair and open competition, and hold a minimum qualification of a relevant undergraduate degree at 2:1, or
• were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners’ rules and hold a minimum qualification of a relevant undergraduate degree at 2:1, or
• have at least three years working experience in a relevant field.

It is also open to external applicants who have;

• a minimum qualification of a relevant undergraduate degree at 2:1, or
• are currently working towards and expecting to achieve this by September 2023, or
• have at least three years working experience in a relevant field.

We accept applications from candidates with overseas degrees, provided they can supply evidence that their degree is at a comparable level to that required. The onus (including any costs) of providing appropriate documentation is on the candidate. The National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) provides information about the comparability of different international qualifications. We would not normally ask for such evidence until you had been declared successful: it would then be required for our pre-appointment checks.

Nationality requirements

To be eligible for employment in this scheme, you must satisfy both the Nationality and Right to work/Immigration requirements. Nationality requirements (Civil Service Nationality Rules). You are eligible to apply if you are a:

• British citizen
• citizen of the European Economic Area (EEA)
• Commonwealth citizen
• Swiss national
• Turkish national, in some circumstances.

Nationality requirements are explained in more detail in the Civil Service nationality rules.

You must also have the right to work in the United Kingdom and meet the Immigration and Visa requirements for the length of the scheme. Further details can be found on the Gov.uk Visas and Immigration page.

Reserved for UK nationals

Certain posts, notably those concerned with security and intelligence, might be reserved for British citizens, but this will not normally prevent access to a wide range of developmental opportunities within the Civil Service. This is not a reserved post.

Role Location

If you are successful, you will be primarily based at MHRA’s office in Canary Wharf, London. You may also have a placement at our South Mimms, Hertfordshire site. We are currently implementing a flexible, hybrid way of working, to enable the collaboration and contact with partners and stakeholders needed to deliver MHRA business. The number of days you are required to be present onsite each week will vary depending on the nature of your placement. Unfortunately, relocation costs will not be reimbursed.

Reasonable adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to support disabled job applicants and ensure that you are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and assessment process. Reasonable adjustments could include: allowing extra time for assessment activities; ensuring that information is provided in an accessible format or providing training. If you feel that you may need a reasonable adjustment to be made, or you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact us in the first instance.

Disability Confident Scheme/Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Guaranteed Interview Scheme was replaced by the Disability Confident Scheme in November 2016. However, disabled applicants who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview. Selection will be on merit. If you wish to claim a guaranteed interview under the Disability Commitment, you should complete the relevant section of the online application. It is not necessary to state the nature of your disability.

Civil Service Code

All civil servants are subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Code that details the Civil Service values, standards of behaviour and rights and responsibilities.

Security Clearance Requirements

Before the appointment of the successful candidate can be confirmed, the Agency will undertake background security checks. As part of this, we will need to confirm your identity, employment history over the past five years (or course details if you were in education), nationality and immigration status, animal rights and pro-life activism checks and criminal record (unspent convictions only). Successful candidates will be required to pass Baseline Personnel Security Standard checks. Some posts may require additional clearance and candidates should be willing to obtain security clearance to Developed Vetting (DV) if required

Complaint Procedure

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment on the basis of merit by a fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should firstly contact:

Mira Mepa, Head of Recruitment and Operations

Mira.Mepa@mhra.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at:

civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

info@csc.gov.uk

Civil Service Commission Room
G/8 1 Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ

Conflict of interest

Candidates must note the requirement to declare any interests they have that might cause questions to be raised about their approach to the business of the Agency. They are required to declare any relevant business interests, shareholdings, positions of authority, retainers, consultancy arrangements or other connections with commercial, public or voluntary bodies, both for themselves and for their spouses/partners. The successful candidate will be required to give up any conflicting interests and his/her other business and financial interests may be published

How to contact the MHRA for further information

For more information about the scheme, please contact us at grads@mhra.gov.uk