Specialty training
Applications for UK Specialty Training
Every application window with the date it closes, and what each UK specialty application actually scores, read from the recruitment office's own published guidance.
Application windows.
What scores for Clinical Radiology ST1.
Your MSRA decides whether your portfolio is ever seen. But claim nothing in any domain and you will not be invited to sit the MSRA at all.
Confirmed2026 recruitment; 2027 guidance pendingNHS EnglandRead 11 September 2026
How selection works
You upload evidence after shortlisting, and an assessor reviews and scores it at the interview stage.
What is scored
- Only your best achievement in each domain counts.
- Evidence is verified, and scores can be revised down as well as up.
- Over-claiming is a probity matter and can be referred to the regulator.
The domains below add up to 24 · 2026 round figures · 2027 not yet published.
Commitment to Specialty
up to 8 · double weighted
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| AGreater than one significant exposure to the work of a clinical radiology/nuclear medicine department* | 4 |
| BOne significant exposure to the work of a radiology/nuclear medicine department | 3 |
| CPresented at a radiology/nuclear medicine course or conference | 2 |
| DAttended a radiology/nuclear medicine related conference | 1 |
| ENone of the above | 0 |
*Please note: two pieces of evidence will be accepted for category A. A significant exposure means a period of at least 3 whole day equivalent time attached to a clinical radiology department. Examples: a taster week/observership placement; a student-selected component, elective, or similar part of a degree course; a radiology based clinical (not lab) research project involving presence in a department/working with a radiologist. Multiple exposures must be meaningfully different; for example, more than one of the above types. Two taster weeks in different settings would qualify for the highest descriptor and score A, but 2 taster weeks offering the same experience would not and would score B.
Leadership and Management
up to 4
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| AHold/have held a national level leadership or managerial role involving radiology | 4 |
| BHold/have held a national level leadership or managerial role not involving radiology, but relating to healthcare or hold/have held a local/regional level leadership or managerial role involving radiology | 3 |
| CHold/have held a national level leadership or managerial role outside healthcare or hold/have held a local/regional leadership or management role not involving radiology but relevant to healthcare | 2 |
| DHold/have held a local/regional leadership or management role outside healthcare | 1 |
| ENone of the above | 0 |
Any roles claimed above must have been for a minimum period of 6 months. Examples given: A - national role, for example, within specialist society, royal college, nationally held fellowship position, relevant to radiology. B - national non-radiology healthcare role, for example, within British Medical Association (BMA), royal college; local role, for example, committee member of undergraduate radiology society. C - national roles outside healthcare may include charity work, sports, creative arts; local role relevant to healthcare but not radiology, for example, Junior Doctors Forum or Mess committee, Foundation programme representative.
Teaching and Training
up to 4
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| AHold a formal teaching qualification awarded at postgraduate level, for example: masters, CILT, PGDip, PG Cert | 4 |
| BHave made a major contribution to a national or international teaching programme, with evidence | 3 |
| CEvidence of other training in teaching methods after study of at least 2 days (such as Train the Trainers) | 2 |
| DHave evidence of providing regional teaching | 1 |
| ENone of the above | 0 |
For the purposes of this section a formal teaching programme should have a duration of at least 3 months in total. A major contribution means a leading or organising role, such as a formal teaching fellowship or personally organising a formal, multi-session teaching course. National or international programmes should be open to all relevant learners in that discipline and would usually form part of a formal qualification, such as Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree, specialty diploma etc. Local or regional programmes would be organised at the level of, for example, a single hospital Trust, and could include Foundation Programme teaching or similar activities. Formal teaching outside medicine, for example, to school students or in the community can also be included. One-off, small group teaching would qualify in the third descriptor, as would evidence of solely delivering a single session to a larger local or national programme.
Audit and Quality Improvement
up to 4
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| AI have led 2 or more audits or quality improvement projects relating to radiology which can be shown to have resulted in changed practice* | 4 |
| BI have led an audit or quality improvement project relating to radiology which can be shown to have resulted in changed practice | 3 |
| CI have led a non-radiology audit or quality improvement project, shown to have resulted in changed practice | 2 |
| DI have contributed to, but not led, an audit or quality improvement project | 1 |
| ENone of the above | 0 |
*Please note: two pieces of evidence will be accepted for category A. Leading an audit/Quality Improvement (QI) project would usually include a major role in conception, data collection, analysis, and presentation. If your evidence does not demonstrate this, please select a different descriptor appropriately. Demonstration of changed practice could be via a closed-loop second audit cycle showing better compliance to gold standard, or by improvement in a quality metric etc. Relating to radiology means that diagnostic imaging formed a major part of the project.
Academic Achievements
up to 4
For this route, a poster scores the same as an oral presentation.
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| AI hold a postgraduate research degree or research Masters (PhD, MD, MDRes) Or, I have at least one peer-reviewed publication relating to radiology as first author | 4 |
| BI have at least one peer-reviewed publication relating to radiology, not as the first author Or, I have at least one peer-reviewed publication not relating to radiology but as a first author Or, A case report related to radiology, as first author Or, At least one oral or poster presentation relating to radiology at a national or international level, as first author | 3 |
| CI have at least one peer-reviewed publication not as first author Or, A case report not related to radiology, as first author Or, At least one oral or poster presentation relating to radiology at local/regional level, as first author | 2 |
| DAt least one oral or poster presentation not relating to radiology at either local, regional, national or international level Or, Involvement in a research team as part of an elective, intercalated degree, extended student research and enterprise project, academic foundation programme, academic summer school or other research taster | 1 |
| ENone of the above | 0 |
Oral and poster presentations score identically in this route: categories B, C and D each read 'oral or poster'. What changes the category is radiology relevance, first authorship, and national/international versus local/regional. Presentations should be proffered papers which have been through a process of peer-review, so invited talks do not count. Publications and presentations can relate to audit/QI activity. Intercalated and additional undergraduate degrees have been removed from scoring, but research involvement during one still scores at category D.
A radiology conference can help in two different ways. Attendance alone can score in the double-weighted Commitment to Specialty domain. A peer-reviewed first-author presentation may instead score in Academic Achievements.
Still counts before 19 Nov.
Radiology: nothing new will count for 2027. No open call finishes before Round 1 closes.
For next year.
2026 round figures · 2027 not yet published
Self-assessed and unofficial. What you claim is verified by the recruitment office, and your authorship, whether the panel judges the work related to the specialty, and whether you presented it yourself can all bring a claim down. This is not a threshold, a pass mark or a prediction that you will be shortlisted. Round 1 closes 19 November 2026.