Applications now open for the 2026 Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship
Made possible through Professor Amber Young’s legacy, this £20,000 Fellowship supports the next generation of burns researchers to improve care for children and young people affected by burns.
Friday 26 June 2026
Applications are now open for the 2026 Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship, a £20,000 opportunity to support the next generation of burns researchers to improve outcomes for children and young people affected by burns.
If you’re an early career researcher working in burns or a related field, you have until 5pm on Friday 31 July 2026 to apply for this transformative opportunity!
Made possible by the remarkable legacy of Professor Amber Young, the Fellowship supports early career researchers to develop projects to improve care and outcomes for children and young people affected by burns across England and Wales.
The £20,000 Fellowship supports one early career researcher each year to undertake pump-priming, feasibility and proof-of-principle studies in paediatric burns research.
There is no disciplinary requirement for applicants. We welcome innovation from all fields, provided the proposed research has the potential to improve the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people affected by burns.
Meet Olivia Hartrick: 2025 Amber Young Burns Research Fellow
2025’s recipient of the Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship was Olivia (Liv) Hartrick, research fellow and Trust grade Plastic Surgery Registrar at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, whose research explores variation in the treatment of children with partial thickness burns across the UK.
Liv’s project aims to better understand how children with partial thickness burns are treated across different services, helping to identify where care varies and where improvements could be made.
Speaking about receiving the Fellowship, Liv said:
“[Amber] created a legacy of getting the patient voice into burns care. The Fellowship is an amazing opportunity to test new ways of collecting data, inform future national research, and make a real difference for children and families”
Olivia Hartrick’s 2025 Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship explores current practice in paediatric burns care and aims to improve consistency of care for children and families affected by burns.
“I have been a big fan of Professor Amber Young for a while because of her PROM (Patient Reported Outcome Measures) work. I knew about her before the grant: her work led to a burns outcome measure which underwent a rigorous validation process.
We picked these measures to capture patient outcome data in the Burns Unit in Stoke Mandeville which we do as a routine now. I saw the impact Ambers work has had in our Unit, so it seemed like a natural progression to apply to her grant”.
Continuing Professor Amber Young’s legacy
The Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship has been made possible thanks to the generosity of Professor Amber Young, a globally renowned paediatric burns specialist whose dedication transformed the field of children’s burns research.
Amber Young’s career was a remarkable combination of clinical excellence, research innovation, and mentorship.
Amber’s legacy is a gift to the next generation of burns researchers, supporting research that has the potential to improve treatments, care and outcomes for children and young people affected by burns.
Amber’s husband, Norman Heckington, continues to work alongside The Scar Free Foundation to support the Fellowship in Amber’s name and help continue the critical work in burns and wound healing that Amber dedicated her career to.
Reflecting on Amber’s approach to research, Norman said:
“Amber was a dedicated, curious, and passionate children’s burns researcher. She loved what she did. Towards the end, that’s what kept her going.”
Norman Heckington, Amber Young’s husband and cherished friend of The Scar Free Foundation, collaborates with us to continue Amber’s extraordinary legacy
The Fellowship represents Amber’s commitment to supporting innovative research that can make a real difference to patients and families.
When he heard about Liv’s Fellowship, Norman shared his excitement about her research:
“The subject of Liv’s research would have truly warmed Amber’s heart. How to accurately measure partial thickness burns was something Amber had given consideration to on more than one occasion.
“It is quite uncanny, it’s almost as though Liv knew what Amber would’ve wanted to research if she was still with us. Now that’s what I really call continuing Amber’s legacy!”
How to apply
Find out more and read full details on our Amber Young Burns Research Fellowship info page.
We look forward to receiving your application. Good luck!