How to design your research programme and win an award
NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research)
Funding, enabling and delivering world-class health and care research
Our Shape the Future campaign celebrates the NHS 75th birthday and highlights how research helps our NHS improve people’s lives and reduce costs.
Today Bethan Jones, the Nursing Times Student Nurse of the Year for Clinical Research, shares her passion for research and her experience as a student nurse. In her words, research is 'infinite' and the NHS is a 'land of opportunity' for health and care researchers.
Well, hello there! My name is Bethan Jones and I am a 4th Year student at the University of Leicester studying MSci Dual Field Nursing (Child and Mental Health) with Leadership. When I’m not busy studying or being on placement I spend my time ballroom dancing (competing when I can at the weekends), or I’m off to a cinema or escape room, or I’m in my garden or crocheting. I recently won The Nursing Times Student Nurse of the Year – Clinical Research!
As a student nurse doing dual field nursing, my time is split between physical and mental health learning and placement settings. With an additional leadership element, my course has whole modules on how to be a future nurse leader and as part of the programme we spend time with nurse leaders that we can use as our own role models. Being a student nurse, I think at least, puts you in a very fortunate position. Whilst yes, you are tied to your university in terms of study, you have a lot of freedom to explore your own interests; something I have really been able to do throughout my four years, and to be honest I think that freedom is really what led to my award.
"Challenging, but worth it"
There have been challenges. My main issues have been balancing my interest in research, study, placement and my personal life. Throw a worldwide pandemic in the mix and some personal losses and it’s safe to say being a student nurse has been very mentally and emotionally challenging over the past four years. Challenging, but still worth it. Throughout these challenges, I have found myself many opportunities to continue my passion for research.
You see, prior to starting my nursing degree I did a degree in Medical Physiology, so I was always very research-minded and wanted to continue that in my nursing career. You can imagine my disappointment when I couldn’t find a research elective placement in my nursing area. I was put in touch with the research and development team at Leicester Partnership Trust (LPT) and they helped create a research elective placement based on what I thought a nursing student, with an interest in a career in clinical academia, might want.
The placement covered a range of areas to help equip people like myself for a career in clinical academia. This included: shadowing and interviewing nurses facilitating local research projects; training and teaching sessions to understand the process of how research is created, approved and delivered in healthcare trusts; spending time with patients and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) committees; interviewing and shadowing nurses and Allied Health Professionals at various stages of their academic career, and finally consolidating this learning by producing and presenting a research proposal.
"I wanted to create something that was long lasting"
From there, with the LPT Research and Development Team, we presented our findings from the pilot placement at the Royal College of Nursing Education Forum and have the capacity to continue to run the placement for future student nurses! I wanted to help create something that was long-lasting so that other student nurses had the opportunity to explore a career in clinical academia before qualifying. This placement allows students to help roadmap their careers and remove some of the mystery surrounding clinical academia and research. We need nurses in research to inform our practice and nurture students so that they can discover academia at the start of their careers to encourage more nurses to go into research.
I love research. Firstly I love how it challenges the status quo. Research at its heart is questioning why things are the way they are and trying to discover a better understanding of that process. It’s almost like a puzzle to be solved, and I do love a good puzzle! Secondly, I just love how research always produces more questions. It may be frustrating at times, but I really enjoy how continuous research is. Which I guess leads me to if I could use one word to describe research I would use: infinite.
Why the NHS? It really is a land of opportunity. Despite the challenges the NHS is currently facing, for a career in healthcare research I really don’t see anywhere better to develop myself into a clinical academic than with the NHS.
For health and care research to help all of us, we need everyone to get involved. Be one step closer to changing future treatments and care by registering your interest to take part in a wide range of health and social care research.