Perfecting the balancing act in professional development: a podiatrist’s story
In the fourth of NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester’s (NIHR ARC-GM) blogs about our Capacity Building training and development programme, Andrew Sharpe, Advanced Podiatrist at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust - covering Salford, Oldham, Bury and Rochdale - has shared his experience and learning from undertaking our Pre-doctoral Fellowship.
NIHR ARC-GM’s capacity building initiatives, which includes both Pre-doctoral Fellowships and Research Internships aim to:
- Fund, support and develop health and social care professionals
- Support and develop research
- Develop and sustain capacity building partnerships across the Greater Manchester NIHR infrastructure and the health and care sector
- Provide health research and implementation learning opportunities
Andrew, who cites the release time to be able to focus on research and the support from academic supervisors and the NIHR ARC-GM team as some of the key benefits of the Fellowship, said: “The Pre-doctoral Fellowship appealed to me as it offered a combination of the protection of time coupled with the right organisation and people to help me further progress my research interest.
“There have been challenges around getting a balance between clinical, academic and personal time but catching up with other Fellows and staying in communication with direct supervisors in both academic and clinical settings help to time manage.
“The skills I’ve gained from the Fellowship have had a positive impact within my job. I’ve found that having time to look at the evidence that underpins clinical practice is really quite empowering. It also has you questioning clinical practice too and I have started to be more critical again in my approach to treatment modalities. Also, being able to develop our teams’ research capabilities is exciting.
“I would tell anyone considering a Pre-doctoral Fellowship to do it. There is a Chinese Proverb I once heard that has stayed in my mind throughout this process: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” I wish I had started this process five years ago, I’m just glad I have now.
“It can feel daunting but I take each aspect as a challenge. Before I knew it, I was successful in the Fellowship award and moving toward my goal of PhD!
“I could not see how research in practice would come about without these types of opportunities, especially for those who, like me, are coming at it from a more senior clinical perspective. The possibility of doing it in spare time is not feasible for me, nor dropping my paid time.”
Andrew has joined 24 other health and social care workers to embark on a Pre-doctoral Fellowship, which has included physiotherapists, nurses, dieticians, paramedics and more from across 12 local organisations.
Opportunities such as Andrew’s are still available across Greater Manchester and we are particularly interested in supporting professional backgrounds where there is a greater need for research infrastructure, including Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health Professions, Social Care and Public Health.
Fellowships include funded research time, academic supervision and excellent training opportunities to prepare an application for submission to an NIHR or similar doctoral fellowship opportunity.
For more information about the Pre-doctoral Fellowship and how to apply visit https://arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/pre-doctoral-fellowship