Continuing professional development through research: A path from Intern to Fellow
Our NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM) Pre-doctoral Fellowship Programme - aimed at those who aspire to undertake PhD level study -provides research training awards for health and social care professionals working in Greater Manchester who wish to develop their career by combining health and social care practice and development with applied research and research leadership.
Award holders receive funded research time, academic supervision and excellent training opportunities to prepare an application for submission for an NIHR or similar doctoral fellowship opportunity, which includes a research proposal and suitable training and development plan.
One professional who has undertaken a Pre-doctoral Fellowship is Laura McGarrigle, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Laura previously took part in NIHR ARC-GM’s Research Internship and was keen to continue her research learning journey in the same supportive environment.
Laura said: “Since starting the programme, my confidence has increased in my current role and I feel like I can take on new challenges such as chairing groups, applying to be on special interest group boards and also supporting others to write up their work. I have felt better able to support others within my team and within my Trust to apply for fellowships or write and submit their work to conferences too.
“Balancing multiple projects at once has been tricky at times, but having a supportive supervision team around me has helped to plan and prioritise work. They have also given me the confidence to believe I can do it!
“My advice to others thinking about the Pre-doctoral Fellowship is to consider how to use your training budget. It’s important to access good quality formal training but also consider the benefits of opportunities like attending conferences. The reflection and discussions that can come from events like these have taught me a lot, helped me make new contacts and network alongside showing me how research can be led.”
“Pre-doctoral Fellowships bring together the established researchers of the present and the potential researchers of the future - this is so valuable in helping people “see what they can be”. They also support a greater connection between clinicians and researchers - this works both ways in feeding clinical thoughts into a research environment but also supporting the clinicians with the knowledge around research practices.”
Research Internships and Pre-doctoral Fellowships have so far been supported across 12 organisations in Greater Manchester, including Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and more.
NIHR ARC-GM Research Internships and Pre-doctoral Fellowships are available to healthcare professionals and we welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to creating an environment where diversity is celebrated and everyone is treated fairly.
To find out more about our Research Internships visit https://arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/hcp-internship
To find out more about our Pre-Doctoral Fellowships visit https://arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/pre-doctoral-fellowship