Making the transition into research: a Speech and Language Therapist’s story

As part of our mission to bring professional health research training and development to our increasingly thriving region, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM) offer Pre-doctoral Fellowship programmes to healthcare professionals in the area to build capacity and capability in our local workforce. Through this programme we aim to develop and strengthen the skills, processes and resources that organisations and individuals need to adapt and thrive.

With a commitment to building capacity to use and apply research across the region by supporting and developing research skills, ideas, and initiatives within our partner organisations, we:

• Fund, support and develop health and social care professionals
• Support and develop research and research support staff;
• Develop and sustain capacity building partnerships across NIHR centres and with NHS and care partner organisations
• Provide health research and implementation learning opportunities

Sophie Chalmers, Respiratory Speech and Language Therapist at Manchester Airways Service, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, is one professional who has participated in our Pre-doctoral Fellowship programme. Sophie in particular found peer supervision with other Fellows and time alongside clinical practice to develop a personalised research development plan to be beneficial to her work.

Sophie said: “There have been many benefits to taking part in the Pre-doctoral Fellowship programme. Crucially, it provides time, alongside clinical practice, to develop a personalised research development plan specific to your needs. This could be public and community involvement and engagement experience, early evaluation, literature reviews, formal research training, shadowing research teams, or a combination to develop research exposure and skill. 

“Having time to explore research in a way that suits me as an individual has allowed me to become more confident talking about research and the literature in its application to practice. I am more confident discussing the existing evidence with patients to inform their treatment options and decisions. When we have an in-depth knowledge in one area, we can also acknowledge areas which are not our expertise or where ‘we don’t have all the answers’, and this ability is critical in clinical practice.

“As a clinician, it is always difficult making the transition into research where the pace is different; it requires a different ‘headspace’ and critical approach to robustly develop an important question of focus. To overcome and learn from these challenges, supervision from experienced researchers who have perhaps had a similar journey or experience is invaluable. I learnt to lean into these experiences and understand this is also a part of research skill development.

“My advice to anyone considering a Fellowship is to think about your end goal after the Pre-doc, how it may propel you to the next stage in your clinical and research career, and what skills and development needs will facilitate this.

“Fellowships provide clinicians with an interest in research to develop their skills and research ideas. This provides clinicians with the support, expertise and time to be research engaged. We know this has associations with improved healthcare pathways, patient experience of care, job satisfaction, and staff retention - all of which I have experienced in being a holder of an NIHR ARC-GM Pre-doctoral Fellowship.”

Sophie is one of 25 professionals across 12 organisations to participate in the Fellowship programme and has joined nurses, pharmacists, podiatrists, dieticians, advanced clinical practitioners and more to further her knowledge and learning of health research.

Our Pre-doctoral Fellowship Programme is supported by The University of Manchester and more opportunities are available now. The programme is tailored to suit the commitments and timescales of applicants, normally over at least 12 months. To find out more, including how to apply for a Pre-doctoral Fellowship, visit https://arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/pre-doctoral-fellowship