University of Birmingham leads career development event for clinical academic trainees from across the West Midlands.
Attendees at the Clinical Academic Research Retreat 2025
Clinical academic trainees from across the West Midlands came together recently to share their experiences and connect with peers for support in this challenging career pathway.
The participants, mostly academic resident doctors and dentists, were offered protected time away from both their universities and their clinical duties to reflect on their career aspirations. The retreat programme included skills development workshops, along with guest speakers on topics of relevance to the future of clinical research such as AI and commercialisation.
The annual retreat is now in its third year and it continues to evolve and improve. This year for the first time, trainees from Aston University’s new NIHR Clinical Academic training programme were invited.
The event is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, University of Warwick, Keele University and Aston University, enabling attendees to learn from the experiences of peers at other institutions and to explore cross institutional research collaborations.
These events are particularly important for academic trainees like me who are in a specialty with relatively few others - supporting feelings of both inclusion and a sense of community.
“The ICAT retreat didn't disappoint - it was a fantastic chance to catch up with existing colleagues and get to know new ones from other specialties and institutions. These events are particularly important for academic trainees like me who are in a specialty with relatively few others - supporting feelings of both inclusion and a sense of community," explains Dr Angharad De Cates, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Birmingham
Highlights from the three days included a highly interactive session on clinical research career development this year, facilitated by Medical Leadership and Development Coach Alexis Hutson, sessions on industry engagement, inclusive research, public involvement and designing clinical trials.
Carving out time to focus on how to get the most out of the clinical academic career pathway is so important, and prioritising time for learning and reflection opportunities, such as the retreat, can be so beneficial.
“We hope the attendees leave with new ideas and strategies to support their professional and personal development. All of the participants have extremely busy work lives, taking care of patients whilst at the same time advancing our understanding of how best to treat them. This is why carving out time to focus on how to get the most out of the clinical academic career pathway is so important, and prioritising time for learning and reflection opportunities, such as the retreat, can be so beneficial," explains Professor Kristien Boelaert, ICAT Academic Lead and Professor of Endocrinology, University of Birmingham.
Professor of Endocrinology
Staff profile page for Dr Kristien Boelaert, Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Applied Health Sciences.
NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry
Dr Angharad de Cates is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, at the University of Birmingham.
