Research opportunities available for our nurses as two new research programmes launch.
Additional research opportunities are now available for University nurses following the launch of two new research programmes, according to Dr Amelia Swift.
There have been a lot of changes in nursing over the past five years. Some staff have moved on to pastures new (Kate Upton, Helen Edwards, Mark Hughes, Alison Smith), some have retired (Alison Coates, Stuart Wildman, Hermann Wheeler) and a host of new staff have joined us including Professors Fiona Irvine, Debbie Carrick-Sen, Julie Taylor and Annie Topping.
The arrival of four Professors is not by chance. The Head of School, Professor Fiona Irvine, has worked hard to help us to develop the research and post-graduate side of our provision. We still pride ourselves on producing sought after registered nurses, and now are building a reputation for our research as well.
In the past year we have launched two research programmes. The first is the Risk Abuse and Violence programme led by Reader Caroline Bradbury–Jones and the second is the End of Life programme led by Alistair Hewison. Several staff now work in joint roles between the University and local NHS Trusts. Debbie Carrick-Sen works with Heart of England, Good Hope and Solihull; me and Annie Topping with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, and Julie Taylor and Sue Nielson with Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
These staff, and the nursing department in general, are keen to see nurses become more active in research and want to help individuals to create careers in which they work clinically for part of their time and also undertake research. Training programmes like the Clinical Academic Internship Programme (CAIP), the Masters to Doctoral Bridging Programme (MDBP), and the NIHR Pre-doctoral clinical academic fellowship programme are available to help people develop the right skills to get a grant to fund a PhD.