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Health & Social Care Research Across North East & North Cumbria.

Developing Expertise

Grow your research expertise

There are lots of ways to get involved. Find what works best for you by exploring our top tips. 

1 Research routes available to your profession

Learn more - doctors and dentists

Learn more - nurses, midwives and allied health professionals

Learn more - public health and social care professionals

Learn more - clinical research practitioners

2 How to include research in your role

Learn more - supporting and promoting research

Learn more - delivering research

Learn more - leading research

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Learn more - academic paths

3 Expertise available in your workplace

Talking to someone in your own organisation can help discover what research is taking place, ways to get involved, and what training and funding is on offer.

For people working in the NHS, a great place to start is contacting your employing research and development office or research lead.

Useful email contacts for local trust R&D department:

For those who work outside of the NHS in public health, local authority or social care settings, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has been working closely with staff and stakeholders to engage them in research activity, regardless of how experienced they are in the field!

To find out who to contact with regards to public health and social care, visit our Getting Connected section.

If you work within a care home and want to develop your research expertise, contact Louise Jones, lead community research nurse and lead for enabling research in care homes for the North East and North Cumbria.

There is also a huge amount of expertise and support available in our local universities.

Contact your local university

North East and North Cumbria in black text overlaid onto an orange map, with outlines of regional boroughs marked.

4 What next?

Explore 4 actions to get more involved!

The value of research is widely recognised and you can evidence this in your appraisal and job planning. Here is a selection of quotes from professional bodies and organisations you may wish to use when talking about the value of research with your own organisation. 

General Medical Council says:

“When doctors and other healthcare professionals engage with research opportunities as part of their clinical work, there are demonstrable benefits to individual patients, patient care overall, healthcare teams, care organisations, practices and doctors themselves.”

Advice from the GMC on promoting research

Royal College of Physicians says:

“Every clinician working in the NHS should be supported to become research active. High-quality research in the NHS is everyone’s responsibility and a core part of clinical practice.”

Delivering research for all expectations and aspirations for the NHS in England

UK Government says:

"Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery lays out our ambition to create a world-leading UK clinical research environment which is more efficient, more effective and more resilient, with research delivery embedded across the NHS."

Saving and improving lives: The future of UK clinical research delivery

Chief Nursing Officer in England says:

"There should be an ambition to create a people-centred research environment that empowers nurses to lead, participate in, and deliver research, where research is fully embedded in practice and professional decision-making, for public benefit.".

Making research matter: chief nursing officer for England’s strategic plan for research

Care Quality Commission says:

"Research can improve quality of care and often people value the opportunity to participate in research. Services are encouraged to play an active part in research to improve care for all, foster innovation and enhance people’s experiences of care."

The CQC's new strategy for the changing world of health and social care

NHS Constitution says:

"The NHS should aspire to the highest standards of excellence and professionalism including through its commitment to innovation and to the promotion, conduct and use of research to improve the current and future health and care of the population".

The NHS Constitution for England

Chief allied health professionals officer for England says:

“Research and innovation is key to ensuring safe evidenced based practice to support the people who access our services.  It enables us to make a difference, whether that is creating new knowledge, enhancing services, improving outcomes or developing our people". 

Allied health professionals' research and innovation strategy

Nursing Times says:

"98% of nurses surveyed think that nurse-led research is important to furthering best practice among the profession"

"68% of nurses are interested in a career that involves clinical research"

"48% of nurses surveyed have considered conducting their own clinical research"

The Nursing Times

The NHS long term plan

"Patients benefit enormously from research and innovation, with breakthroughs enabling prevention of ill-health, earlier diagnosis, more effective treatments, better outcomes and faster recovery".

NHS long term plan

Fuse Associate Director says:

“Being a member of the School for Public Health Research through Fuse enables academics from across the North East to work with communities and practitioners to tackle real-world problems and create solutions that make an impact on people’s lives.”

Fuse

National Institute of Health and Care Research says:

"Social care is a strategic priority for NIHR. Social care aims to help people remain independent, retain their dignity and achieve a better quality of life. The research we support works to find ways to improve people’s lives and help them live well"

NIHR Social Care Research

Chief social worker for adults (England) says:

"One of my long- standing priorities since taking up my post as chief social worker has been to encourage the development and use of research and evidence to improve social work practice and outcomes for the people we serve. Understanding the approaches and interventions which work best and why, is essential if we are to work effectively with people to ensure they and their carers experience high quality care and support, centred on their needs and aspirations"

Priorities for adult social work research

This site has been developed as a guide to staff so help discover "what's out there". We understand knowing the "what, how and where" of getting involved in research can be a challenge for most people. 

Try and find a mentor who can help and support you think through your next steps and potentially offer shadowing opportunities. Indeed, a key step in getting more involved is linking up with like-minded people who have a research track record who can help give you that "lift up" to find your own route to research. 

Think about what your goals and career aims may look like and where you would like to be in the future.

Appraisal is about reflecting on your goals and aspirations for the future and how to get there. 

Try and map out and rehearse a professional development plan. Where possible set some SMART goals. It can take time and patience but linking up with more research active colleagues is a great way to start.

A SMART goal is:

  • specific – a very clear statement of what you are trying to achieve
  • measurable – has a numerical target that can be measured
  • achievable – is realistic and attainable in the time allowed
  • relevant – is linked to the strategic aims of your organisation and relates to patient/client outcomes
  • time-bound (sometimes referred to as timely, time-sensitive, time-based) – has a clearly defined timeframe within which the aim should be achieved

Many organisations offer specific roles that give staff members the opportunity to promote research within their organisation and beyond. Get in touch with your R&D department to find out if this is something that you could do for your area of work.

 

Getting Started

Getting Started

Learning & Training

Learning & Training

Getting Connected

Getting Connected

Funding & Support

Getting Support