In the School of Healthcare Sciences at Cardiff University we’re preparing to advertise two full-time, funded, doctoral studentships open to nurses, midwives or allied health professionals registered in the UK. This reflects an ambition to grow capacity in our field, through supporting people at the start of their research careers. We’ll be advising interested people to pay close attention to our research themes, and will expect that project ideas are congruent with these. Information on these two opportunities will appear on the School website in the near future. Growing research interest and expertise in the healthcare professions is an important task, which I’ve referred to in a variety of earlier posts on this site (see here and here for examples). Services and practice need evidence to underpin them, and in Wales we have the Research Capacity Building Collaboration (RCBC Wales) leading the way. Information on the RCBC Wales website tells me that this scheme has thus far made 115 fellowship awards since commencing its work in 2005, leading to the production of no fewer than 377 publications. An impressive return. And yet, as the REF 2021 Main Panel A and Sub-panels 1 to 6 overview report indicates, with regards to the allied health professions, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy:

There remains considerable scope for development […], particularly in capacity and capability building and the support of early career researchers. The sub-panel identified that fostering a collaborative cadre of research active individuals with such expertise, equipped, and resourced to deliver international multicentre studies, was important for the future vitality and sustainability of these disciplines.

In this context, the two School of Healthcare Sciences studentships which are on their way promise to make an important contribution to promoting both ‘vitality and sustainability’, and here’s to them attracting lots of interest. Follow @benhannigan