Developing a skilled research workforce

In 23/24 the Research and Development Department has worked hard to continue the development of a skilled research workforce across the Trust.  This has allowed us to support the development of staff skills and also offer wider research opportunities to service users.

Mental Health Student Nurse Hybrid Placement (MESH)

6 student nurses were recruited and completed the MESH programme, including Learning Disability nurses, Mental Health nurses and Trainee Nursing Associates. 6 dieticians have also completed a variant of the programme and fed back positively. Over 10 services have now been supportive of students taking part, with three being from outside of our trust. Four Psychology Students from Leeds Beckett University also completed 2 weeks work experience with us in March, taking part in some of the MESH sessions and attending two conferences.

EMBED

Embed is a light touch programme that supports clinical services to create research ambitions and then an action plan to realise those ambitions. It considers areas important to research culture and allows services to think strategically about ambitions.

Special Interest Groups

We have set up two Special Interest Groups, for Social Workers and Psychological Professionals. These groups meet quarterly to discuss research activity and receive updates and advice from members of the Research and Development team. This has resulted in an engaged group of professionals in the trust who are able to advocate research projects to service users, but who are also becoming more confident in exploring their own research journeys.

Staff Funding Awards 

• Emma Pearce and Grace Chugg (both Speech and Language Therapists) were successful in receiving their NIHR Pre Doctoral Fellowship Awards and we look forward to supporting them as they progress through their projects.
• Susan Guthrie submitted her PhD thesis
• Dan Romau and Anna Taylor have been awarded NIHR Doctoral Fellowships
• Since 22/23 the Trust now has an additional 3 Academic Clinical Fellows