Find out about: Chief Nurse Research Fellow 2024-25

Congratulations to Saidi, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with Children and Family Health Devon, who started their research fellowship In October 2024 with Torbay and South devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT).

Saidi has been awarded funding for one day a fortnight for a year to enhance their understanding of research in practice.

During the year, Saidi will be supported by mentors at TSDFT and from the Torbay Clinical School (partnership with the University of Plymouth) to support Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professional (NMAHP) research strategy, work with the clinical research delivery team to understand how research is carried out in clinical settings, and develop clinical academic plans.

We recently caught up with Saidi to find out more about becoming a Research Fellow.

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career as a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist?

Before training to become a speech and language therapist (SLT), my path in the world of work took lots of different turns. Amongst other things I worked in the design industry and also in social care. It was when I worked for an organisation supporting adults with brain injuries that I first came into contact with speech and language therapists and became fascinated by the profession. When I looked more into the career, I realised it united a lot of my interests and skills. I had always wanted a career that helped people but struggled to identify what path that would take until I came across SLT.

2. What does your role as a Research Fellow involve, and how does it contribute to improving care?

The Chief Nurse Research Fellowship (CNRF) is part of the education programme of the TSDFT Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals Research Strategy 2024-2027. The CNRF is a learning experience designed to support the development of clinicians’ research interest and abilities. The award covers three areas; clinical research delivery, academic learning and a service improvement project.

I am allocated one day fortnight to work on my CNRF work. The part of the fellowship which will work to improve patient care most directly is the service improvement project.

3. What do you aim to do with your funding for one day a fortnight for a year to enhance your understanding of research in practice?

There are three main parts to the fellowship which our mentors guide us through. In addition to our service improvement projects we are understanding how clinical research is carried out within our trust and developing our clinical academic research skills and academic plans.

My fellowship so far has involved shadowing the clinical research delivery team within the Horizon Centre at Torbay hospital. I have also been working to define my service improvement project with key stakeholders in my pathway, taken part in networking events and identified specific research related learning needs and related courses.

4. How will you collaborate with other healthcare professionals in your research, and how important is teamwork in your role?

Over the last three months, I have realised how important sharing information and networking are to research. Working on my service improvement project has and will involve meeting and sharing information and working alongside healthcare professionals within and outside of my pathway.

5. What excites you most about the future of research, and what areas do you think have the most potential for innovation?

I am curious about how AI will influence and impact on many parts of healthcare, not only research. What I have found very exciting in the last few months is the innovative research work that is happening now in our own trust.

I am very early on in in my research journey but already I am aware that every area of healthcare has potential for innovation. One of my interests and passions is to put the people we support at the heart of the research process and so work that achieves this is always exciting to me.

6. For staff who may be interested in getting involved in research, what advice would you give, and how can they support or engage with your work?

We have a really helpful page on our website Our research – Children and Family Health Devon which outline the studies currently being carried out in CFHD. Similarly, I would recommend looking at the research and development pages on the TSDFT website and also Icon. Definitely read the TSDFT Research strategy as a way to understand the organisations research aims and directions over the coming years. Look out for trust communications related to research and service development.

If this then piques your interest I would then recommend contacting the clinical academics within the organisation to speak more about what clinical research looks like and finding out if there are ways for you to become involved. Within our trust we have the Clinical Academic Forum’s and Exchanges (CAFÉ’S) which are monthly hour-long forums where clinicians involved in research present and discuss their research projects. These are a great way to have insight into the current research within the trust.

Remember too that being research active can involve things such as journal clubs where healthcare professionals discuss the current research and evidence base and the implications for their practice.