The first cohort of recipients of the Clinical Academic Research Gateway Awards took up their awards in early 2023. A formal launch event took place on 31st January 2023 and involved representatives of the NHS Lothian Charity: Jane Ferguson, Charity Director and Andrew Fleming, Non-Executive Board Member and Chair of Trustees.
| Alison Neilson, Primary Care Pharmacist, Brunton Place Surgery First Steps into Research Award, University of Edinburgh Placement: Multi-morbidity and clinical guidelines: using epidemiology to quantify the applicability of trial evidence to inform guideline development Mentor: Professor Bruce Guthrie, Professor of General Practice |  Read Alison’s profile here “I’m looking forward to developing more skills in quantitative data and I am also excited to work alongside an established research team carrying out research in multi-morbidity” | Anna Wollman, Community Mental Health Nurse, South West Community Mental Health Team First Steps into Research Award, Edinburgh Napier University Placement: MORE RESPECT: A Randomised controlled trial of a sexual health promotion intervention for people with severe mental illness delivered in community mental health setting Mentor: Professor Liz Hughes, Professor of Mental Health Nursing |  Read Anna’s profile here “I don’t have a research background and was a bit daunted by it. I applied for the first level to see if this is something that I’d like to do more of, and potentially go for my PhD. I’m really excited!” |
| Catherine Chalmers, Art Therapist, Psychological Therapies Services, Royal Edinburgh Hospital First Steps into Research Award, Edinburgh Napier University Placement: Psychological Interventions for Complex PTSD And Schizophrenia-Spectrum disOrder (PICASSO) Mentor: Professor Thanos Karatzias, Professor of Mental Health |  Read Catherine’s profile here “I’m really looking forward to seeing how a research project comes together; how to gather data, how to format it and also how we can come together to support patients”. | Chelsea Oliphant, Staff Nurse, Dunvegan Ward, Royal Hospital Children & Young People First Steps into Research Award, Edinburgh Napier University Placement: Child health projects Mentor: Professor Nicola Ring, Professor of Children’s Nursing |  Read Chelsea’s profile here “I’m just really excited to see where this takes me” |
| Chris Walsh, Physiotherapist, Muscoskeletal Out-Patients, Western General Hospital Pre-Doctoral Bridging Gateway Award, Glasgow Caledonian University Focus of planned research: Evaluation of the effectiveness of current physiotherapy screening for Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) and the delay to diagnosis Mentor: Professor Lorna Paul, Professor in Allied Health Sciences |  Read Chris’ profile here “I feel a bit like I’m shooting for the moon but this is a massive opportunity for me, and for physios – and not one that I’ve ever seen before”. | Jonah Walter, Staff Nurse, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Over 12s Day Programme, Royal Hospital Children & Young People First Steps into Research Award, Edinburgh Napier University Placement: MORE RESPECT: A Randomised controlled trial of a sexual health promotion intervention for people with severe mental illness delivered in community mental health setting Mentor: Professor Liz Hughes, Professor of Mental Health Nursing |  Read Jonah’s profile here. “The idea of being involved in research has always been a dream for me”. |
| Lee Burgum, Chief Cardiac Physiologist, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh First Steps into Research Award, University of Edinburgh Placement: ReCETT-AF: Realistic Computational Electrophysiology Simulations for Targeted Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation Mentor: Dr Steven Williams, British Heart Foundation Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist |  Read Lee’s profile here “I was always interested in research but didn’t think this would ever be a possibility for me as I didn’t have a degree. Even though I’m now working toward a degree, it still didn’t feel like it would be a possibility as I thought they would only accept graduates. But here I am. This is a great opportunity and I feel like it will be a springboard for me to do more.” | Linda Sherwood, Clinical Nurse Specialist Colorectal Cancer, Edinburgh Cancer Centre, Western General Hospital Post-Doctoral Research Gateway Award, University of Edinburgh Focus of award: 3 publications from PhD study (2020) ‘”So far down the track”: The phenomenological exploration of a supportive model of care for patients being considered for colorectal liver resections’ Mentor: Professor Tonks Fawcett, Professor of Student Learning |  “The awards provide such an exciting opportunity. It’s amazing to see their development. Once the research bug gets into your blood, it trains you to think in a certain way. It makes you approach problem solving differently and that is a huge benefit for everyday clinical practice too.” |
| Lucy Charrington, Speech & Language Therapist, East Lothian Community Hospital First Steps into Research Award, Robert Gordon University Placement: Palliative and End of Life Care with focus on Evaluation of the Anchor Family Support Service in Shetland Mentor: Professor Catriona Kennedy, QNIS Professor of Community Nursing & Academic Strategic Lead for Research |  Read Lucy’s profile here “I’m really keen to gain an understanding of how thematic analysis is used and how can we draw these techniques into our clinical services. I hope that this provides kindling for other ideas and other research opportunities”. | Megan Hatcher, Art Psychotherapist, Orchard Clinic, Royal Edinburgh Hospital First Steps into Research Award, University of Edinburgh Placement: Community-engaged and Data-informed Systems Transformation of Urban Green and Blue Space for Population Health’ Mentor: Professor Ruth Jepson, Professor of Public Health in Social Science; Director of Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP) |  |
| Rebecca Rowson, Physiotherapist, Royal Hospital Children & Young People First Steps into Research Award, Queen Margaret University Placement: Digital Platform for Children after Kidney Transplantation Mentor: Dr Pelagia Koufaki, Reader in Clinical Exercise Physiology |  “I liked that there was protected time to support this. It will be great to see something come together from the ground up. This is a springboard and I’m looking forward to seeing where this can take me”. | Sasha Archer, Speech & Language Therapist, Western General Hospital First Steps into Research Award, Queen Margaret University Placement: The evaluation of swallowing physiology of carbonated water using ultrasound Mentor: Dr Joan Ma, Senior Lecturer in the Speech and Hearing Sciences |  “I’m looking to develop my skills in quantitative research. I use a lot of qualitative research already but I know at some point it will be beneficial for me to have skills in both” |
| Victoria Johnstone-Cooke, Paediatric Speech & Language Therapist, West Lothian Community First Steps into Research Award, Queen Margaret University Placement: Qualitative study into Employment Experiences of Autistic Professionals Mentor: Marion Rutherford, Senior Research Fellow, National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) |  Read Victoria’s profile here “I retrained as a mature student and really enjoyed being in that learning space. I’ve been in work, then in uni, then in work again and I realised that I’d like to be able to do a bit of both. They really feed into one another“. |
