Section 1

Initial Guiding Tips

 

These are not essential, but other paediatric researchers have found some of these invaluable as a guide. When thinking of opportunities consider:

1)    Area of Interest: 

  • The range of research topics, academics and publications can seem overwhelming, but take opportunities to see where your interests (see section 2)  

2)    Mentoring & contacts:  

  • A mentor who can provide support and guidance towards opportunities is absolutely key for research, which is why the ICHG will soon be launching its mentoring scheme.  

  • Talk to people and make contacts aware that you are interested in research!  It’s useful to reach out to people at different stages & levels of experience to give and receive advice as there are multiple ways and routes to include research in your career.  You also never know when someone might have an opportunity for you to get involved in a project or funding for a new post.  

  • A good overview to the multiple steps in a UK- based clinical academic career can be found at https://academictoolkit.org 

  • Deanery Academic Trainee Leads can be a useful source of information.  

3) Geography:   

  • For overseas work, consider going where there is an established research center or a hospital with an existing research link, particularly when first starting out.  Overseas research frequently needs considerable support and infrastructure including supervision and ethical oversight (see below) which may not be available in all locations.  

4)   Timing:  

  • Plan time overseas well in advance (at least several months ahead) as research often operates on different 6-12-month cycles for several reasons:

  1. timetables of research often operate on funding decisions that can take up to 6 months for an outcome (that said, last-minute opportunities also do arise!)

  2. Research permits, ethical approvals and clinical licenses can take months to organize.  Research academics and institutions are generally very busy and can need time to plan project

  • The time between completion of foundation training and starting specialty training can be a good time to gain some further research experience, however combining both research and clinical time in LMICs when still junior can be challenging.  If you are already enrolled in paediatric training it is important to discuss with your training Programme director and educational supervisor well in advance as permission for Out of Programme is required from the deanery.  Although all deaneries follow the Gold Guide for Post Graduate Medical Education, some deaneries are more sympathetic to time out of Programme than others.   Some deaneries may also limit the number of years of OOPR that can be taken which is important to consider if for example you want to do a Masters and then a PhD whilst already in training.  If you are deciding which deanery to apply and know that you will want to take some form of OOPE or OOPR, it can be helpful to enquire in advance as to that deaneries policy. 

5) Feedback:

  • At the start of planning a placement or project, talk to as many people as you can about where you would like to go & what you would like to do.

  • Try to get feedback from multiple sources on applications for competitive research posts. 

6) Ethical considerations:

  • It is important to consider how the research is inclusive at all levels, including local capacity-building and partnerships.  

 7) Resilience:

  • Don’t be discouraged if applications are unsuccessful: everyone in research has had to be persistent and cope with unsuccessful applications and ideas!