The annual NIHR Doctoral Training Camp brings together promising doctoral students from across the health and care research landscape for an intensive, collaborative deep-dive into the realities of securing future funding and shaping independent research pathways.

PhD students Faiza Yahya, Lauren Lawson, Jessica McCann and Liyuan Zhu recently joined this year’s cohort on 7th-9th July in Hinckley, tackling collaborative challenges, pitch simulations, and expert masterclasses. Here, in their own words, they share their personal highlights, key takeaways, and honest reflections on what the experience meant for their evolving careers:

“I remember looking at stressed academics when they have a grant application deadline approaching, as they try to shut off from the world to get this done in time. The stress, the late nights, the extra time put in around their already busy schedule, only to then get a rejection after rejection. That was enough to put me off and terrify me from ever wanting to put together a grant application! I didn’t think that would all change by attending the NIHR Doctoral Training Camp 2026. As the camp started, I remember feeling like I was on ‘The Apprentice’, I thought “what have I let myself into!?”.  24-hours to meet a whole new team of diverse backgrounds, figure out a research question, make multiple appointments with experts (methodologists, statisticians, PPIE contributors, finance, directors) to then write a competitive application for half a million pounds, and submit this by a 5pm deadline. Not only that but present this to a tough panel the next day. Easy right?! I must say that this was one of the best experiences I have ever attended, and I was fortunate to have such a lovely team and mentor, that made this a success. I was really shocked to hear that out of 10 very good teams and projects; we won the award for best application! My key takeaways from the experience were the importance of a good team, collaboration with different expertise and great mentorship are valuable, as well as active leadership and planning. We had embedded PPIE and inclusivity throughout the project which drove and shaped the application, and we were already thinking about future applications. I am very grateful to the NIHR for creating such useful opportunities for us early career researchers and NIHR Newcastle PSRC for nominating me to attend.”

– Faiza Yahya, PhD student

“I was honoured to attend the 17th NIHR Doctoral Research Training Camp. The three-day programme provided an intensive and highly rewarding opportunity to develop essential research funding skills while collaborating with doctoral researchers from a wide range of disciplines across the UK. A key challenge of the training camp was to work in newly formed multidisciplinary teams to develop a fictitious NIHR research funding application worth £500,000 within just 24 hours. From identifying an important research question and designing an appropriate methodology to considering  PPIE, budgeting, anticipated outputs, and research impact, the exercise closely reflected the complexities of preparing a competitive funding proposal.”

“Working alongside researchers from diverse academic backgrounds highlighted the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. Although developing ideas within a newly formed team inevitably involved different perspectives and constructive debate, the experience reinforced the importance of effective communication, teamwork, and shared problem-solving in addressing complex healthcare challenges. I am sincerely grateful to the Newcastle PSRC for providing this excellent opportunity, from which I learned from experienced researchers and fellow delegates, and the knowledge, skills, and connections gained will undoubtedly support my future research career.”

– Liyuan Zhu, PhD Student

“Thank you to the NIHR academy for such an informative and challenging doctoral camp. It was fun to see familiar faces and meet fellow doctoral students from across the NIHR infrastructure. Although at times stressful, the camp was eye-opening and offered valuable insight into what a future career in academia entails.”

– Jessica McCann, PhD Student

“Attending the NIHR Doctoral Training Camp was an opportunity to connect and collaborate with PhD students from across different branches of the NIHR infrastructure. As my research sits within the theme of safer integrated health and social care environments in the NIHR Newcastle PSRC, it was great to see such a strong emphasis on the importance of social care research throughout the busy 3-day programme. I also valued the focus on lived experience and realist approaches, both of which are central to my PhD and public engagement activities with unpaid carers. The event was a well-timed opportunity to learn from others, share perspectives and reflect on how diverse areas of research can come together to address complex challenges in health and care.”

– Lauren Lawson, PhD Student

Pictured left to right – Lauren Lawson, Faiza Yahya, Liyuan Zhu, Jessica McCann

I am delighted to introduce myself as a new Clinical Research Fellow in Patient Safety and a member of the Academic Career Development (ACD) team here at the NIHR Newcastle PSRC. Joining the NIHR Newcastle PSRC is a fantastic privilege and something that I fully intend to make the most of. This opportunity feels like a natural next step in my research journey that has always been focused on making healthcare work better for the people who need it most.

My Background:

I am a Physiotherapist by background and am starting this position as a secondment from my NHS Trust – Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV). My clinical career to-date has covered both in patient and community physical health settings, before a transition to working specifically within inpatient mental health settings for working age adults.

In these roles, I saw first-hand how complex the intersection of physical and mental health can be. It became clear to me that patients with severe mental illness (i.e. psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder) often face many difficulties, not just from their primary diagnosis, but from the challenges of managing their physical health within a mental health setting. This is one of the areas that I hope to improve through my own research.

My Research Journey:

My introduction to clinical research was via a 9-month NIHR internship, leading to a 2-year part-time NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF). Following this I began my PhD part-time alongside my clinical work via a partnership between TEWV and York St John University.

My PhD has involved focusing on the complex relationship between physical symptoms (such as walking and daily functioning) and psychological symptoms (specifically anxiety and depression) in people living with Parkinson’s. This work has involved considering the perspectives of people living with Parkinson’s, their carers, and UK-based physiotherapists, alongside cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of various physical and psychological assessments. I am approaching the end of my PhD and alongside preparing to submit, I am in the process of developing some recommendations for clinical practice.

My other research interests focus on promoting sustainable long-term lifestyle and behaviour change to improve both physical and mental wellbeing. I am particularly interested in how we can move beyond short-term interventions to create lasting habits that improve quality of life. In the context of patient safety, this means looking at how health behaviours, such as physical activity and self-management, can act as a safety net, reducing the risk of secondary complications and hospital readmissions for those with complex needs.

Looking Forward:

At the NIHR Newcastle PSRC, I’ll be wearing two hats that I’m equally passionate about:

• In Academic Career Development (ACD): I know how daunting the clinical academic path can feel. Having navigated my pre-doctoral and (almost!) doctoral routes, I am excited to support others in finding their own routes into research. To me this will focus on individual development alongside supporting impactful research.
• In Patient Safety: I’ll be applying my clinical experience to help recognise risks and improve safety, particularly for populations that often fall through the cracks of traditional healthcare systems. For example, I have recently been successful in obtaining NIHR Three School Prevention funding. This will fund the PATHS to prevention project to explore current provision of physical activity support during the transition between inpatient and community mental health settings. We hope to build on the findings of this work to co-design improved pathways for maximising long-term engagement with physical activity to help both physical and mental health.

Let’s Connect:

The best research happens when we work together. Whether you’re a clinician with a nagging research question or a fellow researcher interested in mental health safety, I’d love to chat. I’m new to the PSRC and Newcastle University so I’d also love to connect with other colleagues with similar research interests.

You can find more details about my publications on ResearchGate or read more about my personal journey via Routes to Research.

My usual working days within the PSRC will be Wednesday-Friday.

Figure 1 above

How it all began?

I remember attending my first Hospital at Home Society conference in 2024. At this point, I was in the early days of the PhD, eager to learn more about current developments in this research area. During the networking breaks, I remember introducing myself to keynote speakers and little did I know that this would be the start of a wonderful collaboration and supervision for the NIHR SPARC Award.

I was keen to discuss the priority research areas for Hospital at Home (H@H) and later that year, I came across the NIHR SPARC Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration | NIHR. I felt that this was a wonderful opportunity to work with a research team that had the expertise in H@H, who operationally had the research knowledge, the technical and practical expertise in this field, and the existing networks that I could learn from and engage with moving forward. Additionally, my aspirations for professional development to become a clinical academic drove my passion to work with a group of dedicated and trailblazing clinical academics. I felt this would strengthen my experience, especially when considering post-doctoral opportunities.

What is the SPARC award for?

The NIHR SPARC Award allows NIHR academy members to spend time with researchers across other NIHR infrastructure to enhance their personal and professional development and research training experience. From speaking to previous candidates, I learned that this is usually either to develop skills in particular research methods, or to develop collaborations and expertise from researchers in a particular field.

What I did?

The application itself allows you to be quite flexible in how you undertake the placement, which is helpful depending on what you want to achieve. Personally, I had set out 1 day a week over 9 months, whereas other previous applicants undertook it in block placements (e.g. in a 4-week block).

During the placement I managed to conduct clinical visits to H@H services to get the first-hand practical experience. I attended clinical meetings and research meetings linking in with other health tech research centres in the NIHR infrastructure. As part of the award, I also accounted for attending courses and conferences around implementation science and knowledge mobilisation which I felt would be useful for my professional development and demonstrating meaningful impacts with research. The bulk of the collaborative work centred around working on a multi-phase research project. This involved a literature review and arranging an online stakeholder workshop with clinical experts nationally to discuss the findings. This also involved working with a visual minutes artist and presenting the findings at the UK Hospital at Home Society Conference 2026, at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, which supported input into the survey with H@H practitioners.

Outputs of the placement?

This placement allowed us to develop a Taxonomy of Medicines Safety in Hospital at Home which is aimed for upcoming publication. This enables a better understanding of the concepts of medicines safety in H@H and the links between them. Although the aim of the placement is professional development, I was fortunate to have an abstract accepted for oral presentation at the UK Hospital at Home Society conference in 2026, which is planned for submission to the Journal of Advanced Home Medicine. Additionally, a visual minutes graphic produced from this work is displayed below (See Figure 1).

Blog produced by Faiza Yahya (PhD Candidate), with acknowledgements to the support and supervisory team at the University of Warwick (Professor Daniel Lasserson, Dr Ciara Harris, Sophie McGlen) and the NIHR for funding this award. Appreciation also goes to the Academic Career Development Leads (Newcastle University and NIHR ARC West Midlands) for making this happen.

What’s this about?

 

How can we make the most of advanced technology and live information to improve how we deliver hospital-level care at home?

What is the work we are doing?

We explore all three by using something called Digital Twins. A Digital Twin is like a live virtual simulation of a patient and their surroundings using real-time information. It can help healthcare professionals predict problems early, to give care that’s safer and more personalised.

Learning from, and working with other experts, our work looked at creating a simple step-by-step model, which can be used to develop a Hospital-at-Home Digital Twin. This review was based on existing evidence for tools to support this, for patients living at home with frailty.

By Kamil, NIHR Newcastle PSRC Patient, Public Contributor

Lured by the promise of good food and new acquaintances, on Friday 17 October I made my way to Manchester for the NIHR SafetyNet Symposium – a gathering of clinicians, researchers and public contributors united by a single mission: tackling inequities in patient safety. Hosted by the Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC), the event brought together colleagues from the six PSRCs across England – Central London, Greater Manchester, Midlands, Newcastle, North West London and Yorkshire & Humber.

 

The day began with coffee and a bustling lobby filled with poster presentations. From the start, it was clear this wasn’t just an academic exercise. It was a collective effort to bridge the gap between policy, practice and lived experience.

 

One of the first things that struck me was the keynote by Dr Rosie Benneyworth from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB). I hadn’t heard of HSSIB before and I found its mission fascinating. The organisation investigates systemic issues in healthcare topics such as sepsis, prison health and fatigue without focusing on blame. Instead, it looks for learning and improvement. This shift from a ‘who’s to blame’ culture to one of collective accountability resonated deeply with me.

 

A presentation on avoidable healthcare-associated harm in prisons was another eye-opener. While I wasn’t surprised to hear that prisoners and people experiencing homelessness suffer significantly worse health outcomes, it was sobering to see how these inequities manifest in daily practice e.g. medication shortages, missed appointments and institutional barriers that make basic care difficult. As someone finishing reading a book on health promotion, I could connect the dots between theory and reality: these are not abstract inequalities, they are lived injustices.

Several sessions focused on the intersection of communication and safety, including translation and interpreting services. This hit particularly close to home. As a qualified Polish interpreter, I know how vital accurate translation is for patient safety, yet the pay rates offered by NHS providers are often so low that professionals can’t afford to take the work. Hearing that language access was being discussed as a safety issue, not just a convenience, was both encouraging and frustrating. We have the knowledge; now the system needs the will to act.

 

The Patient Safety Healthcare Inequalities Reduction Framework, presented by Dr Hester Wain, outlined five principles for change: communication and information, training and resources, data, co-production, and research. I was especially struck by her emphasis that the experiences informing the framework are what make it powerful.

 

By the end of the day, after many conversations in the poster corridor and a moving talk on ethnic inequities in patient safety by Professor Dawn Edge, I left Manchester feeling both hopeful and challenged. The message was clear: health doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Tackling inequity requires empathy, collaboration, and, above all, a commitment to listen to those whose voices are too often ignored. For me, as a patient-cum-public contributor, the symposium was a reminder that my lived experience isn’t just welcome in research – it’s essential.

 

 

 

 

 

By Dr Anna Robinson-Barella and Dr Matt Cooper

Along with several of our NIHR Newcastle PSRC colleagues, Matt and I attended the SafetyNet symposium on Friday 17th October in Manchester. The focus of the event was: “Tackling Inequalities in Patient Safety”. It was a day that encouraged a lot of reflection-primarily upon patient safety and our cross-PSRC SafetyNet-agenda, but also upon intersectional influences including ethnicity, marginalisation, and wider EDI-related issues underpinning our work.

 

We heard from speakers across all six of the PSRCs, as well as two keynote speakers, Dr Rosie Benneyworth presenting “Moving away from a “whose to blame” culture” and Prof Dawn Edge presenting “Ethnic Inequalities in Patient Safety”.

 

NIHR Newcastle PSRC had 32 of our colleagues in attendance; many of whom presented research posters about their work covering topics like polypharmacy, medicines adherence, costs and treatment decisions, social prescribing, health-related quality of life, and predicting diseases by using AI.

 

It was also a pleasure to personally contribute to the agenda of the day, and represent NIHR Newcastle PSRC, by presenting an evidence synthesis on inequities affecting medicines access for people experiencing homelessness and the subsequent consequences on their (patient) safety.

 

Congratulations to all the team involved in organising, hosting and running a great symposium!

By Henry Song, Artificial intelligence and data science in multiple long-term conditions theme PhD student

Attending the NIHR Newcastle PSRC/Pharmacy event on the 19th of June was a very positive experience for me. Although I was not able to present my latest research findings due to recent changes in my project dataset, the day still proved to be highly valuable.

 

I had the chance to see a wide range of presentations from fellow students and colleagues. Some of the work provided direct inspiration for my own research, while others helped to broaden my perspective on the diverse approaches within our field. I was particularly struck by the experimental-based studies on display, which were not only highly innovative but also showed real potential for future impact.

 

In the afternoon, the workshop on research funding applications was especially useful. It gave me a first insight into the key steps, structure, and approaches involved in applying for research grants. This will no doubt be very important as I continue to develop my academic career.

 

Overall, the event was an excellent opportunity to learn, connect, and reflect on both my own project and the wider research landscape.