Presenting research to the next generation

A career in research was the main focus of an interactive session for A-Level science pupils at Seven Kings Secondary School in the Essex town of Ilford.

A range of talks, presentations, short videos and a quiz were the highlights of the session, put together and delivered by Christine Menzies, CRN North Thames Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Manager, Nicolene Plaatjies, Paediatric Champion and Senior Research Nurse at Clinical Research Network North Thames and Hafiza Khatun, Manager of the NIHR Children's Clinical Research Facility at Barts Health NHS Trust.

Christine kicked off with some slides describing what is meant by clinical research and followed this with grouping the pupils into small teams for a fun, informative research quiz.

Nicolene then discussed the impact of clinical research with examples of both good and not so good impact stories and showed a short ‘Myth Buster’ video and then Hafiza spoke about research as a career and showed a flip book on the theme designed by Nnebuife Oji, Senior Research Practitioner at Barts Health.

A student said: “It was really great to meet people who design and deliver clinical trials as opposed to just reading about it in a book.

“It gave me an insight into area as a career choice, which I would never have done otherwise.”

At the end of the session, the pupils were given an information sheet to take home. The information sheet had links to academic institutions delivering degrees and Master’s courses in clinical research and also giving information of pharmaceutical companies that have apprenticeships in clinical research.

The pupils were also asked to work in small groups and come up with their own research proposal. 

Dr Patrick Moriarty, a chemistry teacher at the school, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to invite health professionals into the school and they made a huge impact into this area of the science curriculum. We hope that they can visit us again once the summer break is over.”

Christine added: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how key research is to saving lives not just for people in the UK but for everyone around the world It is really important therefore that we continue to attract new, young people to become our inspiring researchers of the future.

“Reaching out to school pupils is a vital part of our work. Hopefully through the session one or more of them will now be thinking that pursuing a career within clinical research is a credible, achievable and worthwhile option.”