Research mentorship scheme in Cornwall opening doors for PIs of the future

A mentorship scheme being run by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is helping to bridge the gap between clinical practice and clinical research — with three new principle investigators having come to the forefront since its start just two years ago.

Joanna Ledger, Assistant Research Manager at the Trust, who runs the Research Me Mentorship Programme, said it has proved so successful she is looking to take on her third cohort this year.

Available to all clinical staff, the programme intends to bridge the traditional gap between clinical practice and research by creating a workforce that is research aware, skilled and connected.  It aims to empower clinicians with research knowledge and skills to build confidence about research across the organisation.

“People get in touch with me if they want to gain research experience,” said Joanna. “This experience could be in a variety of ways - for example, it could be in research delivery, or we have had people come to us who’ve wanted to develop their own research ideas — it’s very much a scheme that’s developed with the interests of the individual, there’s no set formula. Depending on the persons interest we will then link them in with a certain member of the team - so it could be a research nurse or it could be our academic lead depending on what they want to get out of the course.

“We have an initial meeting, discuss their needs and what we can offer. If they’re interested in research delivery I give them our research catalogue about all our open studies and also think about any studies we’ve got in set up that they also might be able to support. I ask them to look through it and pick out the studies that interest them and then I link them in with the lead for the study. From there they will do things like shadowing and go out on study visits. Most people have gone on to work with us in some other way following their mentoring, often through being a Principle Investigator (PI).”

The programme has proven to be successful in not only increasing staff skills and knowledge of real world research delivery methods, but has also allowed a greater number of patients to be offered the opportunity to take part in clinical research.

“For us it’s about making our workforce research aware and skilled and connected, to empower clinicians with research knowledge, build confidence about research across the Trust, increase awareness of our open studies so more of our patients can be offered the opportunity to take part in clinical research,” said Jo. 

The scheme has appealed to a wide variety of staff so far including Occupational Therapists, Junior Doctors, Psychologists and Nurses.

“Sometimes we all get a little stagnated in our roles so this provides a different interest and possibly a different direction for the future,” said Jo. “It’s really about fostering those research relationships.  Having people on the ground talking about research and promoting it is such an asset for us as a team and department too as it helps us increase our portfolio. It has so many benefits.”

Abigail Zabel is an assistant psychologist who signed up to take part in the mentorship programme at the end of 2019, going on to become a PI. Abi formerly worked at Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and now works at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, however continues to work with the CFT research department in a voluntary role. She said: “I wanted to increase my research experience which is why I signed up to the mentorship scheme. As an assistant I was doing quite a lot of service evaluation and audit but there wasn’t a lot of pure research and I wanted to increase that which is why the mentoring appealed to me.”

Abi is currently the PI on a study looking at the preferences of art therapies in mental health services and the general population.

“One of the goals of the mentoring scheme for me was to become a PI for a study and so when this study came through I welcomed the opportunity.  I’ve learnt how to sign off the different roles, helped with the recruitment and data. It’s been a great experience and something I know will look good on my CV. It hasn’t taken a huge amount of my time so I don’t feel I’ve been all consumed by it but I have learnt a great deal and it has been very useful  - so it provided a nice balance in that respect.”

As a result of the mentoring scheme, Abi now also does ad-hoc project work with some of the research team at Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. 

“Sometimes I’ll be needed to oversee certain areas of a study but I’ve also written and submitted funding applications on behalf of the team,” she said.  “I think I really would have struggled with that had I not done the mentoring scheme before and gained valuable insight into certain processes and ethical considerations.”

Abi hopes to either go on and do clinical psychology training or begin a PhD and join a research department.

“There’s always a need for more research experience when trying to get onto a doctorate, but the mentorship scheme would be beneficial to any clinician plus it is also incredibly interesting. It’s nice to add variety to whatever role you’re in.”