King's College London

NIHR has funded universities across 12 regions in England £33.2m as part of the new INSIGHT: Inspiring Students into Research scheme. The three-year funding supports King’s to deliver research training and engagement programmes for students and early career professionals.

INSIGHT will provide training for students who may have had limited exposure to real world research and inspire careers which combine research and practice across community, mental health, acute and social care settings.

The scheme will support 90 Research Master Scholarships, with students being able to access over 20 courses across four universities in South London. Students and recent graduates will gain valuable research training and experience, developing the skills needed to join the research workforce. It will also help build capacity within health and social care.

The regional programmes are open to students and recent graduates from professions without much exposure to research during their professional training. This will broaden access to research training and will help create a more diverse research workforce. It is open to students and recent graduates from:

• registered healthcare professions (not including doctors and dentists)

• social work professions

• public health professions

The joint bid for the South London NIHR Insight Programme was led by King’s Clinical Academic Training Office, King’s College London and London South Bank University (LSBU).

Prof Catherine Evans, Professor of Palliative Care and Honorary Nurse Consultant and Deputy Director of King’s Clinical Academic Training Office (KCATO), King’s College London, said: “We are delighted to receive this award which will support us to realise our ambition to inspire students and early career health and social care registrants to engage in research from the start to pursue research careers early in their training.

“Strengthening the research offer across these professions will benefit not only the students themselves in their careers but drive the quality of care we can provide for patients and communities across south London.”

Dr Adele Stewart-Lord, Associate Dean Research and Enterprise, School of Allied and Community Health Institute of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University, said: "This is a great opportunity for health professionals to become research active and be sponsored to undertake master level education, ultimately leading to a better workforce.

"I am pleased to be co-leading this with our academic partners and clinical colleagues; this strengthens our provision and enables us to reach a wide target audience."

Professor Waljit Dhillo, Dean of the NIHR Academy, said: “We know how important early exposure to research is for building capacity within health and social care. The INSIGHT programme will offer over 300 funded research masters places per year and provide engagement activities that have the potential to excite and capture the imagination of students at an early stage in their career.

“I’m delighted that we’ll be able to show students all of the benefits that research roles and careers have, both for professionals and within health and care.”

Regional INSIGHT Programmes include a range of different organisations including universities, NHS Trusts, and Local Authorities.

The lead institutions for each region are:

• South London - King’s College London

• North East and North Cumbria - Northumbria University

• South Central - University of Southampton

• South East - University of Brighton

• South West Central - University of the West of England

• East Midlands - University of Nottingham

• East of England - University of Essex

• West Midlands - University of Birmingham

• North West - University of Central Lancashire

• North London - City, University of London

• South West Peninsula - University of Plymouth

• Yorkshire and Humber - University of Leeds