In this interview, we sit down with Kirsten Barnicot, Programme Director for our MRes in Clinical Research.
Academic interests and expertise
Can you tell us about your academic and research background?
I did my undergraduate in Psychology and then worked for the National Health Service (NHS) as a researcher for a little bit. My boss at the time persuaded me to do a PhD. My PhD focussed on people experiencing complex mental health difficulties, who were receiving specialist psychological therapies in East London. I wanted to find out not only if the therapy helped them, but how and why the therapy helped them – what were the magic ingredients that helped them overcome their mental health difficulties? And if the therapy didn’t help them, what had got in the way?
What inspired you to specialise in your current field of study?
After applying for quite a few jobs after my undergraduate degree and grappling with lots of rejections, I was lucky enough to get a job working on a research project with people experiencing complex mental health difficulties, who were receiving specialist psychological therapy in an East London mental health service. I really loved getting to know them but I was struck by how much distress they experienced in their daily lives and the really severe impact on their ability to function in society. I knew I wanted to do research which would build a better understanding of how to alleviate their distress and help them build a life that felt worth living. From there my interests have evolved to look at the interrelationship between autism, trauma and complex mental health difficulties. I also do research with mothers who are experiencing serious mental health difficulties, looking at how to support them to connect with their babies and support their babies’ emotional development.
What do you enjoy most about teaching and mentoring students?
I love supporting my students to develop their own research ideas in a field that they are really passionate about. I love seeing them grow in their understanding of what makes a good research project, and their pride when they manage to become researchers in their own right. And I enjoy having fun with my students and appreciating the lighter side of life together.
Why this course?
What makes this postgraduate programme unique within its field?
Our MRes has a particularly strong focus on applied health and social care services research. That means research that is grounded in improving health and social care in the real world, and in supporting the professionals that deliver that care. We cover a lot of theory and methodology – everything you need to know to develop and undertake a good piece of research. But importantly we also cover a lot about the practicalities about doing research in the real world, particularly in healthcare settings. As part of this, students undertake a placement module where they will work alongside a healthcare researcher, learning about the practicalities and challenges of carrying out research in health services. All of the modules work towards supporting our students to develop and undertake their own research. By the end of the programme, students have designed, carried out and analysed two of their own research projects, culminating in authoring two publishable research papers.
Are there opportunities for students to tailor the programme based on their specific academic or career interests?
Yes, very much so. First of all, for your research placement, you can choose to shadow a researcher whose research particularly inspires or interests you. This could be someone at the university, or wider afield. Secondly, your dissertation research is what truly makes your Masters unique to you. You can choose to conduct your own research projects in an area that you feel passionate about, that perhaps helps to address issues that you have encountered yourself as a professional or as a patient. Thirdly, all students can choose from a wide range of elective modules to tailor the programme to their interests, including electives in public health, mental health, global health, leadership, and specialist clinical modules relating to areas such as midwifery, radiography, or nursing.
Career paths
How does the programme help students develop skills for their future careers, whether in academia or industry?
The taught modules, alongside your time spent developing and carrying out your own research, work together to foster your research and analytical skills, including:
- Searching literature, critically appraising research studies and assessing data quality (statistical evidence) and synthesise/integrate this data (which may come from a range of disciplines)
- Critically evaluating the importance of locating your research within an ethical framework and understand the process of receiving ethical approval for your research from appropriate bodies
- Critically evaluating processes and outcomes in clinical practice
- Applying research findings to improve health and the effective delivery of health services
- Evaluating, designing and undertaking small scale supervised clinical related research to support own evidence-based practice
- Using statistical software to test statistical significance and association between variables
- Undertaking observation, data collection and data coding
- Writing publishable research papers
- Presenting data analyses and critical appraisals of a variety of research designs/studies
- Managing, reflecting on, and developing one’s own learning
- Developing mentoring skills to support other clinicians to undertake appropriate research
- Time management and project management skills.
Your employability skills will be enhanced by our graduate attribute focus, including careers coaching with your personal tutor, careers advice provided by our University Careers Service, and bespoke sessions on careers opportunity awareness, skills development, professional identity and networking, and career transitions. We offer tailored advice to our students on the types of career pathways they could follow after the MRes, and insights on how to pursue their chosen route. We run careers insight days with inspiring speakers from different professions including clinical academic, clinical research leadership, clinical trials industry, NHS research delivery, NHS quality improvement, public health and government social research. Finally, we offer students direct hands-on experience of research careers through our placement module, where you will work alongside a healthcare researcher, learning about the practicalities and challenges of carrying out research in health services.
What career paths have graduates from this programme typically followed?
Common routes include advanced clinical practice and leadership, PhDs and clinical academia, health education leadership, NHS research delivery, public sector and charity research, and the clinical trials industry.
Tips for offer holders
If you could highlight one thing that students should look forward to in this programme, what would it be?
Developing and carrying out your own research idea is a wonderful and challenging journey, through which you will learn a lot and emerge fully baptised into the world of research!
What advice would you give offer holders as they prepare to join this course?
Consider a problem or issue in health or social care that intrigues you, frustrates you or that you want to understand better. How could you use research to better understand this issue, contribute to the evidence base, and hopefully improve the lives of health professionals and patients?