Training

Have you, or someone you know, ever wondered what health research is and what it involves? Do you want to know what the common myths are and explore ways to get involved? Would you like to hear from people who have taken part in health research and learn why they volunteered?

The course runs for three weeks and new learners can join at any time.

To find out more about the course and to join, please follow the link to the course homepage.

This webinar is part of the Activating Research series, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy. This webinar provides an introduction to research planning and the support that is available to researchers from the NIHR. This includes:

1. the role of the Research Partnership Team (RPT) in the collaboration in designing responsive applied research;
2. the assistance available to researchers from the NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) London through the various stages of research design and funding applications; and
3. the Clinical Research Network (CRN) supports workplace development and delivering studies.

Click on this link to access the recording of the session.

This webinar is part of the Activating Research series, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy. This training session provides an overview of what research is, how to become a research leader and opportunities for getting involved in research through your trust and organisation. By the end of the session, you will: (1) have a better understanding of the importance of research; and (2) be able to identify the pathways to developing a research project and potentially career. Click on this link to access the recording of the session.

The Associate Principal Investigator Scheme, delivered by NIHR, aims to develop health and care professionals to become the Principal Investigators (PIs) of the future.

The Associate PI Scheme is a six month in-work training opportunity, providing practical experience for health and care professionals starting their research career.

People who would not normally have the opportunity to take part in clinical research in their day-to-day role have the chance to experience what it means to work on and deliver an NIHR portfolio trial under the mentorship of an enthusiastic Local Principal Investigator (PI). A Principal Investigator is an individual responsible for the conduct of a research study at a site.

Associate Principal Investigators receive formal recognition of engagement in NIHR Portfolio research studies through the certification of Associate PI status, endorsed by the NIHR and Royal Colleges.

Find out more HERE.

This webinar is part of the Activating Research series, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy. The presentations cover different routes for disseminating your findings, the different topics of applied research (clinical, public health, social care), how to showcase your work, and how to include patients and research participants in writing up and sharing research. Click on this link to view the training session.

This online short course, run by the NIHR ARC North Thames Academy, is designed for social care, local government, and frontline health service staff with little or no prior experience in conducting service evaluations. The course covers key guidance from the planning stages of conducting an evaluation through to sharing your findings. It will equip you with the skills and knowledge to undertake your own evaluation of a local intervention or service and to appraise other evaluations. 

The course runs across 20/01/2025 to 23/03/2025 and takes approximately 12 hours of study time. 

To apply, complete and submit the short form by midnight on Sunday 15th December 2024.

More information HERE.

Thematic Analysis is a widely used and popular method of analysing qualitative data in many different disciplines. It is a type of analysis which focuses on identifying patterns in meaning across different sources of data to answer a research question or explore a concept.

This course uses a hands-on and practical approach to introduce you to how to do thematic analysis within healthcare research. Across 3 sessions we will introduce the philosophy and paradigm of qualitative research, before using real research data to understand how to manage, code, analyse and report data within this method.

All three sessions have been recorded and can be accessed online:

Session 1: Click here to access the recording to the session

Session 2: Click here to access the recording to the session

Session 3: Click here to access the recording to the session

Narrative Synthesis is a type of approach used to systematically review findings from multiple research studies. This approach primarily focuses on the words/text and can be used to answer a wide range of research questions. The training session firstly starts with placing narrative synthesis into a wider context of meta-synthesis. It covers its background, related definitions as well as different types of meta-synthesis. The later part of the training session provides an in-depth look at narrative synthesis. The session has been recorded. Click here to access the presentation slides.

This free online webinar will:

• Introduce the concepts of reproducibility and replicability in research
• Show examples of replication problems from research in psychology, epidemiology, and health care
• Explain how mis-use of statistics can produce false conclusions
• De-mystify the idea of “statistical significance”
• Show simple examples of good practice in the use of statistical hypothesis tests
• Illuminate us in how to detect some types of questionable statistical methods in published research

To stream the recording, please click here.

Critical appraisal skills are crucial to implementing evidence-based healthcare. This one-day course is designed by the Library and Knowledge Team for Trainees in Psychiatry. It includes two ½ day workshops on quantitative and qualitative research evidence. The purpose of these workshop is to introduce critical appraisal, to describe the major features of quantitative and qualitative research and to appraise a quantitative and a qualitative research paper. Find out more here. 

This webinar, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy, is part of a series focusing on adapting study methods for remote qualitative research. Recently online focus groups have become the new ‘normal’. This webinar focuses on carrying out focus groups using a range of digital platforms. To access the recording of the session, please click here

This webinar, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy, is part of a series focusing on adapting study methods for remote qualitative research. In this session, Marnie Howlett (LSE) discussed lessons learnt from having to move her international fieldwork in Ukraine online, highlighting the new forms of knowledge that come from looking at the field through a ‘Zoom’ lens. To access the recording of the session, please click here

This webinar is aimed at Early Career Researchers. It covers the following topics:

• What is open science?
• How can we make our research open?
• Why is open science important for early career researchers?
• What are the benefits of adopting open science practices?
• What are the challenges in adopting open science practices?

The webinar was hosted by the NIHR ARC North Thames Academy Early Career Researchers Network. To access the recording of the session, please click here.

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training is a key requirement for individuals involved in clinical research and is designed to ensure that those involved in conducting a trial are qualified by education, training and experience to perform their respective tasks. There are several options:

• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Online GCP training courses are free and available to NHS, UK universities, and other publicly funded organisations conducting and supporting clinical research. Courses are accessed via their learning platform NIHR Learn
• MRC offers an e-learning module Good research practice: Principles and guidelines. This course is intended to support local induction material for new starters, act as a reminder and entry point into the GRP document for more established staff, and will take about an hour to complete.
• Self-guided online course from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• Online course offered by Noclor on 16/12/2024 (10:00-15:00): For clinical research professionals who are conducting clinical trials and need to be aware of the Good Clinical Practice (GCP). Book your place by visiting the Noclor website.

An eLearning course from MRC introducing MRC's expectations for good research practice. It is a series of 10 bite-sized e-learning modules accompanied by a collection of resources to help researchers get to grips with the principles of GDPR and the common law of confidentiality for research. You must create an account to complete the training. Visit the website to learn more about the training provided.

In this guidance you will find information on the principles of consent (both ethical and legal).

This free, online toolkit by the Centre for Ethnic Health Research and NIHR CRN East Midlands provides researchers with a framework to improve participation in research, making it more diverse and inclusive. It will help you develop more relevant research questions, consider the engagement of different ethnicities in a more structured way and provide tips on better participation and dissemination of research findings. Visit the webpage to access it.

This webinar is part of the Activating Research series, presented by NIHR ARC North Thames Academy. This webinar provides an introduction to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) and co-production. It also broadly covers what it is, who is involved, why it is important, and how it can be done effectively. Access the recording of the session.