“I work in the NIHR Norfolk Clinical Research Facility hosted by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, here in the Quadram Institute. NIHR stands for the National Institute for Health and Care Research and they are the health and social care research arm of the nation.

The Clinical Research Facility is home to a host of research initiatives to aid the development of new treatments and improve patient care.

Seeing research make a difference

I qualified as a nurse back in 2002. I first worked as a cardiology nurse in Essex and then became a specialist cardiac nurse.

In my role as a cardiac nurse, we ended up doing a research study working with a research team for some medication for heart failure. That was my first taste of research.

I helped find patients for the study and then when we saw patients, the research nurses would come too.

You could really see the research making a big difference and improving the quality of life for patients. Since then, the idea of working in research was in the back of my mind.

If we can improve care and we can make patients better then it’s got to be the way forward.

Path to research nursing

In 2023, I decided it was a good time to make the jump into a career in research. I began working here at the Quadram Institute as a Research Nurse which I’ve been for the last couple of years.

I landed straight into a big vaccine study which was very busy and exciting. You get such a wonderful relationship with patients over multiple visits.

My role working in research is very varied. I’ve been involved in studies looking at type 1 diabetes, thyroid levels and acne. Whereas some research nurses focus on specific areas such as oncology or endocrinology, our team covers a wide range of studies.

I love working at the Quadram Institute. It’s a bright new building and the patients love it too.

My vision of research nursing when I first qualified as nurse was very different to the reality. I think student nurses don’t realise how exciting research nursing is and what you can do.

As a student nurse, I thought research nursing was just quantitive and qualitivate research. But it’s a lot more to that.

In research nursing, we’re part of the future.

Becoming an Advanced Clinical Practioner

At the beginning of this year, I started training to be an Advanced Clinical Practioner for Research through a masters programme. This role will allow me to take on more responsibility working in research.

I’ll continue to run studies as a study co-ordinator and a study nurse, but I’ll be able to extend those skills to do clinical examinations and prescribing to try and increase our recruitment, our retention and further embed research in our work.

I study for my masters once a week, most of my learning is online with the University of East Anglia, module by module and then I do a project too.

It’s a juggle managing study alongside work but everyone here and at the university have been so supportive. It’s enjoyable to learn new things and learn new topics.

It’s important to embed research into clinical work everywhere.

You can take part in research

My advice if you’re thinking of taking part in research is to take a look at the Be Part of Research website.

The research team is here to support you so do ask us if you have any questions. If the study isn’t a right fit for you that’s OK. We’re there to give you the information.

We love what we do and are here to help.”

• Find out more about taking part in research across the country on the NIHR Be Part of Research website
• Find out more about taking part in studies linked to research happening at the Quadram Institute on our webpage