How (not) to get an NIHR Fellowship Dr Richard Ma General Practitioner London NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow Imperial College London

In the beginning GP – part time Locum registrar Public Health Medicine Doctor in sexual health clinics MSc Public Health (part-funded by PCT) DrPH LSHTM (ESRC/MRC Studentship) Leadership roles – PCT/CCG/DH/RCGP Interest in sexual & reproductive health Where was my career going? Where can I really make a difference?

A tweet that changed my career and my life!

Into academia In-Practice Fellowship – 2 years 0.5 WTE “North Star” aspiration What next? Am I good enough? Am I too old for this? How can I fit it all in?

Doctoral Research Fellowship - Attempt #1 Project idea – September Agreed supervisors Feasibility work – early stages – current fellowship Strong application – person, place Training plans Invited to interview Preparation – mock interviews REJECTION Little time to engage with RDS Unfamiliar with dataset and its limitations Limited scope Not confident with methodology Not much meaningful engagement with PPI Stuck with some questions

Doctoral Research Fellowship - Attempt #2 Familiarised with dataset and analysis – more statistics/epidemiology Engaged women on social media to discuss contraception and asked for feedback on lay summary, invited to project advisory group Qualitative study involving more vulnerable groups – including ethics Expanded scope to include access to all forms of contraception Earlier RDS involvement– better understanding of design, sample size, analysis Better preparation – video, voice recordings, tougher mocks! SUCCESS!

Reflections Know your purpose/ trajectory Be clear about your commitments – are they realistic? Who are you? What is your profile in academia? Develop your ideas, test them out, ask experts, feasibility Involve RDS early in your proposal Choose your institution and supervisory team carefully Involve your finance lead and PPI Plan B – or what you can do during your “fallow” year Don’t give up – ask for feedback, it will be better Rehearse your presentation & answers. Try to fail your mock interview!

YOUR project YOU own it GOOD LUCK!!