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OK. Uh Good afternoon doctors is my voice audible to everyone. Uh Let me just check my microphone quickly. Ok. Um It's nice to see you a couple of you here. Um It's nice to see that, you know, um you're, you're able to um give up uh an hour of time on a Sunday uh to just sit and listen to someone talk about research, which I think is quite um humbling, I would say because I wouldn't have done that um as a, as a medical student or um at a, at a junior level. So um I'm Rizwana. Um I'm a research fellow based in Birmingham. So I've um the reason I, we've decided to sort of do a teaching series um uh regarding research in the NHS is because I think research is so um under talked is very much under um underrated as well, especially for IM GS because back in our home countries, um research isn't really given so much of importance, but once we come into the NHS, um research plays a very key role um in our academic progression and in the way we sort of excel in the NHS itself. So before I sort of begin, um, this session. Um, it's just something that you can get to know about me. So I am an in I MG from India. Um, and I basically started off by writing a couple of exams to get GMC registered. And while I was doing that I was doing a bit of masters, um, that was more focused on in research. And I think that's where, um, my interest towards research sort of started because I was able to get involved with the dissertation or thesis as part of my master's degree fatigue teaching. And that all of those along with a bit of an experience and research helped me landed my uh first job in the NHS. And with, with regards to the research fellow, jobs that are being uh very popular, becoming very popular nowadays, if you think about it, maybe 2 to 3 years ago, I don't think there were a lot of junior research fellow jobs mainly because at that time, um those jobs weren't very popular people um in the NHS had time to do research. But now I think it's the, the, the entire system is now becoming a bit more um harder, a bit more um complicated in terms of patient inflow. Um that doctors are very much focused in doing wards and uh medical duties that people aren't doing much of the research. So that's why uh now a lot of uh trusts have started employing these research fellow, um, doctors at junior level so that they can get some research done for their trust. So this talk is basically, um, going to be divided into, I think, um, three parts. I'll try to do it in three parts. Yeah. Um, so first I'll talk about what is research and then I'll talk about why you should do research. And, um, the third part is how you can do research in the NHS. So um another also a little disclaimer I also want to give is I think research is huge. It's a vast topic. Um You know, you can even do a phd into research. But for us as IM GS or um someone in medical school, I think it's important to know at least the basics of research because we have to start somewhere and if we know the basics of research, um you would be, you would have some kind of confidence um to sort of sit or just approach a, an academic consultant in your department or in your hospital and just ask them whether you'd be, you can get the opportunity to get involved in their research projects. Um And it's important that you sort of understand a bit about research and the language that we use in research for you to sit down and have that conversation with that consultant. Because if you approach him and he says, OK, go on, tell me uh how you do a critical appraisal of a paper or, uh, could you write down a research protocol for me quickly? So, um, if you're familiar with, at least some parts of it, you'd be able to, you know, have a conversation with him or her. So that's basically the thing behind this teaching series is to just give you the gist of research so that you can sort of go away and walk on it and hopefully get involved in a bit more research yourself. So, um, before we do, go ahead, I, um, I'd like to know a bit about you. Um, so that I can sort of get an idea of, um, who I'm talking to. So I'm just gonna put a poll out there for you to fill out and just see. Um, uh, so just I can find out, um, what kind of, um, students or junior doctors attending today. So, if you could fill out the pool, please. Yeah. So just giving you a couple of seconds to fill the poles out. Yup. Mhm. So, we do have, uh, a couple of, uh, medical students but it's mostly international medical graduates trying to look for a job in the NHS and that's completely fine and a bit of, uh, JC FS as well. Ok. So, I think, um, with that in mind, let's go into the topic per se. This is just some housekeeping rules that, um, we all must be familiar with. We've gone through a couple of online videos ourselves. So what is research now? This is the big fat um textbook definition I would say of research. But basically research is nothing but trying to find answers to the questions. And I think what makes research quite interesting is how you find the tools you use to basically find the answers to your question. Now, that that's what, that's why research gets a bit more complex is because there are so many tools so, so many methods that you can use um to find the answers to the questions. Um And that really depends upon what your question is like. For example, if I've got a rare disease and um and I've got a patient in the ward and now there's a rare disease that he's developed. You sh she has developed and I want to do a bit of research on that. Um You know, it would be uh uh not so um appropriate to do a big cohort study or a randomized controlled trial on a patient where I've just got one or two sample study. So in those sort of situation, I we could start with like a case report or a case series where we can just write up about the patient, the symptoms, um how they presented what, what, how they sort of progressed. And I think putting out those case reports, they sort of form the building blocks um of bigger studies like um cohorts and randomized controlled trials. Um Now each um, tool has its own, uh, limitations and strengths. But I think it's just weighing what is better, uh, weighing the pros and cons of each study and basically finding the right type of, um, study. Uh, uh, I would say the tool for your particular topic or your particular question but anything that you do, whether it's as small as a case study or a case series, they form the building block, uh, and over time, they basically make the cohort study or the randomized control study. Now, the different types of studies, I think I will probably touch up on that in the upcoming teaching sessions because um, they are a bit, um, you can go into a lot of details into them. So we'll probably do that for another session. And studies can also be divided based on the time frame. So for example, if I decide to, to, uh, basically study all the patients with osteoarthritis, I can just go into the, uh, patients records and just pick out all the patients with osteoarthritis and look for the things that I need and make up a research paper on it. But if I decide, no, I want to find out if osteoarthritis is, um, sort of linked with maybe smoking, then I would probably have to go back and see if they've had any smoking history. So that would be like a retrospective. And if I decide, no, I think I'm gonna watch people develop the disease. So I would maybe pick up all the patients with knee problems and I will watch them over time just into the future to see if they develop osteoarthritis. So that would be something in the future. That's a perspective. So now, uh, and I think there's a mixture of that also can happen where you can collect patients from the past, use their histories from the past and then watch them over time as well. So there are different types of, uh, research tools out there. And the ones that you choose should be appropriate for the type, uh, the type of question or the research topic that you want to, um, study or you want to find the answers to the next part of this, um, talk that I wanna talk about is why do research. Now, I think this is something that, um, you should ask yourself why you think you should do research. And now the main reasons for that is, first of all, research takes time, it's a very timely process. And, um, as doctors, as a medical student, that's something that we don't have because we're also, um, you know, uh, caught up at work. Uh, we're busy doing on calls, rotations, um, weekends and we don't really get the time to do it. And research always requires you to take time outside work to do it because it's not something that can be part of the work unless you're a research fellow. In the NHS. So it's mainly about asking yourself why you want to do research. And nowadays, um especially in the NHS, research is becoming less desirable to do. Although uh you know, as part of your portfolio or as part of your career progression, um they require you to have research in your um uh portfolios for your specialty trainings or uh super specialty trainings. It is becoming less desirable to do because we all face burnouts in within our clinical works. And because of that recent uh article that had come out last year was that um not many researchers are being produced by the NHS. And I think that was probably the main reason why now trusts have started hiring research fellows so that they can, you know, find time within their work to get some research papers or to get some research work done and hopefully that will lead into a publication. But from my experience, um I usually see three category of people who want to do research. So there are people who want to do it for um personal interest because they really like research. And then there are those um you know, who want to do it for career progression, that's completely fine. And then there are also people who do it sort of for both. So I'm just gonna quickly put out a poll now. Um I would like to know why you would want to do research. So, yeah, career progression. Both. Mhm. Just giving away a couple of seconds for the responses to come through. So, I think we've got a 5050. Um, it's funny to see that nobody really wants to do research out of personal interest and that's completely fine. Um, I think it's good to have research. Um, it makes you look, it look like a, it makes you look AAA good doctor. And, like I said, in the NHS, if you want to really excel, there are three things which would be teaching um leadership and management. And the third thing is research. Um and you want to do it for both and that's also completely fine. That's nice to know. So when I, in terms of um the how to do research part, I think there is basically three golden rules um that you can follow that you need to follow the first rule I would say is good research takes time. And I think this is a very hard truth that we will have to sort of um accept that good research does take time. Um And it takes longer than you think. And there is really uh not many shortcuts for it although there is, but um it wouldn't be advisable to use the shortcuts. There are available. And I think it's also about trying to get good research. It means trying to be realistic with your time. So if you're a medical student here, I would suggest um and if you do want to uh you know, get into research. I think this would be the right time for you because by the time you enter into specialty training, you might have a good uh a number of publications on your uh portfolio to show. So the first one that the fact that it takes longer. So usually what people think or what I thought myself when I started doing the my dissertation as part of my master's degree was I would probably do a bit of data collection, analyze it, write it up and then get, get it published. I would have a PUBMED um ID, I would have citations on it and I, I'd probably get all of this done in six months time. But this was sort of my expectations on research publication. But this was the reality that I, that was very hard for me to also um digest because sometimes we underestimate the steps within the research. So the first step was finding the right supervisor and finding the right projects. So with the uh you know, it could be as easy as just approaching them and asking them if they've got any research projects that you'd like to get involved. But sometimes it takes a long time for them to reply or to find a suitable research um study for you to get involved at a junior level. And then next is planning your project. So planning can also take longer than you accept. Um expect data collection. Now, that's a very long tedious uh process in the, in research. And I think, um it's, it's always twice as long as uh than you basically uh plan or you estimate. Um It's very boring but it has to be done. Now COVID is something that sort of happened in my scenario that's really pushed back everything um and slowed down the entire process, uh uh quite an unexpected turn for me and then writing it up presenting it, sending it for uh publication and getting that peer reviewed and then rewriting it again. So this entire process took about a year, uh 2 to 2.5 years. So this is the realistic timeline um that you, I would suggest you could have when it comes to getting your paper published or getting an uh uh your name as an author or coauthor on it. Now, another thing is you can do is people do is basically once they've got a paper uh ready, they just get it published and it's very easy to get published, to be honest because you've got a lot of, um I shouldn't say low class, but basically a lot of um non, not so well established journals and these journals will take any kind of paper for money. Um Even if it's a rubbish paper, they will do it, but I would highly recommend you not to do it because when you have a paper and you've pub published it um in a journal that's not well known or uh you know, that's, that really didn't peer review your paper properly. Um And when you submit it for your interviews or for your specialty trainings, the interview panel, the academics can tell whether you've published it in a do dodgy uh journal or you've really put in the effort. And I think um it's better to have one paper that's published in a well known journal that have 10 papers published in a very dodgy journal. And that just reflects you as a character to the interview panel. So avoid um trying to, uh you know, get your paper published in a, any kind of dodgy journals, rather try to sort of go through the process um and get them published in journals that are a bit more well established. No, another thing is to be uh realistic with your time. So here I've just put a screenshot of one of the er portfolios, uh scoring 0.4. I think this is for surgery. So you can see that this is the uh research part and you can see you get the maximum score if you've basically won a prize or um at an international conference or an accredited institution, or if you're basically the third, the first author um of your o of a paper that you've published, so that would give you the maximum point. So if you're someone who is, um, I think we've got a couple of medical students here. So if you're a medical student and you're aiming to get into specialty training, this would probably be the right time for you to start. Um So that you can score the maximum point. But otherwise if you think research isn't gonna be your entire interest, um then I would say try to score more in other domains because like I said, good research takes time and if you haven't got the time, maybe you've got a year or six months, then maybe um try not to focus on, not focusing on research and trying to score the maximum on that. But rather focusing on other domains like maybe teaching or getting an extra degree or doing, getting a bit of an experience within that uh field, like getting surgical experience that will basically help you um score higher in your portfolios rather than focusing on research itself. So just being realistic with your time and understanding what you have um compared to what you want to do in terms of research. Now, the second rule is this is something that I think um works really well in terms of research is surrounding yourself with the best. Now, that means trying to um basically f find the right academic institute or the right trust for you that are very academically active in terms of researches and publications. Um The second point I would say is basically find successful mentors and I'll and I'll highlight why that's really important. Um The third part is just to stalk successful peers and these peers could be um your own colleagues, another research fellow or it could be someone a bit more senior, like a trainee or a registrar uh down the line. So the first part is identifying um successful academic institutions. So this is something that I've basically pulled out from the British um Heart Society Foundation. So the British Society Foundation is basically one of the biggest uh private uh funding uh grant funding um bodies in the UK. So what they do is basically they provide the funds for a lot of researchers and a lot of the trust in the NHS, especially researchers that are related to cardiology. And what they have done is they basically put out this picture that shows where maximum amount of money they basically invest. So if you want to get a good research done, then basically following where the money goes, where maximum amount of funds are invested will probably help you get into a good research as well. And as you can see in the picture, um you know, the bigger the circle more the funding. So you can see major cities like London, Oxford and Cambridge, they get a lot of funds. So if you try to identify trusts or um academic institutes who do research in those areas, there are high chances you can get yourself involved in a successful research. Now, this is just, I think this is very much biased only for cardiology. So, if you, uh, wanted to go into surgery, I think a couple of you here, uh, were interested or are working in surgery, uh, departments. And then again, they would have, uh, their own different, um, hotspots where funds are being the maximum, um, given. But the ultimate idea here is if you follow where the money goes, you will probably get yourself into a good research project. So just to keep in mind is um try to uh get yourself into a good institute that is funded adequately. Um so that you can also excel and the, the research project can go forward and hopefully come out as a publication and you can be an author or a coauthor in that paper. The second thing is um identifying successful mentors. Now, I think this is a very important um point that you need to um that I want to highlight, especially if you're working in the NHS. And I've basically divided that into green flags and red flags. Now it's very easy because everybody wants to do research, even consultants want to do research. But whether they're able to put in that time and effort and push it towards a paper publication that is important for um junior doctors because at the end of the day, no, even if we've worked the entire year, put in a lot of effort and you're not getting the credit for it or if it hasn't come out published, um It would be, I think quite shameful for us because nothing will end up on our portfolio. Um And that can be quite difficult when you're applying for a special um training posts. So the green flags that I would say is track record of their recent publication. So when you are approaching a consultant or your clinical supervisor, um find out whether they've had recent publications. So I've put the recent in caps because uh everybody would have done research in the NHS at some point, even consultants have done would have done research. But there's no point if they've had 50 or even 100 PM publications, but they were all in 19 nineties or in the two thousands and they have not been acting the last 10 years. So trying, it's important that they've, they've constantly um they're active in terms of um producing papers. So when you get involved, you can also have that assurance. Yeah, I think I might be able to uh push this towards the publication, hopefully get my name out um as a coauthor on the paper. Now, the second thing is track record of funding. So if you're someone who's interested in doing research and you've applied for a particular trust, you can always um try to find out whether they've, they've funded well within that trust. This is information, a lot of trust don't release, but a couple do within the website they always try to, um I think trusts which do a lot of research, they try to put out what kind of research are going on. So by just by the looks of how complex their research is, you can get an idea of what sort of funding um they might be having within that trust. No, another point is track record of their successful p hds and students. So if you have an academic professor or a, a consultant and that you've approached and um just having that history that they have supervised other phd students, um that would be a very plus point for me because that shows that they're very good at clinical supervising. So I think um they will probably be able to guide you uh help you with your work um than having someone who's never done that because consultants are always busy and we can't really constantly keep going and asking them questions about research. But if they have that uh experience of supervising students um in the past, and they're likely to be more friendly and more approachable for you to go and do their research projects as well. Another thing is it has time for you. And I think this is really important because uh a some of my colleagues, you know, they get into a research project and they do the work, um you know, they get the draft protocol or something, but then they don't have time to meet the consultants or the consultants don't have time to meet them. So that's really if a consultant is asking you emailing you regularly saying what is your update on the research projects and he has time for you? And I think that's a, I think that's a green flag for you to choose that particular project to work with that consultant. And just other key things like um you know, the key to get involved, introduce you to a wider team and generally your uh general, a good friendly approach of a relationship with them would also uh be a good um green flag for, for you to consider when you're approaching the consultant. Um red flags. So I think the red flags that I've put in the first one is, does not reply to emails. I think that's like a blanket rule because I do know consultants, um my clinical supervisor, he um my himself, he, his consultants, some consultants are just um very bad with emails, but when you meet them in person, they actually have time for you. And I think we um us uh as junior doctors, we also need to understand that consultants do get a lot of emails. Um and it's very hard for your email to so just drown into the er, drowning the inboxes. So the fact that they may not be good with emails doesn't necessarily mean that they um you shouldn't get involved in their research projects, but that's just out there as a, a general thing for you to consider now promising you quick publications. Um, I think from my experiences and from what I've heard from, uh, my friends from other trusts, I am, I think regs are quite registrars are quite, um guilty of doing this. So, if someone promises you saying that, oh, yeah, work on this paper, we'll get it published. Um, the next six months. I think that is something that you should um try to evaluate whether that can be true. Um Because again, registrars can be uh very busy and they would want someone to just get that particular part, work done, maybe like a data analysis, you know, you, so they would probably say, yeah, I'll get it published. I'll get the audit published. Do this. This is for me. But I think you as a junior doctor should stand back and just evaluate whether and see whether you, you really think this audit or this particular uh paper uh project can, would get published within that particular time uh frame that they mention. Now another thing is having unrealistic expectations and I think this is really important um because research is so vast. Um I think if uh your consultant is asking you to do something beyond your scope, like they have to understand that they, they should understand that you're a junior doctor and there's only so much you know about research. Um And if they're giving you un and if they're having unrealistic expectations um about a particular project, then again, I think that's an important red flag for you to consider. And maybe think, I don't think I might be able to go forward with this research paper and being ambiguous. Now, this is again, a uh an important point I would say is um I think when you have that first conversation with your clinical supervisor or the academic uh consultant, whoever you uh approach, make it very clear for them saying that I would definitely love to get involved in one of your projects, hoping that when it gets published, I would get to be a coauthor or a first author on it. I think uh having that um clear intention of what you want out of that project is really important because there's no point if you're doing all the work and you're not sure if you're gonna end up on the paper. And if you're not being, if you've done a lot of the work, and at the end you realize that you haven't made it on the paper, uh that can again be quite disappointing for you. So if you're not getting a clearer idea with your supervisor um on what your outcome will be on that particular project. Um And again, I think that's something you should consider. But again, always having that conversation and making it really clear with your consultant that you would like to be as a co-author or an author on the paper. I think that just uh reduces the political tension that you and um your team or your consultant might have. And I think that's a really good way to go as well in terms of communicating with the consultants. Now, the next part is stalk successful piece. And I think this is something that um I was quite um hesitant to put forward, but this is something that I do and I have got a good outcome out of it. So I recently in the co um conference, I attended a conference online and um there was a very good uh talk on um cardiology, one of the um case papers related to cardiology. And I really enjoyed the talk. So, what I did was I ended up googling that person's um the speaker's name. I even went on G MCI wanted to know what level of training they are in and then I went on PUBMED and just to see um what papers they'd be done because um the main reason for it is if someone's a good researcher, they will be out there in the public. And I really wanted to see what it took for them to reach that particular level so that I can sort of follow that path and um hopefully get some kind of inspiration. So just stalking them in, in the sense, just um you know, professionally finding out um what they have done to get to what they, where they are now. I think that would also give you an idea about um how you can take the research and attending conferences is definitely um I would say a big eye opener for a lot of people because um in conferences, you get to meet a lot of um other people, you get to meet people at different levels in their academic progressions, different leg uh levels in their career. And that really opens up a lot of uh doors for you in terms of research. And if you do a tender conference and which I think is uh is a really uh a good thing to do, especially at junior level. Um don't be afraid to approach consultants because all um you know, senior regis uh registrars, people are quite uh receptive in conferences and just going up to them and just having that talk might actually get you involved in one of their uh projects. So these are just a couple of um sites that you can use to just stalk successful p and I really like research gait because research git um you can not only find out uh what papers they have uh published, but you can also see what kind of presentations that they've given in different conferences. So you can use these uh different um social platforms to get to know a bit more about your peers and just um find out what they have been up to in life and see if you can draw any kind of inspiration from that. So that's, I think how you would go with um finding successful p. Now, the third rule is uh making yourself look um marketable mo look more favorable uh towards research will definitely help you get into research. Now, the way you can do that is to have the right attitude, the right attributes to it and also finding the right resources and then applying for the right positions. So I'll go through each one of them. So what do I mean by finding the right attitude? So I've made like AAA little table here. So this is a table that I've just quickly summarized it. And I think you can look at this table um like a pyramid with the attitude being the bottom base um and the skills at the top and the qualification at the right at the top in a small part, not so important ha having attitude, the right attitude towards research will definitely help you get into a research project. Um Recently, one of my colleagues uh gave uh an interview for a research fellow job in London. And the question they asked in that uh interview was, what do you think you can give us in terms of the quality you have? How can you contribute to our research project? And the simple answer that he gave was, I've got time in my hand, I'm not rushed into going into specialty training. And I can put in the effort and he thinks that that's probably one of the reasons why, um, he actually ended up getting the job. So it's just to let the consultant or someone, um, who you're getting the research paper involved with letting them know that you've got time and you're ready and you're ready to put in the time and the effort. Um, even if it's outside work and your ability to learn, whether you're, you know, constantly able to learn, um and give out the maximum outcome. I think that having that kind of characteristic um personality to water research will definitely help you get a research paper done. And I think that is actually forms the basis of anything else now finding the right skills now. Um I think at a junior level, especially for IM GS, we don't, we, we, we never encouraged um in our home countries to develop skills for research. We're not encouraged to write up research papers in our medical schools or even when we work at um sho levels or even when you apply for post graduate training in home countries, we're not expected to have these skills. But in the NHS, this is something um a lot of people have and that gives them an, gives them an upper hand in their portfolio and in the interviews as well um towards their specialty training. Now, when you apply for junior research fellow jobs, um the consultants know that you will not have the skills and that's completely fine. A lot of the l uh people who got research fellow jobs have never had an experience of having research in the past and consultants are completely fine with that. And this research fellow jobs, what it really does, it basically lets you develop that skills. So if, for example, on the first day you meet your consultant and, and he um you know, tells you that this is the project, I think you're going to be working on this. Um do uh do a critical appraisal of this paper. And if you look at your consultant quite confused as, and you're not sure what a critical appraisal is, they completely understand that, then they'll probably tell you, ok, go away and read what a critical appraisal is, try to do a critical appraisals for some papers and then come back and take this paper from me and do it. So um in the NHS, when you start a junior level, you're given the opportunity to do, develop that skills towards um you know, uh research or getting involved research. Now, having qualification might not be uh uh compulsory. I would say if you wanna get into research fellow jobs, um especially not a junior research fellow, I think if you apply for maybe a senior research fellow, which is again, becoming very common. Um And a lot of trusts are hiring senior research fellows. So judges who can actually work 50% clinical and 50% research because they've got more complex research carriers going on within the trust. Um So having a degree um towards research. Yes, definitely a plus point in your, in your uh CV. But I wouldn't say it will be like a major thing that you should compulsorily have. But I do want to draw your attention to this very important certificate which is actually produced by, given by the NIH R. You can go on the NIH R website and do this uh good clinical practice. Having this certificate on your CV, whether it's in track jobs or in the NHS website will actually um stand out really well because it gives you an idea that you already know what N NIH R is and what a good clinical practice is. So the NIH R is basically the biggest uh research funding body for the NHS. So there are so many um research bodies you uh who fund research is going on in the UK, you've got private pharmaceutical companies or you've got um you know, trusts or charities like the British Heart Foundation. And then you have the NIH R, the NIH R they fund, I think majority of the uh research that are going on in the NHS. So they have a website and this good clinical practice certificate. If, if you do the courses you'll end up with the certificate and that looks really good in your CP. And even when you enter specialty training, I think you would have a crazy at the end of the specialty training in the form of A RCP, which I think people in training would be familiar with. Um I think this would give you 2 to 3 points, CPD points in the A RCP as well. So something that you should definitely consider doing, I'll put a link on uh about the good clinical practice uh course and where you can find it uh towards the end of the session in the chat box. Now, the third point I want to mention is if you want to do good research, I think you should be in the right position to do it. And now this is something that I actually came across recently. And um I it, it blew my mind that how I, the fact that I didn't know about this um training program in the NHS all this time. So this is known as the academic ACF, which is the academic clinical fellow. So what the ACF does is basically you can join the academic uh clinical. Uh it is an integrated academic training pathway and it's actually completely funded by the NIH R. So if you actually end up on this program, um your salary will actually be credited by the NIH R and not the NHS. And the way you can actually get into this training program is if you enter specialty training. So for any of you, uh, a couple of you here who are planning to enter specialty training or you're already in ST one ct one, you can apply at any point in your training. And if you get into it, I think it's basically a three years program. It, this is again, something that I've just recently come across and I've read about it and I've just summarized what the ACF the academic, uh clinical fellow, what it basically comprises. So it's basically a three year program. So if I apply at ST one, by the time I get into ST three or ST four, I'll be, I will be basically a clinical academic fellow and I would have papers related to it and you can actually apply for it in different specialties. So if you are a core surgical trainee, there are ACF posts in vascular surgery, there are ACF posts in trauma and orthopedics. Um, but you don't have to, you know, stick to your specialty. You can also apply in cardiology if that's something that interests you. And, but the number of ACF posts in these different specialties varies because if they've hired a lot of cardiology A CS last year, then you will not have so many ACF posts available this year. And it's the same way as how you would apply for specialty training as well. So I think it's an oral website and their application starts, um, just, uh, I think a month or a couple of weeks before the traditional, um, application process, I think usually it starts in November. So their application actually start, opens up in October and you can apply for it. And if you actually manage to get in, um, it's a very good deal because you would have 35% clinical and 25% research. And I think that's really good because, um, you get time away from work, uh, from your, from the wards from uh on calls and nights and weekends and you can fully focus 25% of that time in research. And I think that would make you much more productive in terms of doing research. Um your um clinical that's in your specialty training might will get a bit prolonged. It's just like it's just like going part time. But without the salary affected basically. Um and it's basically a research training program. So you would get chances to attend live workshops and training programs. Um And it's, and you can also uh get funds to do um extra qualifications. You can do masters in research or MS ES, you can get funds for that as well, which would otherwise be very expensive to do if you were to do it yourself. And the ACF also gives you budget. So getting your paper published is quite expensive because you do pay a, a bit of a fee to the journals. Um and attending conferences can also be expensive, getting the tickets. So this when you get into the ACF program, um you're given a budget that you can use to attend conferences, to attend, to do oral presentations, uh to basically get the paper published. So it's nice to have that budget. And I think that will give you maximizes the chance of you, you know, doing more research as well. It's a run through program. So you don't have to think about applying into specialty training again After two years or three years, you will just get a national training number and you will just run through. And uh a good thing is you can actually stay in your hospital. Now. I'm not sure. To what extent this is entirely sure. Um but I do know uh um one or two ACF S who are working in Manchester and they do and the hospital decided to keep them in Manchester. So they're not rotated around everywhere. Um Basically because um the NHS isn't giving them the salary it to the NIH R who are actually giving them the salary. So they're supernumerary and they basically get to be stayed in the hospital and the hospital also likes it because it's just, you know, an extra pair of hands um for to do more clinical work. And another thing is the main aim is to generate grant for a phd. So if you really enjoy, if you, when you take up the ACF and um you realize, oh, I really enjoy doing it I want to do phd on it. Now, sometimes P hds can be self funded in the sense you would have to pay the AM for it. Or sometimes, um, if your phd thes is really good, you can ask for a grant after it's being accepted in universities. So this ACF will help you sort of generate a grant for the, for your phd or your MD degree. So it's quite a very, um, I would say it's a very nice program for someone who wants to excel in research. Um And I think mainly when you go out there to conferences, when you're presenting your paper having that right uh position also important if you're an academic fellow and you're sitting there and you're talking about research or the papers you've done, I think that makes yourself uh look good as well rather than someone who's a junior fellow like me or uh someone who's in training. So just um a CF is something that you should, uh you can definitely go away and research a bit more. But um getting into ACF the training program itself, it's um I think the competition is quite fierce, I think um the competition ratio, um it varies from one is to 10 to 1 is to 40 sometimes depending upon um which uh which specialty you choose. So if you wanted to apply for ACF in cardiology, then again, that would be at the top of the list for the competition. And um unfortunately, it's not a straightforward process like our training programs. Um There are a number of loops um to sort of go around. So you start off with an application, your application is uh you make the application and you submit your portfolio, the portfolio would be like your teaching, your extra qualifications, your leaderships and, and then the papers you've published, which is very important, you're given a score on the portfolio and then you're called for an interview. Um And along with the interview, you'd also be asked to um answer a couple of questions like why you want to do ACF what's your niche? Why do you want to do cardiology or why do you want to do trauma and orthopedic ACF? And um they read that and they do a judgmental call and they basically um see it. So, but this ACF is a really nice, I think it's a good deal to have because you're away from your clinical work, you know, uh maybe 2 to 3 days away from in a week and you get to do a bit of research and it's much more relaxing. Um But it also opens a lot more doors to, to phd um to basically ruling the research world in the NHS. Um But it is uh uh quite competitive. There are around 250 posts in the UK uh from what I checked last year, but it does vary a bit. So this is again something to consider when you're applying for research or if you want to move your career towards research in the NHS. So a quick summary, please do remember, good research takes time. Um I think good research should take time because ultimately, whatever research that you do in the NHS is gonna end up in the policies that we are going to follow for the patients and their treatment. And it's important that you surround yourself with the best in the terms of uh your peers, uh your seniors, your research fellows and even uh your colleagues as well and just make yourself look more marketable, more favorable. I think all these three things will definitely help you draw the right research projects or um that you want to do within the NHS. So, um I think that brings us towards the end of the talk. Um Thanks for listening and if you've got any questions, um I'll try my best to answer them any questions. So I think um we don't have any questions. I'm just gonna put out, put a bit of uh links for you too. So we've got one from Elaine. Hi, ing. So while completing ACF, can we apply for phd at our first year of ACF? Um And then I think you could apply, but again, it depends on um how strong your CV or your portfolio is towards that phd. So if you wanted to do phd and you've got a good thesis project, um, that, that you didn't get from your ACF and you think that would stand out, I think you can definitely do. But it's, it's also about, uh, keeping in mind the competition for getting into phd. Um, and what they are expecting of you as well. But I think if you've completed your ACF, you're at a better chance of getting into your phd or getting your thesis paper. Um, I mean, your thesis get going within the university. But I think you can definitely do it if you've got the qualifications for it. So this is a link that I'm just gonna put out there um for you to go and if you're interested in the ACF post, you can definitely read through this. Um Yes. So um I'll put out that link in a moment. I'm just uh my screen is seem to be freezing, but um we do have some more sessions coming up. So we, we aim to do these sessions um every Sunday um in case you're interested um in attending. So, again, the main thing behind doing this teaching series was so that IM GS can have the confidence when they sit in the interviews um to answer some questions related to research. And I think nowadays, especially the, the uh having given the re uh an interview recently for the research fellow job, um I was not asked any questions related to cases or clinics rather, I was asked questions related to research. Um you know, and I was able to answer it and look better compared to my other colleagues who also um attended the interview. And I think that was mainly because I was able to get an idea of what research is within the NHS. So we aimed to, we aimed to keep the sessions short because um we all know how precious Sunday is for us. So I think the next couple of sessions, we'll try to keep it as short to 30 to 35 minutes long. Um But these are the sessions that we've planned to do. The first two sessions have been confirmed. The rest also will be confirmed in terms of timing and the dates, but it will be usually every Sunday. Now, if you do um did enjoy this teaching uh session and you do want to attend the next upcoming ones or some of the ones. Um I'm gonna put out a form here, it's a Google form. Um And if you fill this in, you'll be able to join as a member in our community in meal. So we put out all our events um on the calendar in medal and as soon as we put them out, you will get an invite link. Um And that's very easy for you to follow. So every time we have a session you'll get an invite link and you will get it in your inbox. You'll get a reminder as well. So you can just quickly uh you know, plan your day accordingly and come and attend if you like. So if you do want to continue listening to more of research Rs do fill out the form, I'm gonna put out a couple of more links, um especially this one. So any ju uh junior doctors or IM GS looking for a job, um I would definitely recommend you to go away and do this uh course, which is the good clinical practice. Um Sorry for the delay, I'm just gonna try. So this is the good clinical practice um caused by the NIH R something else. Really nice to do. It's free as well. You'll get a certificate. Um Once you do that, please uh do ensure that you put that on your track drops or on your C vs so that it looks good and about the ACF. Um So let me just quickly put out that link as well. So, so if you want to do a bit more reading on the um the ACF that is the academic Clinical Fellowship program, you can do that. Um I've put out the links for that as well. OK. So I think uh we've come to the end of the session. So thank you everyone for coming. If you've got any questions, uh feel free to pop a message. Uh send me a message on um email. Um I'll be happy to answer it. Um Thank you. Thank you for your time today.