Furthering your career as a Clinical Research Practitioner

Georgia Melia is a Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) in the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. As the only CRP based in the centre, Georgia oversees a wide range of studies. Alongside this, she completed a pre-doctoral fellowship in 2023 and recently gained funding to undertake a PhD starting in autumn 2024.

CRP is an umbrella title that covers various roles in research delivery that have a patient-facing element and where the postholder isn’t currently registered to a healthcare profession. The Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS) Accredited Register for CRPs was introduced in 2021. It recognises the vital contribution made by this sector of the research workforce and supports a professionalisation strategy for the role. The Academy for Healthcare Science is a recognised eligible regulatory body for healthcare professionals wishing to undertake the academic programme.

A diverse role

Georgia joined Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2020 as a CRP following a Research Master’s degree in Biomechanics at Nottingham Trent University. She immediately became involved with the Covid-19 research team.

Georgia recalls: “I was straight away processing blood samples for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine trial, as I already had the laboratory skills to do that. But I was quickly trained in clinical research skills to support my nursing colleagues on the Recovery trial, which tested treatments for Covid-19 on patients admitted to hospital.”

Georgia was one of the lead practitioners collecting patient samples for a local bioresource tissue bank. She also worked on other studies in other clinical departments including: rheumatology, neurology, cancer and ophthalmology.

This intense introduction to clinical research gave Georgia a depth and range of clinical and research skills in a short period of time. When the AHCS Accredited Register for CRPs opened in 2021, Georgia promptly applied and successfully joined.

Opportunities for progression

Georgia has continued to make progress in her career. In 2022, she was one of the first CRPs nationally to be accepted on the Pre-doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship Scheme. The funding programme is supported by NIHR and Health Education England. It helps health and care professionals to develop academic careers that combine continued practice and professional development with research and research leadership.
During this Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Georgia created two projects and was involved in several others. One project gathered data on the severity and prevalence of chronic pain in patients at the major trauma unit where Georgia is based. The data highlighted the scale of the problem and provided evidence to pursue a PhD within this important area.

After going through the Fellowship programme, Georgia was invited to speak about her experience at CRP events around the country. She says: “Many CRPs who heard me speak had no idea they had access to further their careers through academic pathways. Some approached me directly for advice and support, which I was happy to give.”

Georgia has now personally mentored other CRPs to apply for the Pre-doctoral Fellowship programme and the CRP accredited register. As a result of this and her work as a CRP, she was nominated and shortlisted for a CRP Leadership Award at the UK Advancing Healthcare Awards in 2023.

Supporting research delivery

Since starting in her role as a CRP, Georgia has worked on over 27 research studies across a range of clinical specialties. She currently oversees delivery activities for a portfolio of both commercial and non-commercial interventional and observational studies.

The main trial she is involved with is the ‘ROWTATE’ study. It is trialling a ‘return to work’ programme specially designed for people following serious injury. ROWTATE is the largest study worldwide looking at vocational rehabilitation for trauma patients. Georgia recruited over 150 patients to this study, which amounted to over 20% of the total number of participants involved.

She has also recruited a further 200 patients to various studies being delivered within the Major Trauma Centre.

Georgia believes being based in the centre and building close links with clinical staff is key to her success in recruiting patients. She says: “I’m based close to the ward and I’m generally around every day. I see new patients as they come in and all the clinical staff know me and what studies I’m working on. Having a good relationship with clinical staff means they are able to support research by referring suitable patients to me. For example, if the occupational therapist is seeing someone who’s keen to return to work, they’ll let me know so I can speak to the patient about the ROWTATE study.”

Georgia’s contributions extend beyond patient recruitment and general study duties. She also inputs to study protocol designs, funding applications, leads patient and public involvement (PPI) groups and composes academic papers and presentations.

What the future holds

Georgia recently successfully gained funding for her three-year PhD on the topic of risk factors for chronic pain following major trauma. This is a continuation of the work she did during her Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. She’s looking forward to being able to lead her own funded research project. She is also keen to see the CRP role further strengthened and widely recognised across the research system.

“We’re an important part of the research workforce and that needs to be acknowledged,” she says. “When I first started, it seemed that no one was sure what a CRP was. Since the introduction of registration for CRPs in 2021, the role is better established and recognised and we’ve also grown in number. It’s a work in progress and there is still more that can be done, particularly to standardise the role across different NHS trusts and to ensure there are good opportunities for progression. But things are definitely improving and that’s great to see.”