Newcastle Clinical Scientist awarded a Pre-Application Support Fund award to prepare a project to investigate inherited retinal disease

NHIP Academy has supported Stephanie Quinn, from Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to secure a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Pre-application Support Fund.

The fund is designed to provide extra support and help to enhance an individual’s chances of a successful application to an NIHR career development scheme. Stephanie, who is a Clinical Scientist in Ophthalmic and Vision Science, will use her award to prepare a research project investigating retinal changes in patients with inherited retinal disease, which can often lead to untreatable sight loss.

Here she shares with us what the funding means to her and how she was supported by NHIP Academy throughout the application process:

What does the award mean to you?

As an NHS based Clinical Scientist, most of my time at work is spent running clinics and writing reports. This award provides me with dedicated time to work on my research. I plan to spend my time on the award completing some data analysis for a feasibility project and publishing the results. This will support my future doctoral level application with NIHR, which I now have dedicated time to develop and write.

My research journey started with an internship funded by NIHR Newcastle BRC, which was followed by an NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship. This was a great opportunity that allowed me to contribute to a book chapter about my research area, speak to members of the public with sight loss about my research, present my work at the world’s largest international ophthalmology conference and begin the initial stages of setting up a feasibility clinical research study. The pre-application support award will allow me to finalise the output of this feasibility study that will inform my project plan for my future doctoral level fellowship.

What will your research involve?

My research focusses on investigating retinal changes in patients with inherited retinal disease, which can often lead to currently untreatable sight loss. The aim of my research is to use new techniques that provide novel insight into disease mechanisms of the retina, hopefully lead to the development of new treatment strategies. My background is primarily in visual electrophysiology, which provides diagnostic information about the visual system. I hope to use this experience to also demonstrate prognostic and diagnostic information from my research.

How did NHIP Academy help support you with your award?

The academy supported my application and were invaluable at steering my ideas to make sure they aligned with the NIHR goals of demonstrating patient and clinical benefit.

The team were able to use their experience in application writing to make sure that what I set out to do was clear and aligned with these goals. I was also able to use their knowledge to demonstrate an appropriate and well-rounded support system in my application, alongside key data on how many NIHR fellows have succeeded in the region.

I hope to continue working with the academy as I develop my ideas for the larger doctoral fellowship next year, as I value their insight and experience in this area.

NHIP Academy supports people throughout all stages of their research career journey, from undergraduate to senior investigator. For more information on the support provided by NHIP Academy, please visit: https://newcastlehealthresearchpartnership.org/nhip-academy/