Your path in research

Your Path in Research - start your career in research

Better research leads to better services for patients and the public. That's why we want to encourage health and social care professionals to play an active role in research, as a way to deliver even better services.

Play the Your Path In Research game

Play the Your Path in Research Game to explore how adding research to your career can help you gain new skills and qualifications, help you to build your career around areas you are passionate about, and make a real difference to patients, service users, carers and the public. Play the Your Path in Research Game.

Here is the your path in research game transcript

If you are a graduate or about to graduate

There are a variety of roles available in research and depending on the setting you could be based in a higher education institution, research institute, hospital, industry or charity.

Work in the NHS and want to make research part of your role?

Health and care professionals provide vital support in the delivery of research. A skilled research delivery workforce is crucial to making research happen in the NHS and other health and social care settings.

Simple steps to add research to your career

  • Explore the NIHR initiatives and support available for those wanting to take their first step into delivering research.
  • Join a community of researchers by visiting schools relevant to your specialty, sign up to the school's newsletter.
  • Reach out to your LCRN to find out more about local opportunities to get involved in research. These local networks coordinate and support the delivery of research in the NHS and across the wider health and social care environment.
  • Browse the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (NIHR ARCs) internships and other opportunities in your region. Contact your local ARC to discuss the latest opportunities.
  • Play the Your Path in Research Game to explore how adding research to your career can help you gain new skills and qualifications, help you to build your career around areas you are passionate about, and make a real difference to patients, service users, carers and the public. Play the Your Path in Research Game.

Other opportunities to begin your path in research

Researcher stories

Interning in research as a social worker

A social worker’s experience of doing a research internship and investigating the impact of adversity on child development. Read Emily's story.

Undertaking a career development short placement as a social care professional

This case study explores how a children’s social care professional undertook an NIHR short placement award as a first step to developing a practitioner research career.

Social worker researching integration of child asylum seekers

Kirstie Baughan is an experienced social worker who is using funding from NIHR to research the integration experiences of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children leaving care.