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A new report from the Council of Deans of Health calls for urgent action to expand clinical academic careers in nursing, midwifery, and the allied health professions (AHPs). Commissioned by the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research and developed by a UK-wide task group, the report highlights the critical role these professionals play in delivering better care and strengthening health systems.
Despite this, the report reveals that nurses, midwives and AHPs make up only a tiny proportion of the clinical academic workforce, with barriers such as limited pathways, poor data, and lack of protected research time preventing progress. It sets out five key actions to tackle these issues, including improving pay and conditions, embedding research in undergraduate training, and building a clearer UK-wide research career pathway.
The ambition is bold: to increase the number of clinical academic roles by 50% over the next five years. Achieving this will require coordinated action from funders, universities, NHS organisations, and policy makers.
At Dementia Researcher, we are sharing this report to support its call for change and to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities ahead for nurses, midwives and AHPs in research careers.
As a timely opportunity, Alzheimer’s Research UK will shortly open applications for their Clinical Research Fellowships. They are hosting a webinar on the 23rd July to share further details. Full details will be published via our Funding Calls listings.
Building capacity to improve population health and promote economic growth
Dr Emma Law
Adam Smith
