Throughout October, we're showcasing our Nottinghamshire Healthcare colleagues, and the path they have taken into research. To discover Your Path in Research, visit the National Institute of Health Research website for information and inspiration.

Allied Health Professional (AHP) Clinical Academic Co-Lead and Speech and Language Therapist, Becca O'Brien, takes us through her research journey. Her key message - find cheerleaders who will support you.

Who or what inspired you to get involved in research?

I did a psychology degree before my professional speech and language therapy training, which I think helped me to be fundamentally sceptical and inquiring about the evidence for our clinical interventions. My first research project was inspired by my nosiness about why my MDT colleagues didn’t seem to follow our advice about how to communicate with patients!

How has working on research projects changed your day to day practice?

It has given me the skills and knowledge to identify the best evidence-based interventions for my clients on a day-to-day basis and the confidence to share this with others in my service, and to drive change where I think this is indicated.

Did you face any challenges when you wanted to get involved in research?

My personal circumstances meant I couldn’t voluntarily give up my permanent clinical role and couldn’t afford to reduce my salary. This has meant I’ve had multiple secondments from my clinical roles over the years, which have always had to be negotiated with managers. Fortunately my line managers have always been supportive of my aspirations and seen the value of having clinicians being involved in research for improving services and for recruitment and retention.

How have you involved patients in your research?

I think as a speech therapist, specialising in communication difficulties, you always feel like you’re working as an advocate for your client and client group, helping to give them a voice. So including the patient population in research comes naturally to us and is always a pleasure! My main research method involves video recording interactions with patients and analysing them in great detail, so I never feel far away from patients. I’m fortunate to have always developed and run research grants with patient and public representatives as a core part of the team. I’ve also presented all my research ideas to groups of patient representatives, as a crucial stage in developing and refining your ideas. They have often proved to be our best critical friends and they don’t hold back!

How would you encourage your colleagues to get involved with research?

Find cheerleaders who will enthusiastically support your ambitions and help you push through the barriers. Find colleagues who have experience of both clinical work and academic/ research to be a sounding board for you to think through your ideas and point you to the next steps. If you are an AHP in Notts Healthcare, then contact myself or my co-lead Lisa Everton and we will give you all the support and advice that we can! All research is team work, you can’t do it alone.

What's your research ambition?

I’m about to start on a new 3 year research project which will further develop work I did for my PhD. My ambition now is to support healthcare professionals to become new researchers, making opportunities for them to join our work or to develop their own research ideas.

How does research make a difference to the NHS? (Or to your service?)

Good clinical research is vital to the NHS and all our services, as we struggle to face current and future economic and healthcare challenges. If we want to provide affordable, effective and compassionate health and social care, then we need research to be tackling these questions in every clinical field.

To discover what your path in research might be, take a look online or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.