Clinical Research Fellow

Salary: £46,735.00 - £52,566.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 14 August 2025

The Role

The Newcastle NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaborative (Newcastle PSRC) is inviting applications for an Early-Career Clinical Research Fellow in Patient Safety. This is an integrated clinical academic (ICA) career development role. The post holder is expected to become a next-generation leader in patient safety research with a strong presence in NHS practice.

The Newcastle PSRC aims to achieve a step-change improvement in safety within the health and social care systems for people with Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTCs). It has a particular focus on research that is highly relevant to disadvantaged communities who are most impacted by MLTCs. It is led by a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, allied health professionals, nurses, medical doctors, and methodologists. The Newcastle PSRC is hosted by the Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (NHIP), with Queen Mary University as a further partner. NHIP is one of the eight Academic Health Sciences Centres in the UK, and forms a partnership across two NHS organisations rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (Mental Health) NHS Trust) as well as Newcastle University, Northumbria University, the Newcastle City Council, and the North East and North Cumbria Academic Health Sciences Network. NHIP forms an organisational partnership that allows practitioners, researchers and innovators to come together to discover, develop and deliver new solutions in healthcare, improving the population’s health and generating economic growth for the North East and North Cumbria region. Academic Health Science Centres are designated by NHS England, NHS Improvement and the National Institute for Health Research for demonstrating excellence in health research, health education and patient care.

The role that is now advertised will have a strong focus on driving capacity building in patient safety research across health and care research professions. It is funded by the Newcastle PSRC, and will reside in the intersection of the PSRC and the NHRP Academy, the flagship programme of the Newcastle Health Research Partnership. In addition to the Newcastle PSRC, the postholder will have an academic home at the Newcastle University Population Health Sciences Institute which provides a vibrant academic community with researchers from a diverse range of disciplines and specialisms working to improve health and care and reduce health inequalities. Further key communities come from within the Newcastle Hospitals’ Researcher Development Institute as well as the Newcastle University School of Pharmacy. All of these are nationally and internationally leading in their respective spaces, developing the next generation of researchers with focus on integration of research into clinical practice. Other relevant partnerships include other NHS and charitable organisations, such as the regional St Oswald’s Hospice, community providers associated across Wearside, Teesside and Northumberland, and Health Education England – North East and North Cumbria.  

The post holder will hold a substantive appointment with either the University or a partnering NHS Trust, with an integrated nomination with the other partner to undertake the full remit of the duties of the role. As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles. These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

The Early-Career Clinical Research Fellow in Patient Safety will be a post-doctoral, or with a clear sight to completing PhD with the research competencies to match, registered nurse, midwife, allied health professional, pharmacist, psychologist or social worker. They have a strong track record in practice-research leadership and clear evidence of externally funded research resulting to publications. Their publication track record includes academic papers in patient safety, health services research, and/or multiple long-term conditions. 

At appointment, you will join the Academic Career Development leadership team of the Newcastle PSRC, as an advanced trainee. A key purpose of your role will be to build integrated clinical academic capacity and research activity relevant to patient safety, across the region and nationally. In the Newcastle PSRC, we understand patient safety broadly, and focus on issues such as integration of care, practitioner and patient behaviours, polypharmacy, the impact of disadvantage, and AI and data.

You will act as a role model, inspiration and support for more junior trainees, planning and delivering interactive capacity building activities with the trainee community and with support from the existing Academic Career Development team (Professor Niina Kolehmainen, Dr Chris Lovegrove, Professor Annette Hand). You will also continue to grow your own research programme, research leadership, and clinical practice - with dedicated time and senior support. A key measure of success by the end of the post is successfully securing further, external funding that will advance your career as a leader in patient safety.

On day to day, you will:

1. Work closely with the existing Academic Career Development team for the Patient Safety Collaborative (Kolehmainen, Lovegrove, Hand), to grow integrated clinical academic capacity and research activity across the region and nationally, as is relevant to the Newcastle PSRC’s purpose and objectives.
2. Proactively establish yourself as a clinical academic lead in patient safety research, with strong visibility and credibility across the interdisciplinary field, locally and nationally. This includes both the academic and clinical activities, as well as leadership.  
3. Act as a positive and visible role model for patient safety research both internally across the host organisations and externally, continuing academic progress and achievement in terms of their own research, clinical academic leadership, and support for others.  

You should have successfully completed and graduated with a higher research degree, ideally a PhD. You will have a track record of high-quality original research publications relevant to the broad topic of patient safety, delivery of good quality care, and/or multimorbidity, and have demonstrated ability to secure external research funding (research grant or fellowship funding) previously. 

You must be able to demonstrate a clear trajectory towards research independence and be able to articulate a clear research vision. You have demonstratable ability to create collaborative working, and may have contributed to a collaborative network nationally or internationally. 

You will be an experienced health or care practitioner having completed professional training for your discipline. You must hold current registration with the relevant professional regulatory body.
 

You will spend the majority of your time on a combination of (i) supporting the capacity building of others (as aligned to the Education and Training core objectives) and (ii)  developing and delivering your own research. You will have 0.4FTE practice time, working with a suitable NHS or Local Authority partner (to be negotiated during appointment). You may have already identified a suitable local NHS or local authority partner with whom you will practice – if not, please contact us before applying to discuss this. Letters of support from partner organisations confirming willingness to host the applicant for you clinical work are encouraged at the time of application. 

Potential applicants without an existing clinical or practice link are encouraged to contact us to discuss potential practice opportunities. Given the clinical nature of the role successful applicants will undergo an additional NHS appointment process appropriate to their profession, level and current employment status. 

For informal enquiries about the opportunity, please contact: Niina Kolehmainen (niina.kolehmainen@newcastle.ac.uk) or Chris Lovegrove chris.lovegrove@newcastle.ac.uk 

Key Accountabilities

• Act as a key day-to-day contact for Academic Career Development for the Newcastle PSRC, providing support, mentorship and guidance to patient safety research trainees (predoctoral and doctoral students, and research interns).
• Supervise a selection of pre-doctoral students as a co-supervisor with one of the senior colleagues in the Newcastle PSRC.
• Support and mentor current and future potential patient safety trainees with external fellowship and grant applications (e.g. NIHR, Health Foundation) alongside the existing Academic Career Development team.
• Take the lead on planning and innovating the Newcastle PSRC multidisciplinary Academic Career Development annual capacity building offer, contributing to the development of all professions and working collaboratively with the trainee community, the existing Academic Career Development team, the NHRP Academy team, and the national PSRC SafetyNet career development team, to ensure the offer responds proactively to the emerging local and national landscape.
• Work with the relevant local and regional NHS and Local Authority partners and leaders, providing clinical and professional leadership to colleagues working across all partner organisations, motivating and empowering others and influencing the clinical academic contribution to the development of efficient, high quality, patient-centred and safe interventions/services; by integrating research and practice experience, expertise and activities.
• Represent Newcastle PSRC nationally as a clinical academic emerging leader, as appropriate and in collaboration with the other team members – including routinely and proactively share research findings (their own and that of others) across in a range of forums, maximising the dissemination of the generated knowledge for consideration in practice, policy and improvement initiatives.
• Develop own research, with focus on externally funded projects and/or fellowship as the lead applicant, and ensure consistent year-on-year research outputs several of which as first author.

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Has expert knowledge in practice, research, and leadership in specialist field and within own profession.
• Demonstrates advanced research knowledge and skills, ideally beyond or close to doctorate level, with clear evidence of application and resulting research outputs – including external, academic grants and peer-reviewed publications as the project lead and first author.
• Very strong evidence of sustained, proactive commitment to continued development of own knowledge and skills across clinical, research and leadership.
• Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills across disciplinary and organisational boundaries and while undertaking leadership activities.
• Significant experience across several disciplines in leading, as the senior within a team, research and/or improvement activities, including leadership outside own organisation.
• Self-motivated, pro-active and resourceful.
• Experience in applying evidence to shape clinical practice and/or supporting others to do so.
• Evidence of strong academic writing skills, including publications in diverse, multidisciplinary peer reviewed journals.
• Experience in supporting others in building their research capacity, and evidence of commitment in supporting research training and mentorship beyond own activities.
• Ability to lead area of practice with high degree of autonomy.
• Ability to prioritise a complex workload and work in a rapidly changing environment.
• Experience of developing/leading service development/audit projects.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant practice policy or project specific policy context.
• Has understanding/experience of adult/child safeguarding.
• Highly developed communication and influencing skills, including outside hierarchical structures.

Attributes and Behaviour

• Willingness to participate in collaborating teams and openness to work in an interdisciplinary way.
• Desire to contribute to a positive research culture aligned to the University’s four Guiding Principles and its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
• Willingness to contribute to broader activities that fall within the typical remit of an academic member of staff such as membership of committees, involvement in working groups, EDI activity, outreach, etc.
• Willingness to develop others, for example, through teaching, mentoring, and supervision.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate research degree in a relevant area of research.
• Hold current registration with their relevant professional regulatory body

Desirable

• PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant area of research.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28282