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.
Dr Sam Malins works in Nottinghamshire Healthcare's Clinical Psychology Cancer Service. Having "stumbled into research", Sam is now flourishing as a clinical academic.
Who or what inspired you to get involved in research?
My priority after qualifying was getting a job close to home, to be around to help my wife with our two young children.
Research was not a priority, but after a period of time out of work I got a job providing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on a research study in the old NIHR CLAHRC, which was a short bike ride from home. I supported a study of people who were high users of primary care, who struggled to access mental health care.
How has working on research projects changed your day to day practice?
I quickly realised how unique the clinical academic role is, enjoying this new world where research and clinical practice work in parallel.
We do research in training but when I got to apply research findings to practice, you could see the direct relationship between the two. It was rare for a clinical psychologist to be knocking around a research team at that point. Research really sparked an interest, I could see the cross over between research and clinical practice.
Did you face any challenges when you wanted to get involved in research?
Working in physical health and in a research study wasn’t what I thought I was going to be doing when I graduated. I couldn’t find a job close to home initially and eventually applied for two jobs - I really wanted the job in child and adolescent mental health services. I was absolutely crestfallen when I didn’t get it, but I am so glad I didn’t get that job because I wouldn’t have understood how research could make my clinical practice better.
How have you involved patients in your research?
I'm leading a study that aims to help psychological therapists become more effective in treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders using artificial intelligence. Before falling into a research job, I was unaware that clinical practice and research could go together so well.
How would you encourage your colleagues to get involved with research?
Research is now part of my career and combining it with my role as a Clinical Psychologist not only benefits my clinical practice, it also gives me a wider perspective. I would encourage others considering the academic career path, to go for it – it is not the smoothest or the easiest, but it can certainly feel satisfying work to do and can make a difference to patients as well as other healthcare practitioners.
What's your research ambition?
I'm now on a three-year fellowship funded by Health Education England and the National Institute for Health Research in the Integrated Clinical Academic careers programme. I'm aiming to produce a tool that can help therapists improve continuously throughout their careers.
How does research make a difference to the NHS? (Or to your service?)
I was surprised initially, I hadn’t appreciated how research could make such a difference to clinical practice until I started working in both areas – how impactful research could be for patients.
To discover what your path in research might be, take a look online or email