Academic/Research

Superb REF results confirm our world class status

For those of you who donā€™t yet know, I am proud to announce that we have achieved an absolutely superb outcome in the Research Excellence Framework 2014 assessment, the results of which were published recently. We scored an overall research quality profile of 3.47, with 94% of our research rated as either internationally excellent or world-leading. Within the University of Southampton this was the second… Read more »

Tracey Davies: FGM ā€“ a difficult issue that needs tackling

Iā€™m Tracey and Iā€™m a Clinical Academic PhD student here at Southampton and a neonatal nurse at Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust. In addition to my clinical academic nursing career I volunteer as the Kenya Country Manager for the charity ā€˜Cricket without Boundariesā€™, and I also run my own charity ā€˜THEY are Africaā€™. In February Iā€™m planning to travel to Kenya to help deliver a ground-breaking… Read more »

The importance of interdisciplinary research

The scientist in me never fails to be excited by interdisciplinary working, whereas the manager in me simply marvels at what can often be achieved in a relatively short space of time. In fact, evidence shows that this approach to research has the potential to increase the pace of discovery exponentially. Interdisciplinary research, hence the name, is where researchers from different disciplines work together on… Read more »

Emily and Marie: The International Confederation of Midwives Congress 2014

Clinical Academic Doctoral Fellows Experience of The International Confederation of Midwives Congress 2014 Ā ā€˜When a woman is at her most vulnerable, it is kindness that makes the differenceā€™ – Her Excellency Toyin Saraki Over 3,800 midwives from over 100 countries gathered in Prague for 4 days of inspirational speeches, seminars and workshops. Over the course of the week we learnt about practice in other countries,… Read more »

Clinical academia: from workbench to bedside

The pace of continuing modernisation in todayā€™s health service demands a joined up approach to translating theory into practice to improve patient care. As a result, in recent years we have observed the rise and rise of a new kind of practitioner – the clinical academic. If you are an undergraduate looking to go into nursing, midwifery or an allied healthcare practitioner role, you could… Read more »

Engendering a culture of student led research

As a leading force in health sciences research we hold ourselves to exceptionally high standards. After all, our world class reputation for research excellence was hard won and has never been taken for granted. However, if you thought that this research was conducted only by our leading academics and paid research staff, then you would be quite wrong. That is because our postgraduate students are… Read more »

What do I do when I’m not being ‘The Dean’?

People often ask me what I do when I am not being ‘The Dean’. Ā Well the answer is it’s sometimes hard to know when one role stops and another starts. Ā There are a great many things that I find myself drawn into, but there is a common thread: working to try to improve the experience of healthcare for those in need of it. One of… Read more »

REF: A new opportunity to benefit from our strengths

Now that we have made our Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our researchers for their hard work and dedication over the past year in particular. Indeed, I am continually both amazed and delighted to find that at Health Sciences we are a community of truly exceptional individuals, who challenge ourselves each and every working… Read more »

Ā£9m award makes Wessex CLHARC a reality

For those of you who donā€™t yet know, it gives me great pleasure to announce that we, along with our colleagues in Medicine and NHS partners, have been awarded a nine million pound grant from the National Institute for Health Research. As a result, we have now established the Wessex Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, or Wessex NHIR CLAHRC, which is… Read more »