What to expect from your academic post Tim Rattay ACF in Breast Surgery My Academic Project • Biomarkers of radiosensitivity in breast cancer – Genotyping – Dept of Genetics – Bioassays – Dept of Cancer Studies & Mol Medicine • NHS site – Glenfield Hospital (Miss S Shokuhi, Dr A Haider) • University supervision – Research (Prof RP Symonds, Dr CJ Talbot, Dr GD Jones) – Academic (Prof R Sayers) • Collaborations – Internal: Cell Signalling & Molecular Pathology (Dr J Shaw) – External: Brunel University My Timeline MRes Modules 2010 2011 Upper GI ST3 Writing Research Proposal Oct Awaiting Ethics and R&D HPB ST3 Breast ST3/4 Aug 2012 Collecting samples & Lab work Applying Breast ST4 Breast ST4 Aug Expect that… • You have allocated time for academic work, unlike your other NHS trainee peers • You are an honorary fellow of the University, thus having access to – University facilities – University staff • You have an allocated academic bursary of £1,000 per annum Expect the unexpected • Paperwork for MRes, Ethics, R&D • Time lag from Ethics and R&D application to approval • Legwork involved in establishing – recruitment – consent process – sample collection • Remember: NHS clinicians are very busy people Top Tips • Use the time to establish collaboration within university and externally to improve your fellowship proposal • Be flexible with your 25 % allocation of academic time – use it when you need it most • Try to work clinically where your patients or samples are, when you are recruiting Top Tips (cont’d) • Use your ACF Bursary to fund residential courses or scientific conferences not covered by NHS study leave • Try to obtain a small grant – it looks good on your fellowship application What to expect from your academic post Tim Rattay ACF in Breast Surgery