INSPIRE

What is the Keele Medical Research pathway?

The research pathway is an important part of your undergraduate medical training.  Engaging with research will enhance your opportunities both during your time at Keele and going forward into clinical practice.

There are numerous opportunities during your degree to take part in and engage with research during your degree, including:

Student Selected Components, in Years 1, 3 and 5;

Intercalated Degrees, typically on completion of Year 2 or 4;

Vacation Studentships, typically in Year 2 or 3

Students who have engaged in optional activities may choose to undertake an Academic Foundation Post at the beginning of their years in practice.  

Medical research has always been conducted by doctors, and many world-changing discoveries have been made by clinicians (vaccination, penicillin, insulin for for example).  Engaging with research can:

  • provide you with new career opportunities - would you like to become a clinician-scientist or clinical researcher?
  • enable you to engage with an academic subject in greater depth
  • develop your multidisciplinarity via interaction with research students and researchers, expanding your perspective
  • develop your understanding of basic laboratory science, experimental methodology and research methods
  • enhance your CV via increasing your skill base, publication of papers in peer-reviewed journals and presentation at conferences
  • gain additional qualifications in a medicine-related area, augmenting your CV
  • open doors in competitive specialisms - increase your chances of employment as a medical academic

    INSPIRE logo

What is INSPIRE? 

INSPIRE is an Academy of Medical Sciences/Wellcome Trust-funded program designed to enable medical students to engage with academic research

This supports the foundation of the Student-led research network, vacation bursaries for students wishing to undertake a summer research project at Keele, and enables us to run a Research Day to enable students to discuss, disseminate and develop their research ideas.

I'm interested in getting involved in research, what do I do next?

If you're keen to get started, your first step should be to get in touch with researchers engaged with work which interests you.  A good place to start is with the research institute websites, which will tell you what research local groups are involved in.  Please get in touch if you're interested but not sure what you'd like to do.

Once you've chosen a project/supervisor or a program for intercalation, your next step is to get funding for your work - more information is available about ICD bursaries and INSPIRE summer studentships.

News on INSPIRE and research for medical students is available at the attached link.