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