Out-of-programme research (OOPR) is a critical step in the clinical academic career pathway and provides the opportunity for a trainee to receive high quality research training, to start to develop a strong personal research interest and establish how much they wish to be involved in research throughout their career.
Doctoral fellowships can be undertaken as part of the integrated academic pathway (see NIHR Integrated Academic Training Guide) or as out of programme research (OOPR)).
OOPR can be taken at any time in speciality training (after the foundation programme in medicine and after the dental foundation and core training programmes).
OOPR is usually for two or three years and the trainee should aim to achieve a master’s degree or a PhD. Ideally trainees obtain a training fellowship in national competition from the Medical Research Council, Wellcome, National Institute Health Research (NIHR) or a national research charity. Sometimes trainees are funded from less formal sources such as local charities, industry or as part of other large research grants.
Further details regarding OOPR can be found in the medical gold guide and dental gold guide. Information on how to apply through HEENE can be found here.
The out of programme – SuppoRTT explained workshop is a half day course discussing OOP opportunities and how it is applied for. You can book this course via the fast.ncl website.
Ashley Scrimshire is taking time out of programme to complete a PhD. Listen to him talk about his experiences, how he applied for funding and how his interest in research began.
Jamie is a Gastroenterology trainee taking time out of programme to complete a research trial in endoscopy at the University Hospital of North Tees.