Given the current pressures on the health service, it can be especially challenging to pursue a research career as a health professional. For example, it can be daunting to plan your next step after completing a fellowship or grant. We support clinical academics across King’s Health Partners throughout their professional pathway to try and make these transitional phases easier.

We support our community of research professionals to share their research via publications, presentations and interviews. This is important for raising your profile and demonstrating the impact of your research, to help you take the next step in your career.

Throughout the academic year, we run workshops and training sessions on how to write research papers and how to get them published. The KCATO SharePoint hosts recordings of previous training sessions, as well as resources about communicating and publishing research.

We host and promote events where you can present your research, including our annual flagship event, the King’s Clinical Academic Research Symposium. We also interview researchers to find out more about their work and raise their profiles, and King’s runs a KCATO Thesis Prize to recognise the work of doctoral students working in health research.

Navigating a clinical academic career is not straightforward. Building networks is a good way to learn from others and to meet people with shared experiences. By undertaking a research career within King’s Health Partners and engaging with KCATO, you join an active community of researchers, where professional relationships can be developed to the advantage of your work.

KCATO administers the Integrated Academic Training (IAT) programme for medical and dental trainees, and King’s PhD Programme in Mental Health Research for Health Professionals. The Centre for Translational Medicine also offers Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellowships. Please see our funding page for more details, and to learn about other opportunities across the University and from external funding sources.

We also provide support for health professionals applying for funding through other channels and programmes. We run events about funding and host useful resources and information about funding on the KCATO SharePoint (if the link to the KCATO SharePoint does not work for you, please request access by completing our registration form).

Many healthcare professionals struggle to continue doing research after they complete a fellowship, training programme or PhD and return to a clinical career. You may have lost contact with research colleagues and feel like there’s no easy way back in. The research funding landscape may have changed during your time away from academia, or you may feel that your academic skills are rusty.

The training we offer can help sharpen your academic skills. We have also launched a new initiative, Return to Research, to help PhD holders from nursing, midwifery or professions allied to healthcare backgrounds get back into research.