The new Nursing and Midwifery Incubator, launched by the NIHR at the end of last month, aims to accelerate and support the development of nurses and midwives looking to develop a career leading research.
The NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Incubator has been established to accelerate capacity building and support the development of a skilled clinical academic research workforce across the nursing and midwifery professions.
With the support of Health Education England (HEE), the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing, this objective will be met by:
- fostering a ‘community of practice’ amongst those with a clear interest in developing themselves and/or others as nurse or midwife researchers by enabling effective networking and relevant knowledge sharing;
- coordinating information and support to help nurses and midwives better access existing research and research training opportunities available through the HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Programme, NIHR Fellowships programme and other research funding initiatives;
- developing and testing new forms of support, information and professional development.
As such, the Incubator and its community of practice welcomes all those who wish to develop themselves further as clinical researchers as well as those who support and supervise aspirant nurse and midwife researchers.
Being a virtual rather than physical entity, the Nursing and Midwifery Incubator will utilise a single online platform as a repository for information and resources, a noticeboard for developments and opportunities, and a forum for discussion and collaboration.
Various elements of platform content will be created and added over the coming months as the Incubator develops and matures
The creation of the NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Incubator will provide a collaborative, supportive and high profile structure for nurse and midwife led research within the NIHR and beyond.