Fellowships fund first steps in research for our NHS staff

Health professionals will take the vital first steps in their academic careers after receiving a research fellowship grant from Imperial Health Charity.

Thanks to your generous donations, we've awarded six fellowships this year, offering a unique opportunity for staff to develop their research skills and take forward their own project.

Our fellowships give staff the chance to take time out from their professional role and focus solely on research - in many cases laying the foundations for further study.

One of this year's fellows was Sugha Murugesu, a specialist registrar working at Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital. Sugha's research project aims to help women who have been diagnosed with a miscarriage make informed decisions about their care using a new AI tool.

"I'm really excited to carry out this research," said Sugha (pictured). "It will give me that dedicated time away from my clinical commitments to devote myself fully to research."

Since the programme began in 2009, we've awarded more than £5m to support over 100 research fellowship projects. Others we've funded this year include an initiative to improve nutrition for patients admitted to critical care and a study aiming to reduce delirium in patients after heart surgery.

Our Research Fellowships programme is funded jointly with the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre.