A digital magazine aimed to inspire the next generation of researchers:

The Researcher launched on the 15th June 2016 and had 4 publications released. The digital publication, created for health researchers by health researchers, aimed to raise awareness of research careers among nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals.

Since launching the Researcher Magazine, NHS R&D NW has moved its engagement with researchers more to social media with active twitter and Facebook accounts which you can follow.  We now produce regular digital newsletters which appear on our website and can be accessed by joining our local researcher community through the invitation on our website.

Health Education England (HEE), NHS Research and Development North West, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) worked together with a team of early career health researchers and award winning writer Rob Young to produce the magazine which illustrated the real-life stories of what it is like to undertake a research career.

The editions included:

• Issue 1; Breaking Boundaries
• Issue 2; Staying Balanced
• Issue 3; Maintaining Momentum
• Issue 4; Building Community

This was a highly collaborative project with Early Career Researchers (ECRs) developing the content and forming the editing team supported by editor in chief, Rob Young. Drawing from a bank of stories, news, and content, The Researcher focused on communicating, in an engaging, energising, and innovative way, the backstories from research and researchers.

Editorial team member Dr David Keane, Clinical Scientist at St James’ Hospital in Leeds, explains why he got involved:

“My interest in the magazine comes both from what I will get out of the work and from hopefully generating something that can help a whole community of early career researchers to embark on a journey and to find their way through the uncertain periods of the early stages of a research career.”

Nicki Latham, Executive Director of Performance and Development at HEE – who funded the first three editions of the  magazine – said:

“Following the positive reception of the first issue, I am delighted that we’ve been able to produce another high-quality publication to help support our researchers and hopefully encourage those not already involved in research to become more curious about how they can improve patient care and the part research can play in doing so.

“I enjoyed reading all your feedback, but this tweet summed it up: ‘Informative, insightful, interesting – everything a newsletter should be and most importantly has a heart #whywedoresearch’.”