Kent and Medway Medical School gets £1.1m boost for undergraduate research

Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) has secured funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to help medical students expand their experience in research.

These funds will support 28 students to undertake summer internships in research, as well as another 21 students to study intercalated master’s degrees over the next three years.

For students interested in pursuing academic careers, it’s hoped that these opportunities will help to establish a pipeline to embed research experience throughout their studies.

Professor Sukhi Shergill, co-director of research at KMMS, said: “This new funding is an important milestone in our ambition to create a research pipeline starting from medical student through junior doctors to senior clinical academics.

“This is completely new funding for research in Kent that’s only available because of the existence of our own medical school.

“This is fantastic news for us, the local NHS and the wider community that these doctors will serve.”

The school, a collaboration between Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent, is looking to become a regional hub for high-quality research and knowledge exchange, in partnership with NHS Trusts across Kent and Medway.

Professor Lisa Dikomitis, another co-director of research at KMMS, added: “This NIHR award allows us to further develop an inclusive, interdisciplinary research culture in our new medical school, and to put medical students at the heart of that development.

“We’re already conducting cross-disciplinary research. This new funding will facilitate for our medical students to work with researchers from a wide range of academic and clinical backgrounds.”

This latest award builds on funding already received from NIHR to fund seven academic clinical fellows posts – the first of whom will join from September.

These are doctors in the early stages of their speciality training, who’ll conduct research at KMMS alongside their clinical work in local trusts.

There’s also money to support development of the new Clinical Academic Training Office, which is being set up to support all clinical academic trainees, both undergraduate and postgraduate.