Dr. Razia Jabbar (FY1 doctor, Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust), reflects on her experience during the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Research Taster Programme at Swansea University and National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research (NCSR).
I am Dr Razia Jabbar, an FY1 doctor currently working at Tameside and Glossop
Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust in the Northwest of England. My current rotations
include geriatrics, frailty Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), and general medical on
calls. I graduated from Ameer-ud-Din Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan, and have
maintained a strong interest in research since medical school, where I contributed to
both a published perspective article and a systematic review.
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the National Institute for Health and Care Research Translational Research Collaboration: Mental Health (NIHR TRC:MH) Capacity Development Mental Health Research Taster Programme at Swansea University.
During the placement, I worked with Dr A.J. Williams, Lecturer in Suicide Prevention at the
National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research. The experience
provided valuable exposure to the realities of mental health research in the UK and
offered insight into how research, data infrastructure, ethics, and patient involvement
intersect to shape modern healthcare.
I undertook this placement because I wanted to better understand how research is
translated into clinical practice, particularly in mental health, where the burden of
illness continues to grow globally. As a junior doctor, much of my day-to-day work
focuses on immediate patient care and decision-making under pressure. This
placement allowed me to step outside the clinical environment and appreciate the
broader systems that inform healthcare delivery, policy, and innovation.
More importantly, it challenged many of my previous assumptions about research.
Before the placement, I viewed research largely as an academic process occurring
separately from frontline medicine. However, over the course of the week, I came to
appreciate that research and clinical practice are deeply interconnected, with each
influencing the other continuously.
Understanding the UK Mental Health Research Ecosystem
One of the most valuable aspects of the placement was gaining an overview of the UK
mental health research infrastructure. I was introduced to the role of the National
Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the NIHR TRC:MH,
Mental Health Translational Research Collaborations (MH-TRCs), and DATAMIND — the
UK’s mental health data hub.
Through meetings and discussions, including participation in a DATAMIND Mental
Health Mission meeting, I observed how multidisciplinary teams collaborate across
academia, NHS trusts, and research organisations to coordinate mental health
research at scale. I was particularly struck by the level of organisation, accountability,
and collaboration involved in large research programmes. Discussions ranged from
project progress and financial planning to supporting PhD researchers and improving
participant recruitment.
A key learning point for me was understanding the importance of Trusted Research
Environments (TREs), such as the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL)
databank at Swansea University. These infrastructures allow researchers to securely
analyse linked health data at population level while maintaining patient confidentiality. I
began to appreciate how modern mental health research increasingly depends not only
on clinical expertise, but also on data science, digital infrastructure, governance, and
collaboration.
Clinical Coding: An Overlooked Foundation of Research
One reflection that particularly stayed with me was the role of routine clinical
documentation in shaping research quality.
Before this placement, I largely viewed clinical coding and documentation as
administrative tasks necessary for continuity of care. However, I learned that large-scale
research infrastructures such as DATAMIND are fundamentally dependent on the
quality and completeness of routinely collected NHS data. Everyday clinical decisions
about how diagnoses, comorbidities, and risk factors are documented directly
influence the reliability and representativeness of research outputs.
This shifted my perspective significantly. I realised that accurate and standardised
documentation is not only important for individual patient care, but also contributes to
future evidence generation, service planning, and policy development.
At the same time, the placement encouraged me to think critically about the limitations
of data-driven research. Important variables such as ethnicity, socioeconomic
background, and gender identity are often incompletely recorded, introducing bias into
datasets and potentially widening existing inequalities. Mental health presentations are
also inherently nuanced and difficult to fully capture through standardised coding
systems alone.
As clinicians, we are often working under significant time pressures, and improving data
quality cannot rely solely on expecting individuals to document more. Structural
improvements within electronic health record systems, greater standardisation, and
better feedback about how data contributes to meaningful research are equally
important. This experience made me appreciate that improving research quality is not
solely the responsibility of researchers — it also depends on everyday clinical practice.
“This placement allowed me to step outside the clinical environment and appreciate the broader systems that inform healthcare delivery, policy, and innovation.”
Ethics in Mental Health Research
Another major area of learning during the placement was research ethics, particularly
within mental health and suicide prevention research.
As a medical student, my understanding of ethics focused mainly on clinical principles
such as informed consent, confidentiality, and acting in the patient’s best interests.
During this placement, I developed a much deeper appreciation of the additional
ethical complexities involved in mental health research.
Mental health research often involves vulnerable populations, raising important
questions around capacity, safeguarding, autonomy, stigma, and power imbalance. I
learned that ethical research requires far more than obtaining a signature on a consent
form. Researchers must ensure that participants genuinely understand uncertainty,
voluntary participation, and their right to withdraw, while also balancing confidentiality
with the responsibility to act if a participant is at risk.
A particularly important insight for me was understanding safeguarding within research
settings. Previously, I associated safeguarding primarily with clinical care. However, I
came to recognise that researchers also hold significant responsibility when
participants disclose distress, suicidal ideation, or risk during studies. This highlighted
the ethical tension between respecting patient autonomy and ensuring patient safety.
I was also interested to learn that discussing suicide and self-harm within research
does not appear to increase suicidal ideation, contrary to common misconceptions. In
fact, evidence suggests that open and sensitive discussion may reduce distress for
some individuals. This reinforced the importance of conducting research in a way that is
compassionate, evidence-based, and non-stigmatising.
Overall, this experience transformed my understanding of ethics from a static
framework into a continuous process of judgement, communication, and responsibility.
Public and Patient Involvement and the Importance of Co-Design
A major theme throughout the placement was Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) and
co-design within mental health research.
I learned that meaningful patient involvement goes far beyond simply recruiting
participants into studies. Instead, PPI aims to actively involve people with lived
experience in shaping research priorities, study design, and dissemination. This helps
ensure that research remains relevant, practical, and patient-centred.
One of the most interesting concepts I explored was co-design within digital mental
health interventions. Co-design involves patients, carers, or young people working
collaboratively with researchers and clinicians throughout the development process,
rather than simply providing feedback at the end.
I found this particularly relevant in youth mental health and self-harm research, where
interventions must be accessible, acceptable, and sensitive to the realities of lived
experience. Co-designed interventions appear to improve engagement and usability
because they reflect the priorities of the people who will ultimately use them.
At the same time, I also learned about the limitations and criticisms of co-design. In
some cases, patient involvement risks becoming tokenistic, with researchers retaining
most decision-making power despite claims of collaboration. This highlighted the
importance of transparency and genuine shared decision-making within participatory
research.
Comparing PPI with systems such as PALS within clinical practice was also insightful.
While both value lived experience, PPI is proactive and embedded within the research
process, whereas PALS is generally reactive and focused on improving existing services
after care has been delivered.
“I came to appreciate that research and clinical practice are deeply interconnected, with each influencing the other continuously.”
Children, Young People, and Digital Mental Health
During the placement, I also attended a webinar on children and young people’s mental
health and wellbeing, including discussion of the DIORA study examining online risk
and resilience in adolescence.
What stood out to me was the emphasis on moving beyond simplistic ideas around
“screen time.” The presentation highlighted that digital engagement is not inherently
harmful or beneficial, but instead interacts dynamically with pre-existing mental health,
social environments, and individual resilience factors.
This challenged many oversimplified public discussions surrounding social media and
adolescent mental health. It reinforced the importance of nuanced, longitudinal
research capable of capturing the complexity of young people’s lived experiences in the
digital age.
Communicating Research Beyond Academia
Another valuable part of the placement was social media and communications training
delivered by the communications team at the National Centre for Mental Health and
Suicide Prevention. The session focused on translating research into accessible public
facing content.
As clinicians and researchers, we often focus heavily on producing evidence but less on
communicating it effectively. The training highlighted the importance of engaging wider
audiences, presenting information clearly, and ensuring that research findings reach
patients, policymakers, and the public in meaningful ways.
This made me reflect on how impactful research depends not only on producing high
quality evidence, but also on ensuring that evidence can be understood and applied
outside academic settings.
Final Reflections
Although the placement lasted only five days, it significantly broadened my
understanding of mental health research and its relationship with clinical practice.
The experience reinforced that research is not separate from frontline medicine; rather,
it is deeply embedded within it. From clinical coding and safeguarding to patient
involvement and digital innovation, every aspect of healthcare contributes to how
evidence is generated and translated into practice.
Most importantly, the placement encouraged me to think more critically about the kind
of clinician I hope to become. As I continue my medical training, I hope to remain
involved in research alongside clinical practice and contribute to developing more
patient-centred, equitable, and evidence-based healthcare systems.
I am extremely grateful to the NIHR Mental Health Research Taster Programme,
Swansea University, DATAMIND, and Dr A.J. Williams for providing such a valuable and
inspiring opportunity early in my career.
