We are pleased to invite applications for the 2025 NHS England-London ICA Internship scheme, hosted by London South Bank University (LSBU) in consortium with King’s College, London. This scheme aims to support nurses, midwives, Allied Health Care Professionals (AHPs), Pharmacists and registered Healthcare Scientists to develop research-related skills, knowledge and competence.

Fifteen places are available. The internship programme will run over a seven-month period from January – July 2025, during which interns will be required to be seconded from their workplace for a minimum of two days per week , divided between attendance at the intern’s designated University and the intern’s selected clinical learning environment. NHS England will make a direct training allowance contribution to seconding NHS Trusts/Healthcare Providers towards employer costs of £10,500 per awardee.

NHS England is committed to enhancing clinical academic careers for all professionals and in addition has the responsibility to promote research in accordance with the government’s strategy ‘Developing the Role of the Clinical and Allied Health Professions’ and similarly for pharmacists, clinical psychologists, clinical scientists, dental nurses, hygienists and therapists.

With this aim in mind, we are continuing to seek to increase the numbers of staff across all clinical and public health professions who have a sound understanding of research and its role in improving health outcomes. The internship enables the ability to promote a research culture, engage in evidence-based practice and participate in research.

The internship programme can assist successful applicants to provide a starting point on a clinical academic career pathway and to acquire experience in research methods, service improvement and innovation across many domains, including:

• Exposure to a range of research methods and applied research interventions;
• Experience of innovation in care delivery and service development;
• Implementation and evaluation of innovation;
• Opportunities to work alongside and to be supervised by recognised clinically focused research leaders and role models;
• Exposure to new models of care and to engage with change processes that shape the future of healthcare delivery in London;
• The acquisition of confidence and commitment to disseminating excellence in applied clinical research.

The internship application process is open to the following currently registered health care professionals:

• Healthcare Science professionals (Professionals that work in one of the following broad areas of practice, which together cover over 45 different professional specialisms: Life Sciences/Clinical Laboratory Sciences; Physiological Sciences; Clinical Bioinformatics; Physical Sciences (incorporating Medical Physics) and Clinical Engineering. These include clinical scientists, biomedical scientists, clinical physiologists, and clinical technologist, Health and Care Professions Council, or the PSA accredited Academy for Healthcare Science register: www.ahcs.ac.uk)
• Non-Medical Public Health Specialty Trainees, Specialists and Consultants Specialty Trainees: Faculty of Public Health Specialists and Consultants: The UK Public Health Register
• Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors
• Allied Health Professionals
• Dental Hygienists, Dental Nurses and Dental Therapists
• Operating Department Practitioners
• Clinical Psychologists
• Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians

Applications will also be accepted on a case-by-case basis from other professionals who:

• Belong to a statutorily registered profession
• Provide NHS services in London

The internship programme is a specialist education programme, targeted at individuals who can demonstrate relevant experience of working in in the NHS in London at Band 5, 6 or 7. However, in exceptional circumstances, candidates at a higher Band will also be considered.

Eligibility for the programme requires that applicants must:

• Be working currently within the NHS in London or employed by a provider of health and/or care services that is providing at least 50% of its services free at the point of delivery. Applicants must also be spending at least 50% or their current role delivering health and/or care services which are free at the point of delivery
• Be nominated by their manager
• Have an honours degree
• Be currently active in clinical practice or able to demonstrate that a significant part of their role involves direct contact with service users/patients.
• Not be enrolled or engaged in another course or programme of study during the internship.

General aims:

1. To provide a starting point on a clinical academic career pathway.
2. To support London’s commitment to developing excellence in research and evidence- based practice for non-medical professionals.
3. To develop clinical excellence, research, and research capabilities throughout all levels of the NHS in London to enhance and diffuse evidence-based practice and optimal patient care (by developing research champions).
4. To develop a network of research champions who are able to disseminate best practice and to imbue a spirit of critical enquiry across practice settings.
5. To focus selected research topics in areas that are aligned and related to NHSE’s Mandate or to education and training as a whole.
6. To offer insight into a career in clinical academia and provide experience to interns which would support applications into further formal research training if desired.

Explicit aims for interns

1. To offer an introduction to all aspects and roles from research design, data management through to exposure to preliminary practical research in a clinical environment.
2. To offer both clinical and academic supervised interventions that expose Interns to the practice skills and competencies required to produce a robust research proposal that is informed and supported by an expert clinical academic supervisor.
3. To provide interns with the confidence, capacity and capability required to apply their newly acquired research skills within their home base with the aim of becoming ‘catalysts’ as research champions.
4. To enthuse interns with the motivation, experience and skills required to consider a future clinical academic career to include enrolling on a formally accredited postgraduate educational research programme.

There will be a cohort of up to 15 interns. The cohort will commence their studies in January 2025 and finish in July 2025.

The programme will provide for a two-day per-week (or equivalent) secondment for successful applicants to undertake an internship programme with the explicit aim of providing ‘interns’ with the requisite skills, knowledge, and competence to develop research-related skills, knowledge and competence. .

We will offer up to a total of 15 internships across London. London South Bank University in partnership with King’s College, London has been selected to run the internship this year and will offer bespoke tailored experiences to the interns to enable them to meet the aims of the internship.

Funding will be made available to cover fees associated with the academic component of the programme. Some assistance, in the form of a training grant, will also be available for secondment / supervision costs. The funding will be as follows:

University tuition fees: £6000 per intern

Training grant to employers: £10,500 per intern

The internship programme will run over a seven-month period from January – July 2025, during which interns will be required to be seconded from their workplace for a minimum of two days per week (divided between attendance at the intern’s designated University and the intern’s selected clinical learning environment – see above) in agreement with the participants’ NHS organisation and academic mentor.

• Interns will be required to identify a research project (in association with their employer) that demonstrates clear potential for benefitting patients/service users and the public and which accords with national health and social care policy. The project can involve samples or data from service users/patients; members of the public/carers; health technology assessment; workforce redesign; health services research; research into clinical education, simulation and training; service and workforce re-configuration. Due to the limited time available for the internship programme ‘live subject’ data will not be permissible for this stage of the learning programme.

  Applicants will be required to identify and access a suitable clinical academic learning environment (other than their own Department or normal place of practice) within which to focus their internship with the aim of acquiring expert clinical academic supervision and exposure/access to best practice and applied research expertise. Applicants will produce an e-portfolio based on identified research competencies.

  Applicants will be required to produce a robust research proposal at the end of their period of internship. Applicants will be required to present their research proposal to their peers and to their employers.  

  NHS ENGLAND is committed to evaluating the programme and to disseminating best practice and lessons learned following the conclusion of the programme.

No academic credit will be awarded. However, participants may choose to use the accreditation schemes available via LSBU or Kings to apply for academic credits if they wish to do so.

The application window for this scheme has now passed. 

Here is a link to a recording of a webinar to discuss the scheme presented on 19th July - LSBU Bridging Schemes Webinar 2024 – video here.

For information on our policies (payment, cancellation, terms, and conditions, etc.) visit our general information page.

If you have a question that we have not answered here, please contact lsbushortcourses@lsbu.ac.uk and we will respond to your query within 24 hours.

This course has a custom application form. Apply here.