Year 11 students learn how to get a career in clinical research

By Xindi Wei

Students who fancy a career within clinical research can now learn more about it from a prestigious hospital, although they have to be in Year 11.

The annual King’s Health Partners (KHP) Summer School, organised by NIHR Guy’s and St Thomas’ Biomedical Research Centre, has opened for applications to local students living in Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham.

The online week-long programme will offer a mixture of live, interactive lessons, pre-recorded videos and group work, providing practical scientific and clinical research scenarios.

Elaina Gill, an 18-year-old who attended the summer school in 2019, said: “Participating in the summer school opened up opportunities and unique experiences for me.

“Throughout the week, my fellow students and I got to work with teams from a wide range of areas from paediatric research, to end of life care, to mental health, to stem cell research.

“My week at the summer school opened me up to the world of biomedical research and I’ve never looked back.

“I enjoyed it so much that I asked for work experience and have been lucky enough to have placements at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences.

“This would not have been possible without the links I made through the Summer School and I am very grateful.”

Elaina is also helping to run this year’s summer school with her own experience.

She added: “This year’s school is being held online due to the pandemic, but the team have all worked really hard to make sure that the students still have the opportunities that my class did.

“The programme is really exciting and includes a lot of the teams I worked with plus some others such as MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Department of Twin Research at King’s College London.”

The closing date for applications from students is Monday June 21.