Six health professionals in Oxfordshire have presented their PHDs.

The individuals are employed by Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) and received funding from NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) to support their studies.

The BRC provides up to £10,000 per year, granting recipients time away from their clinical roles to focus on their research.

This funding ensures the nurses and allied health professionals are concentrating on their respective projects without the concern of juggling their studies and their work.

The doctoral award is part of a wider effort within the Oxford BRC to encourage nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to further their academic careers.

Dr Louise Strickland, OUH deputy director of nursing and midwifery research and innovation, said: "This terrific scheme from the BRC supports doctoral NMAHPPS who have a real struggle when they're working full time and trying to juggle their study along with clinical practice.

"Some get no study time or support."

Among the presenters were Lian Lee, deputy matron in Churchill Hospital theatres, whose research explored nurse communications in robotic-assisted surgery, and Carol Forde-Johnston, divisional recruitment and retention nurse lead, studying the impact of electronic patient records on nurse-patient interactions.

Other awardees include Francesca Tabacchi, specialist oncology dietician, who researched malnutrition in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, Yuhan Zhang, advanced nurse practitioner, with a focus on nurses' decision-making in remote reviews, Rachel Lee, senior specialist nurse, investigating care planning for Parkinson's disease patients, and Anthony Afanu, lead nurse for the Oxford Eye Hospital, who is examining self-directed learning of international nurses in higher education.

Carol Forde-Johnston said: "The support from the BRC has been amazing.

"It has helped me in so many different ways.

"My fees were supported and last September I was awarded funding that enabled me to go on a sabbatical for three months.

"Someone was seconded into my current role and that enabled me to have study time to write up my PhD.

"It allowed me to break the back of my thesis."

Lian Lee, who started her research part-time and self-funded, received BRC funding in 2022.

She said: "That award changed my whole research landscape.

"The funding is a secondment opportunity for a band 7 colleague to do a quality improvement project."

Dr Strickland added: "It's been wonderful to see the remarkable breadth of the projects.

"It all goes to improve patient care, and to increase the capacity and capability of the NMAHPPS workforce."

The Oxford BRC is committed to growing and supporting its staff.

This effort, according to Dr Strickland, is already improving patient care, education, and staff retention.