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Meet Becca: “Research is the future because it allows us to go above and beyond”
Meet Becca Smith, avid non-fiction reader, boundary pusher and Research Assistant at Sheffield Children’s.
Becca joined the Sheffield Children’s team back in 2020 having smashed an undergraduate degree in psychology, followed by a master’s in health psychology. Becca said: “A huge part of your degree is your dissertation and that was the bit I enjoyed the most. You were working on something that hasn’t been looked at before or you were building on other people’s research and exploring it that little bit further.
“This is when I found I had an interest in psychological research, and I decided that’s what I was going to pursue. I was also keen to find a job in the NHS. My family are all very staunch NHS, so I’ve always been interested in joining the NHS workforce.”
Becca graduated into the pandemic, so it was a tricky time for her to move into the world of work but fortunately she found her first job in the Sheffield Children’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service’s (CAMHS) booking team which gave her the first step into the NHS. “I worked in the back office with the duty referrals team for just shy of two years before seeing this research assistant job come up in the Clinical Research Facility team.
“I was excited for the Research Assistant role as it was going to introduce me to the clinical more medical side of research; it was the perfect fit to help me start to explore the research route.”
Day to day you’ll find Becca supporting on a number of studies, meeting patients, running prescriptions, carrying out observations, paperwork, completing data, making phone calls, sorting questionnaires, the list goes on. “I really enjoy the variety of the role! The most fun part is working clinically on the wards with the children and young people, it’s great meeting new people. There’s also the data side of my work which involves learning all the different systems that we use, plus inputting all the data; I’ve also spent time in the labs working on bloods. It’s really nice that this role allows me to diversify my skill set.”
A role in research tends to mean working with a variety of teams and individuals across our sites and fortunately for Becca everyone is pretty friendly. “Part of research is going around the hospital, and interacting with a lot of consultants, registrars, nurses, support staff. Everyone’s willing to help you and they’re all super friendly.
“The research team are also a great team to be a part of, they’re all really approachable and if you don’t know something, there’s always someone who will help you find out.”
Becca added: “The draw of research to me was that it’s pushing boundaries and progressing medicine and science. You’re exploring a brand-new therapy or drug which could make a huge difference to so many children. You see children at the beginning of their research studies and they’re really struggling but then you see them after having been on a new drug or therapy for a year and they seem like completely different children.
“That’s the difference! Research is the future because it allows us to go above and beyond standard care. Some of the things we are doing now will hopefully one day become standard practice. In research you can offer interaction that you can’t necessarily always give in other areas of the NHS. We have that bit more time and, because the studies last quite a while, we have the opportunity to get to know our patients really well, you speak to them every week and see them really regularly too!”
We wanted to find out what might be next on the cards for Becca? “It’s been great learning about clinical research, but I think the end game would be something in psychological research, maybe doing a PhD or a Professional Doctorate and doing research as a central theme, being able to explore the clinical side has given me a very good grounding.”
When Becca’s not busy pushing the boundaries of medicine and science, she’s out spending time with friends, going to the pub, or going out for walks. “You’ll often find me reading as well, I really enjoy it, especially non-fiction books.”
Thanks Becca for sharing your story this International Clinical Trials Day and we’re excited to see you reaching further with research into the future!
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