Your Path in Research: Exploring a NIHR ARC NWL Supported PhD Studentship

We support people from all backgrounds to take an interest and engage with our applied health research and we enable researchers to take the next step in their research career. We do this because research is richer and more meaningful for having more people involved.

As part of the NIHR Your Path in Research campaign we spoke to Kanika Dharmayat, who is starting the second year of an NIHR ARC Northwest London supported PhD on familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), to see how she has benefitted from the opportunity.

FH is one of the most common genetic conditions that causes individuals to have elevated levels of cholesterol from birth and are therefore at increased risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. Kanika is using her PhD to investigate this further and look at how to improve detection, it’s thought that fewer than 5% of the potential 25-35 million with FH have been detected.

Evidence based practice

Kanika describes what it was about the PhD that appealed to her:

“The NIHR ARCs specifically focus on applied research which is an area I wanted to develop my skills and experience in. There was the opportunity to do a lot of applied research within the FH community which was really appealing.”

Kanika doesn’t see her research career pathway as conventional because her studies have been interspersed with experiences working within hospital trusts. She has also completed internships abroad with UNICEF and others in countries such as Ghana and India. While carrying out this ‘hands on’ practical work she realised the value and importance of evidence based practice and how research informs this.

She describes her motivation to get further involved:

“In order to drive evidence-based work, you need to conduct research and that’s where my interest and skillset are, that’s what I enjoy. What motivates me is being part of research that can inform guidelines and policies at the local, national and international levelsto address public health challenges.”

'A new perspective'

Despite the impact of COVID pandemic Kanika and her fellow PhD students have valued the support and opportunities the ARC supported PhD offers. She carried out training in Health Economics, an area she wouldn’t have previously considered, engaged with collaborative learning events and taken the opportunity to interact with patients and members of the public through Patient and Public Involvement (PPI).

“We get an insight from that perspective, of how our research is going to shape the front line and impact communities and individuals. Previously with my other research activities I didn’t get to do that so much, I was sitting at a desk and analysing numbers. We were never able to see the impact and have that direct conversation.”

Follow your interests

Kanika’s advice to anyone considering getting involved in research is to explore what’s out there and follow what interests them. She found the NIHR website a great resource for finding opportunities and experts to speak to about taking the next step. As she says: “There are endless opportunities for researchers at all stages.”

More:

• ‘Silent’ high cholesterol more common than thought, warns leading global report

• Career development support and training (NIHR Website)