The NIHR Associate Principal Investigator Scheme – Dr Éanna Ó hAnrachtaigh shares his experience and journey to be a future PI.

1st March 2025

Written by Written by Dr Éanna Ó hAnrachtaigh

What did the scheme involve, and what were the challenges?

The scheme itself provided an outline of a range of tasks that clinicians should be completing over the course of the six-month period to support the trial, with these becoming progressively more involved as clinicians gain experience. This included working with the PI and other members of the research team in the trust to consider recruitment strategies, attending regular meetings with the central study team, and presenting to different services that had agreed to be sites for recruitment with the trial. Having previously worked within clinical research in a previous role, the scheme provided me with an opportunity to consolidate many of these skills, while developing more higher order research skills related to the role of a PI. 

As a clinician, I’m very aware of how hard it can be to continue to be research active given the increasing service pressures that most teams in the NHS now face. The framework that the scheme provided was helpful in understanding how to allocate efforts for supporting the project each week, and while it didn’t outline how much time should be spent on each task, this was important in reassuring me that I was on the right track. Importantly, taking part in the scheme felt like a manageable load alongside my clinical commitments. Being a clinician, the scheme also gave me opportunities to recognise the valuable knowledge that I could bring to the table working with other members of the research team, such as knowledge of the intervention and experience of how clinical priorities might impact recruitment from services when considering recruitment strategies. 

Since 2018 the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) have been running the Associate Principal Investigator (PI) scheme for healthcare professionals to support in developing their research skills through involvement in clinical research. This involves a structured six month in-work training opportunity, supporting and learning from the PI of a study. Having recently completed the programme alongside my role as a clinical psychologist working in a memory service in Waltham Forest, I’d like to speak about some of my experiences.

I completed the programme while supporting the CONTACT-GAD study, a UK-based randomised controlled trial investigating how helpful a tailored Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention is for older people experiencing treatment resistant Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I had initially enrolled as a trial therapist on this study to deliver the intervention within my service, prior to joining the scheme. However, I’ve always been passionate about research and wanted to become more involved in it beyond just intervention delivery. The Associate PI was a convenient way of expanding my involvement in research in a structured way alongside my clinical role, while supporting me in developing the skills that will be important for growing a career in clinical research.

What did you get out of completing the scheme, and how will this support you in your future research career?

I’m conscious that I was lucky to have completed the scheme with a large study like CONTACT-GAD, with a highly organised central study team, that had been already up and running for many months. This meant that many of the processes that I was involved in, such as site initiation visits, where the central study team inducts the team at the local trust into the study were a smooth and streamlined experience, and many of the steps that on a smaller study might have been delegated to the teams at local trusts were handled by the central study team. This meant that my experience remained relatively stress free, and the central study team, as well at the PI, of the study were very responsive to any queries and were always on hand to offer support.

Having completed the scheme, I’m continuing to be involved in supporting the study as an Associate PI. I’m hoping to continue to use the skills and knowledge developed in supporting my service to remain research active and become involved in future research in the trust.

Contact us at NELFT R&D for further information:

r&d@nelft.nhs.uk