Edinburgh Clinical Trials

Capacity Building

Capacity building in health is the development of sustainable skills, organisational structures, resources and commitment to health improvement in NHS Lothian and other sectors to prolong and multiply health gains many times over.

We run courses in research methodology and work closely with the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility.  We hope soon  to start an expert research advice resource for people new to running trials.  Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit (ECTU) promotes capacity building through its support  for the Lothian NMAHP Research Framework which aims to increase research within a Lothian Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals (NMAHP) research community.  The NMAHP research community has developed a number of schemes to support new and existing health services researchers.  Research Futures is an innovative funding scheme to support early career researchers for NMAHPs employed by NHS Lothian and a framework has been established to guide and promote the development of honorary clinical 'homes' within NHS Lothian services for local academic researchers, and honorary academic 'homes' for NHS Lothian NMAHP staff within the partner universities.  In  addition ECTU supports the Lothian Clinical Academic Research Careers (CARC) Scheme for NMAHPs, which  is a funding scheme that operates by funding research training fees (PhD, MRes), research costs and backfill for NMAHPs who wish to develop a clinical academic career.

Lothian NMAHP Research Community

Lothian Nurses, Midwives and Allies Health Professionals
The Lothian NMAHP Research Strategy is a partnership between NHS Lothian and University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University. It aims to increase research within the Lothian NMAHP research community.

Further information:

Training and Education Training Courses
Research Futures CARC scheme