The short answer to this is: as many people as possible! Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who you haven’t met to ask them more about their research - you’ll be surprised at how many senior researchers will get back to you - they will be keen to meet motivated people who are taking an interest in their work. Be cautious of rushing into the first opportunity that avails itself - it’s worth gather a few potential options together and thinking them through. It can also be helpful to speak to somebody for independent advice, and this might be a good time to identify a mentor; our Mentorship section has further details. The options for research participation are diverse, and there will be options available both locally and wider afield - and so if you are in a position to change geographical location, do consider seeking out research opportunities at other UK centres, and even internationally. If you know that you are interested in a particular subspecialty, attend relevant conferences and talks, as this might help you identify people doing research in that area. The ABN conferences are a good place to start, as a platform which showcases UK subspeciality research.

Other good sources of advice can include:

• Other registrars, both those currently and previously involved in research - what did they work on, and who with?
• Relevant university contacts - have a look at what neuroscience research is taking place at your local university, details of which should be on their website. You could contact the relevant senior authors on a paper that has interested you, or the presenter(s) of a local research seminar you attended.
• Relevant subspecialty researchers - ask colleagues for advice on who you can contact, or reach out to people you have identified yourself via conferences or talks; even if they are not working on quite the aspect of a subspeciality that you are interested in, they should be able to point you in the right direction of who to speak to next.
• Local Consultants in your training region who have a research interest
• Your local NIHR CRN lead

  This can be a good starting point if you are interested in clinical trial research. The NIHR CRN (Clinical Research Network) includes 15 regional centres (“local” NIHR CRNs) which co-ordinate clinical research within that geographical area. The most obviously relevant CRN specialties (there are 30) for neurology are Neurological Disorders, Neurodegeneration and Dementias, but others might also be of interest (for example, Ageing, Genetics, or Infection). Your local NIHR CRN can provide general advice on clinical research in your area, as well as specific information on active clinical trials you might be able to help with. Further information on your local NIHR CRN lead can be found here: https://www.theabn.org/page/nihr-crn

• An independent mentor; see Mentorship page for further information

Picking a project can be a daunting prospect - there are a now a number of techniques and approaches than can be applied to a wide range of disease areas - it can be hard to know where to start.

It’s often useful to have a careful think about why you want to do research - and be honest with yourself! Is there a particular disease that interests you, or a relevant research question that has presented itself during a clinical encounter? Are you interested in developing skills in a particular area, for example neuroimaging, genetics, neuropsychology or epidemiology? Or are you interested in the day-to-day running of a clinical trial? Having some idea of how you would like to spend you research time will make finding an ideal project easier. If you can engage in a “taster block” (for example, if your PhD programme offers the option of rotating through different groups in the first year, or if you have an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship), this can help with some of these decisions.

It’s always good to speak to other people, and when it comes to research and choosing a project, the more people you can speak to, the better! More details can be found in the “Who should I speak to?” section. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who you haven’t met to ask them more about their research - you’ll be surprised at how many senior researchers will get back to you - they will be keen to meet motivated people who are taking an interest in their work. If you have a mentor, they should be able to provide you with independent advice on what to look for when choosing a project, including common pitfalls to avoid. More details on finding a mentor can be found on our Mentorship page.

Our Research Stories page showcases the diverse ways in which trainees have previously participated in research, and might provide inspiration for your own research plans.

Finally, have a look at our Fellowship page where current and previous ABN Fellows describe their research experiences.

Further information on funding can be found on the Funding Opportunities page, where you can learn more about how to apply for funding at various stages of your research career. The ABN website, ABNT e-newsletters and ABNT Twitter are good sources of up-to-date funding opportunities, and will complement those described on the Funding Opportunities pages.

There is no right or wrong time to step out of training for research, and much of the decision regarding timing will depend on your personal circumstances and reasons for thinking about gaining research experience It might be the case that you have always known that a PhD and a career in academic neurology was for your - or you fancied a break from clinical training in order to develop skills in a new area, and an advertised research placement caught your eye - and everything in between! Timing will also depend on the duration of your planned placement (one-year fellowship, or three-to-four years for a research placement), and whether taking time out of programme is feasible (see below).

There are arguments for both taking time out earlier and later in specialist training for research, particularly for a longer period that might contribute towards a research degree (MD or PhD). The advantage of taking time out earlier in training is that it gives you plenty of time to try (and fail) and obtaining research funding for a PhD. It also provides more time in specialist training after your PhD where you can obtain post-doctoral experience and pilot data that might contribute to an intermediate fellowship (or equivalent) application, which might be of importance. However, earlier in your training you might have less experience of subspecialities or which areas of research interest you; whilst it is not impossible to complete a PhD and then specialise in a completely different area, this does bring its own challenges. The advantage of taking time out later in specialist training is that you might have a better idea of which subspecialist areas interest you and therefore might be able to better tailor your research placement. However, be aware that many PhD funding schemes are primarily open to those still in specialist training (i.e. prior to completion of training and CCT); if you do take time out to do research late in specialty training, there is a risk you might CCT before successfully obtaining PhD funding (which can sometimes take two or three attempts), and then be ineligible for these funding schemes. It might also limit the amount of time you have for post-doctoral research prior to CCT, which is usually the time at which people make applications for intermediate fellowships (and equivalents). Speak to your mentor about this for independent advice (more information can be found on our Mentorship page.

It is also worth investigating whether some of your research time might be counted towards your training; research time can count for up to one year of your training. This is generally easier when agreed prospectively with your Training Programme Director (TPD), rather than claiming back time retrospectively having completed a period of research. You are likely be expected to complete a certain amount of clinical work during your research time in order for this time to count towards your training; this might include specialist clinics relating to your area of research, neurology on-calls, general neurology clinics, or other specialist clinics that align with areas of your curriculum where you need more supporting evidence. In any case, discuss your plans with your TPD sooner rather than later, so you can agree a plan ahead of time. It can be difficult to balance clinical commitments with research ones (for example, the impact of clinic admin or recovery from on-call shifts), so think carefully about the nature of your clinical commitments and how much time they are really going to take up; the danger is spending so much of your research time on clinical work that the research suffers (which defeats the point!).

If you are planning to have dedicated research time during your clinical training, then you will need to formally apply for time Out of Programme (OOP). Different options for OOPs are available, including research or clinical experience and applications for OOP need to be submitted well in advance of your planned project start date. .

In the post-doctoral period, timing can be even more critical; as described in the relevant pages, this is a real bottleneck in the clinical academic pathway. If you do want to pursue a career in clinical research, it can be crucial to have a continuous track record of academic outputs, without any large gaps. The structure of the post-doctoral period, particular with regard to integrated academic training, might change with Shape of Training; there is a suggestion that post CCT fellowships might become more important and relevant, and these have the potential to become an alternative method for pursuing post-doctoral research in the run-up to an intermediate fellowship (or equivalent) grant.