Placements

The NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is a cross-site unit where we deliver clinical trials in a safe and purpose-built environment. We have links to all clinical directorates and work as both an inpatient and outpatient facility, adapting to specific research protocols.

We regularly support nursing, pharmacy and research students. Prior to starting the placement, a placement profile is available for students on the online system called PARE (Practice Assessment and Evaluation).

The Training & Education (T&E) Team will contact the student around two weeks prior to placement to welcome them. On the first day of thee placement, a member of the team will complete an induction to the area and develop a timetable. Student nurses are allocated a practice assessor and supervisor and all other students will have a key member of staff allocated to them.

To make the most of this placement opportunity, we expect students to adhere to uniform policy, wear an identity badge at all times and arrive on time. We encourage students to ask questions, interact with research participants, read protocols and patient information and engage in the research process.

For further information please contact the CRF T&E Team on 0114 271 3339.

"We are pharmacy undergraduate NIHR interns who spent two days at the Clinical Research Facility (CRF) on July 24th and 31st, 2025. We truly appreciated the opportunity and wanted to share our feedback about this amazing experience.

It was such an incredible journey to follow the process of a clinical trial medication from preparation until it was administered to the patient. The whole team was so supportive and made us feel welcome throughout our visit.

What we loved about the experience:

• Being part of the journey of Clinical Trial Fortitude - from making the medication in aseptics to administration to the patient.

• Talking to the patients living with FSHD and hearing their stories.

• Shadowing nurses while they monitored NEWS2 scores before infusion and then every 15 minutes during the infusion.

• Learning about patient views on clinical trials and understanding the advantages of 'open-label' trials.

• Looking at the drug charts, especially the 'only when required' medications, when clinical trial drugs are being used.

This experience really helped us understand how clinical research works and made us appreciate even more the hard work that everyone at the CRF does. Seeing how patient care works in a research setting was particularly valuable for us.

Thank you again for your time and for being so welcoming to us. We learned so much and will definitely use what we learned in our future work."

"I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to have a two-week placement at the CRF. I truly enjoyed my time there and found the experience to be incredibly insightful and valuable.

I was particularly impressed by the dedication to research and expertise of the entire team. Everyone was welcoming and generous with their time, and didn’t seem to mind all my questions and I learned a great deal about the complexities of secondary care clinical research. The hands-on experience I gained has significantly deepened my understanding of the research process, and I feel much more confident in my abilities as a result.

The experience has also reinforced my interest in continuing to pursue my career in clinical research. The work you do is so vital, and it has been inspiring to see firsthand the impact you have had and continue to have on advancing medical knowledge and improving patient care.

Looking ahead, I believe that nursing associates could be a fantastic asset to the clinical research field. Their unique skill set and practical experience in patient care could be a great complement to the existing team, especially in roles that require direct patient interaction. Their deep understanding of patient needs and concerns, combined with hands-on clinical skills like taking vital signs, phlebotomy, and providing patient education, makes them ideal for tasks that require close patient contact.

This practical experience is directly transferable to clinical trials, where they could excel in tasks such as patient screening, managing study visits, and ensuring accurate data collection. Integrating nursing associates would not only enhance the patient experience but could also free up the time of research nurses and other staff to focus on more complex aspects of the study. I also encourage you to consider reaching out to student nursing associates in the future to offer placement opportunities. This would not only provide students with invaluable experience but also help you discover a new talent pipeline, as nursing associates can become registered nurses through a "top-up" course. This offers a fantastic long-term career pathway and a way to cultivate future research nurses who are already familiar with your facility.

Thank you once again for this wonderful opportunity. I wish you and the team all the best in your continued important work."

We support staff from all areas with an interest in research to visit and shadow in our department. This includes staff looking for a career in research, students from all areas of healthcare, trainee pharmacists, medical students and those wanting to understand more about what happens within the NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility (CRF).

Due to the diverse work undertaken, there are varied opportunities for observing activities along the patient research journey.

If you would like to discuss any of the above opportunities, please contact the CRF T&E Team on 0114 271 3339.

For school-based work experience please visit the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals website for information.