Launching UCL Healthcare Engineering’s Impact Fellowship scheme

Do you want to…

• Build your skills in policy, media, science comms, public or patient engagement?
• Receive personalised training and paired mentorship?
• Enhance your CV with a year-long Fellowship position?

UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering is launching a one-year Impact Fellowship scheme beginning in October 2020. The scheme will train and guide its Impact cohort to build their engagement skills and grow their network beyond university walls, building up to a tangible impact-driven, engagement output at the end of the year. Deadline to apply: 28 September. 

Time-commitments will be very flexible around the Fellows' exisiting research and teaching commitments throughout the year, but Fellows can expect to commit an avg of 1-2 hrs per week during term.

The first term of the Fellowship will be focused on training and skills-building. The focus will be on making this as personalised to the needs of the Fellows as possible and, if not already picked, the cohort will be encouraged to narrow down their Impact Fellowship to a particular engagement stream (patient, public, policy, comms, media etc) by the start of Term 2.

During Term 2 the cohort will work (individually or in pairs/small groups) towards their own engagement output planned for the end of the scheme. They will receive support and guidance, including paired mentorship with an individual from a relevant external organisation and mentoring from a wider pool of UCL engagement experts, academics with experience and IHE’s own Engagement Delivery Group. Please note that Term 1 and Term 2 of the scheme will be delivered virtually.

The scheme is intended to be personalised around the needs of the Fellows, and we hope that the cohort will shape the scheme’s development and the specific support and resources that are needed. The Fellows will be expected to act as Impact ambassadors within their respective research groups and communities.

What engagement streams will the scheme support?

• We will endeavor to support the interests of each Fellow and encourage creative ways to think about engagement and impact! We are currently planning around science comms, public engagement, patient engagement, media engagement, policy engagement.

Who is eligible?

• All UCL researchers whose work is related to digital and medical technologies are able to apply for the scheme. Preference will be given to early-career researchers (PhDs, postdocs, early-level PIs) with an interest in building their engagement skills to deliver impact.

How does this benefit researchers?

• Researchers will build their engagement skills by receiving personalised training and mentorship
• Build a network of external stakeholders and UCL engagement experts
• Put this training into ‘real-life’ practice by the end of the scheme
• Enhance their CV with a Fellowship position including certificate upon completion