We support Lambeth staff to apply to NIHR fellowship schemes and other research career development pathways. We also host researchers and academics within the council through secondments and embedded researcher roles, as well as students through placement and internship opportunities.
NIHR Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF)
We supported a Lambeth Commissioning Officer working on young people’s supported housing to secure a PLAF Award.
The award funded a master’s degree alongside a placement with Lambeth HDRC, building research skills within the council and strengthening links between research, policy and practice.
Embedded postdoctoral research fellow
We hosted Zoë Bell, a postdoctoral research fellow from King’s College London, as part of her secondment. During her time with us, she worked on the SAFE Taskforce Barbershop Project, exploring cross-sector collaboration within a culturally tailored intervention to prevent serious youth violence in Lambeth.
Zoë also explored women’s experiences of food insecurity during and after pregnancy, generating qualitative insight to inform maternity, early years and public health policy.
Read Zoë's findings which have been published in peer-reviewed journals:
- Maternal and infant food insecurity: A qualitative investigation into women’s experiences during and after pregnancy in South London
- A qualitative exploration of women's experiences of food insecurity around pregnancy aligned with the socio-ecological model
Reflections and learnings from an embedded researcher
We hosted UCL researcher Rachael C. Edwards, who spent 5 months with the HDRC and Lambeth Climate Team, authoring a paper on embedded researchers, supported by her experience with us.
Read Rachael's paper on What does being “research active” mean in public health practice? Exploring behavioural and motivational dimensions of research activity in English local government through perceptions from embedded researchers
Student placements, internships and studentships
To date, we have provided career development opportunities for almost 30 undergraduate and postgraduate students from King's College London, including 8-week to 16-week placements and internships.
Our students have contributed to communications and engagement, literature reviews, evaluations, data collection and analysis, reports and conference presentations, gaining valuable experience in applied research within local government.
We are also hosting 2 PhD studentships from King's College London.