Dr Carolyn Costigan

Additional Title: Honorary Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham

What do you do in your current role/area of expertise?

Leadership and Research:

As Divisional Research Lead for the Family Health Directorate at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust I lead the Family Health Divisional Research and Innovation (R&I) Committee ensuring that clinically focused research in the division is developed and delivered to time and target to improve patient outcomes and experiences. I support my consultant and non-medical clinical academic colleagues in the division to develop their own research portfolio.

Clinical Practice

Clinical Academic Lead: In this clinical academic role I support the Chief Scientist and the Director of Research and Innovation (R&I) in relation to Healthcare Science. I am responsible for the development of strategic plans, systems and policies supporting HCS research, innovation and technology transfer across the Trust. This includes initiating and developing research and development programs and policies which have an impact outside NUH. I also link with other Healthcare Professions, Academic and Educational Institutions, and Industry to facilitate new and existing research initiatives and grow research capability and capacity. I have protected research time to develop my own research portfolio and I continue to practice as an MRI fetal radiographer at NUH also. I lead on strategies for meaningful patient and public involvement within HCS-led research and innovation activity.

Education

As well as supporting and developing radiographers and other healthcare professionals in their clinical academic careers I am an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and I also lecture on the BSc/ MSc in Clinical Research (Top-Up) at Nottingham Trent University.

What steps did you take to get to this role?

I qualified as a Diagnostic Radiographer in Dublin, worked in many areas in Diagnostic Imaging including Ultrasound, CT and Angiography then specialised in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

I then moved to the UK to complete an MSc at Lancaster whilst working at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

To pursue my interest in research and academia I moved to the Sir Peter Mansfield MR Centre at Nottingham University for five years before returning to NUH as Principal Research Radiographer. I was awarded the inaugural College of Radiographers Doctoral fellowship in 2015 to support my PhD in translational research at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 2020. This was followed by an NIHR Post-doctoral Gold Award.

I was a member and then vice chair of the Society of Radiographer’s Magnetic Resonance Advisory Group (MRAG) which was a great chance to be a national voice for MR radiographers.

I have also a CMI qualification in Management, Principal Investigator training and I have a Leadership qualification.

What support did you have along the way or would have been helpful to have had?

I have been fortunate during my career to have some fantastic mentors and managers who encouraged me to complete my PhD and challenge myself to apply for ambitious posts. Returning to study for a Master’s and then PhD without a primary degree while working and raising a family was a challenge. The College of Radiographers have been an amazing support both financially with scholarships and grants but also the personalised support and encouragement from their people from the top down have been amazing.

What is the most rewarding thing about your role?

Being a radiographer in a senior research leadership position I use my voice to promote and develop non-medical clinical academics.

I really love mentoring and supporting radiographers and other healthcare professionals to achieve their academic ambitions.

Getting to travel and present my research profession at international conferences is very rewarding, I love representing the radiography profession.

What advice can you give to others who might want to work towards this role or follow a similar pathway?

Apply for posts and opportunities that seem a bit out of reach – what’s the worst that could happen?

If you want to achieve a PhD, find a good mentor, use all the available support to get funding and just get on with it – ‘a year from now you’ll be glad you started today’.