We are delighted to announce that four Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellows will be joining the Discovery Research Platform in June 2025.
Our Practice Research Fellowships support researchers from the health and voluntary sectors to undertake research into a critical issue they have encountered in their practice and to learn about medical humanities approaches and methods, and how these can enhance their research plans.
This year four fellowships have been awarded to support the delivery of novel research projects from June 2025 to June 2026. Two fellowships were awarded to health sector professionals and two to voluntary sector professionals.
We will be launching another Fellowship application round for 2026 to 2027 in October – if you’re interested in the scheme, please keep an eye on our website and social media. .
You can find out more about the 2025-26 cohort and their research projects below.
Project Title: ‘Hidden Experiences And barriers To HEalth Research participation (HEATHER): Developing an Approach to Uncover Hidden Experiences and Barriers to Health Research Participation Among Women from Deprived Areas, Using the Longitudinal Cohort Study Born and Bred in Wakefield (Babi)’
Judith (she/her) is Deputy Director of Research at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust (MYTT) and Chair of the Wakefield Research Hub. With over 20 years of research experience—13 within the NHS—Judith leads a team responsible for delivering over 200 health research studies annually, ensuring high standards in research governance, delivery, and support. She has played a pivotal role in pioneering innovative, inclusive research practices across Wakefield and the wider Yorkshire region. As Principal Investigator for Born and Bred in (BaBi) Wakefield, a longitudinal linked data birth cohort study, she is advancing understanding of health and lifestyle patterns among families—over 7,000 women and babies have joined since opening in 2022. Judith also chairs the NIHR YH ARC research capacity building group, ACORN. With a background in social and public policy, her work appears in leading journals and consistently reflects strong multi-sector collaborations.
Project title: ‘Barriers and Opportunities of Long-Acting Injectable PrEP for Black Queer Men and the Promise of New Methods for HIV Prevention Research’
Phil (he/him) is a social activist, health promoter, writer and researcher. He is a project coordinator for research and community knowledge generation at The Love Tank. This is a not-for-profit community interest company that promotes the health and wellbeing of underserved communities through education, community building, research, events, communication, and design. Phil specialises in HIV, sexual health and mental health with a focus on health inequalities of people of colour and the provision of honest visibility and representation of black queer men.
Project title: ‘How do Drug User Activists Remember and Narrate their Role in the Harm Reduction Movements, from Drug Policy Advocacy to Local-Level Community Organizing, from the 1960s to the Present?’
Shayla (they/them) is the current Head of the Drugs Service at Release. Originally from Baltimore, USA Shayla has worked in the harm reduction field since 2015, at centres for people who use drugs and sex worker projects in three cities in the USA (Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York City), in Shanghai, China, and now in London, UK. Shayla’s particular harm reduction skills are working with people affected by patriarchy, people who use methamphetamine, and people who trade sex.
Project title: Illuminating Grief: Mental Health Support for Muslim Women Experiencing Baby Loss
Estelle (she/her) is the Principal Counselling Psychologist and Service Lead for the West Yorkshire Maternal Mental Health Service – Paths at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The aim of this service is to meet the needs of women and birthing parents with moderate to severe and complex mental health difficulties as a result of birth trauma, baby loss (including loss via removal due to social care proceedings) and severe fear of birth. She is a Counselling Psychologist by training holding a professional doctorate. Her clinical experience spans adult mental health including specialising in Perinatal Mental Health since 2018. Within this time, she has acted as Principal Investigator and local site lead for a national randomised controlled trial in perinatal mental health entitled– The circle of security.
We warmly welcome Judith, Phil, Shayla and Estelle to the Discovery Research Platform and look forward to working with them.
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