RCM Research Awards Buddy Scheme
The RCM Research Award Buddy Scheme, launched officially at the RCM Education & Research conference in March 2022, has been created to encourage and support more midwives to apply for the Wellbeing of Women Entry Level Scholarship (WoW). The RCM part funds this award each year. Applicants must be midwives and full members of the RCM. The buddies for this scheme are all previous successful applicants, and are volunteering their time to offer their support as buddies.
The Wellbeing of Women Entry Level Scholarship [WoW]
The WoW scholarships will fund pre-doctoral candidates up to £20,000 for research lasting normally up to one year. Funds are for directly incurred research costs and may include a salary contribution. The research must be undertaken in the UK.
Scholarships will be considered for basic science, clinical and translational research that seeks to improve the health of women, girls and babies in one of the following areas:
- Pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period
- Gynaecological cancers
- General wellbeing issues surrounding women’s reproductive and gynaecological health
Awards are intended to provide ‘pump-priming’ funds to enable graduates to be exposed to a research environment and to obtain pilot data that will enhance an application for a research fellowship (PhD or MD). Applicants would normally be new to the research discipline and will not previously have been heavily involved in substantial or funded research projects. An ELS is not intended as a ‘top-up’ for existing grants. Its primary purpose is to support a single individual at an early stage of their research career.
The following midwife research stories were successful applicants to the RCM/Wellbeing of Women Entry Level Fellowship in previous years. Read stories from Anna, Jayne, James and Sam.
If you are interested in being a buddy please download and complete this form here.
If you are interested in accessing the support of a buddy during the award application process please download and complete this form here.
Please send your completed forms to the RCM Research Team at research@rcm.org.uk.
A bespoke module ‘RCM Research Award Buddy Scheme’ in the RCM iLearn platform provides the virtual home for the scheme. The module is used to enable buddies to be matched with applicants, provides networking opportunities, and a virtual classroom for one-to-one meetings as well as group meetings.
When a buddy or applicant joins the scheme they are registered on to the ilearn module by the RCM Research Team.
The RCM Research Team act as a conduit between buddies and prospective applicants during the matching process, but once a buddy-applicant dyad has been formed the dyad are able to independently decide how they wish to go forward.
The scheme is in its first year and is being viewed as a pilot project. Monthly contact will be made with all buddies and applicants to gain feedback about their experiences, and at the close of a dyad’s working relationship both parties will be asked to complete a short scheme evaluation form.
If you have any further questions about this scheme, please contact the RCM Research Team at research@rcm.org.uk.