PRESS Project

The PRS is motivated to optimise the engagement of student and newly qualified physiotherapists in research, We hope that in supporting students to become more research active through the PRESS project, we will provide them with improved confidence to share their research findings earlier in their careers. We hope this will support them to use skills they have already acquired as part of their university training, and build upon these further, to enable students and subsequently newly qualified physiotherapists, to become more involved in research and related projects at an earlier stage in their career.

STUDENT BURSARIES

As part of the PRESS project, the PRS provided funding for ten physiotherapy students or newly qualified physiotherapists to attend the Physiotherapy Research Society 2024 conference and share their research in the form of poster presentations.

Applicants met the following criteria to be eligible for this funding opportunity: 

• Students or newly qualified physiotherapists who are currently undertaking, or have undertaken, their studies to achieve a BSc or MSc in Physiotherapy on a pre-registration physiotherapy programme.
• Students must have undertaken their physiotherapy studies at a UK-based education institution.
• The research project being shared forms part of the research work undertaken as part of their student BSc or MSc programme.

Expressions of interest were received from October until February, and we were delighted to have been able to fill all ten funded places with motivated students who attended our #PRS 2024 conference in Bournemouth this year to present their research.

FOCUS GROUPS

In addition to our bursary programme, the PRESS project will involve the undertaking of focus groups with existing students studying on physiotherapy BSc or MSc pre-registration programmes at UK-based institutions, or students who have recently completed their studies (within the last 12 months). Our aim of this project is to better understand how we can optimise research engagement and explore barriers and beliefs around research.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to volunteer to be on in one of our PRESS focus groups, please email us here and we will add you to our mailing list.

We are running these focus groups in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire.

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

Led by Dr Alex Benham, and our two Student PRS Representatives, Iona Bateman and Klaudia Bialas, we are in the process of setting up a Community of Practice (CoP) to inform the development of support and resources for students and newly qualified physiotherapists. For those who may be unsure or unfamiliar with this term, a CoP is a group of people who share a common interest or concern in a topic, and come together with the aim to fulfill both individual and group goals.

The initial phase of this part of the project will begin with an initial networking meeting with interested groups of people. If you are interested in attending and/or contributing to this networking session, with a view to potentially being involved or helping to shape this Community of Practice, please email us here.

RESEARCH RESOURCES

Through the PRESS project, the PRS will also be looking to develop a series of resources to support student physiotherapists in developing their research skills and confidence over the coming year - more details to follow on these in due course! This aspect of the project is being led by Dr Bruno Mazuquin and Dr Christopher McCarthy.

The PRESS project has been made possible through the PRS being successful in being awarded grant funding from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). The PRS and the PRESS project team are incredibly grateful for the receipt of such funding, and hope to make a discernible change in the student research landscape through the activities that we are now able to undertake as a result.

CONTACT

If you have any enquiries regarding our PRESS project, please contact our PRESS Project Lead, Caroline Coulthard, via email here.