Senior Research Fellow named among NHS 75 faces of nursing research

Dr Victoria Shepherd, a member of the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty and Senior Research Fellow (Nurse) at the Centre for Trials Research at Cardiff University, was named as one of the NHS 75 faces of nursing research by the Chief Nursing Officer for England, in recognition of her dedication to improving the care and research experiences of people.

Dr Shepherd said: "Following a career in critical care nursing, I was interested in finding a way to combine my clinical experience with my other interests in medical law and ethics. An opportunity arose for a research nurse role in an academic clinical trials unit supporting clinical trials which involved populations who lack capacity to consent.

“I found there was a lack of research exploring the complex ethical, legal, and practical challenges involved, and went on to develop an academic career as a leading researcher in this area."

Dr Shepherd hopes that making research more person-centred and inclusive will ensure that everyone in society has the opportunity to participate in and benefit from research.

She added: "My research programme aims to improve the inclusion of under-served groups in research, with a particular focus on developing innovations to support research involving adults with impaired capacity to consent. Bringing together my clinical experience and academic expertise is enabling me to identify and address the barriers to including this under-served group in research."