My time at ASPIRES- Blog by intern Gregory Godwin

Intern Gregory Godwin

Medicine student was an intern with ASPIRES: Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems

About me

I am studying medicine at the University of Sheffield and I did an intercalated iBSc Neuroscience degree at King’s College London and interning at ASPIRES: Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems was a component of my intercalated degree. I am particularly interested in psychology, mental health and global health.

What did it involve

During my time at ASPIRES in the Centre for Implementation Science I was involved in a project about implementing interventions to reduce antibiotic resistance in LMICs, where I was particularly focused on a tertiary hospital in India. My main role was analysing qualitative data from workshops and interviews in the hospital. I was able to work flexibly, either remotely or in the office. I was also fortunate enough to get the chance to present a poster of the qualitative work I conducted in the 3rd UK Implementation Science research conference and I am also writing for my first publication with the ASPIRES team.

Unexpected things

As I am more used to clinical placements, lectures and small group teaching, with limited exposure to research I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought research output would be very time and resource consuming but I had never appreciated the scale of how much an iterative processes research is. Implementation Science is something I have never encountered before, and I never knew how much goes into not only designing and planning an intervention but it’s evaluation and adaption over time.

What will I take away

Not only have I been able to develop key research skills such as reviewing literature and qualitative analysis, I feel it has benefitted my self-directed skills of time management and academic writing. I also have a greater appreciation of challenges in global health and the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, I have developed my understanding the interface between research and clinical practice and how these elements work together, especially in effective intervention implementation. As a budding future doctor, these points are really important to understand, and something I will take into consideration in future practice. 

Final thoughts

I have really enjoyed being part of the ASPIRES team and am grateful for the opportunity and the help I received. There are many learning points for me to take forward and working in research is something I will be definitely interested in. I would like to thank everyone from the ASPIRES team working at Kings College London (Prof. Nick Sevdalis, Dr Shalini Ahuja, Mr Andrew Leather) and Imperial College (Dr Gabriel Birgand and team), who assisted me and made the experience so beneficial.