The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers.

Core modules - compulsory

Optional modules - choose a total of 45 credits

This course is taught by senior staff, all of whom are actively engaged in clinical research and teaching. The academic, teaching, technical and administrative support is provided by University of Sheffield members of staff together with contributions, where appropriate, from other experts in particular fields.

The main contacts for this course are:

Core Staff

Liz Croot (Course director and Practical Aspects of Clinical Research Module leader)

I am the course director for the MSc in Clinical Research and am module leader for 'Practical Aspects of Clinical Research'. I joined the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield as a research fellow in 2001 and completed a qualitative PhD about the experiences of Pakistani parents living in Sheffield and caring for children with high support needs in 2005. This was funded by an NHS Executive (Trent) Health Services Research Training Fellowship. Prior to this I worked as a paediatric physiotherapist specialising in work with children with learning disabilities for 12 years. During this time I worked in a number of different countries including Bangladesh and the USA.

I am currently leading a study funded by the South Yorkshire Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC-SY) exploring factors that patients consider to be associated with successful secondary prevention of stroke.

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Sarah Barnes (Introduction to Research Methods Module Lead)

I joined the University of Sheffield in 2000 as a Research Associate in Sheffield Institute for Studies in Ageing (SISA). Here I worked on the multi-disciplinary EPSRC-funded project Design in Caring Environments (DICE), a study of quality of life and building design in residential and nursing care homes for older people. During this time I completed my PhD which explored space, choice and control in care settings for older people and its relationship to resident quality of life. Following on from this I successfully managed a three year, multi-method, longitudinal study identifying the need for end of life care among older people with heart failure and their families, funded by the Department of Health. This was the first study to recruit a large, community-based sample of heart failure patients in the UK. New methods of identifying heart failure patients from primary care records were used to recruit over 500 heart failure patients from a number of GP practices.

In January 2007 I began working in ScHARR as a Lecturer in Public Health where I have retained my commitment to interdisciplinary/cross departmental research collaboration.

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Cindy Cooper (Module leader Randomised Controlled Trials)

I am currently Director of the Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU) at ScHARR. After graduating in Pharmacology and Physiology from the University of Manchester and completing my PhD in neuropharmacology at the University of Nottingham, I worked at Sheffield and West Yorkshire Health Authorities in clinical audit and health needs assessment. I joined ScHARR in 1996 to establish the North Trent Research Office, to provide support to local NHS organisations in developing research strategy and obtaining research funding. The remit of the CTRU is to support the design and implementation of clinical trials of complex health interventions. I am also Chair of the Yorkshire & Humber Regional Funding Committee for Research for Patient Benefit.
I am based in the Design, Trials & Statistics Section.
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Sarah Crede

I joined ScHARR in September 2013 working as a University Teacher in Health Services research. I am the course tutor for the MSc Clinical Research and am involved in the teaching of the Introduction to Statistics module. I have a background in Epidemiology and physiotherapy and have worked clinically in South Africa and in the UK. I have been involved in various research projects in South Africa and Africa which have covered various areas of interest namely: women's health, foetal alcohol syndrome and the impact healthcare technologies have on low-resource settings. Prior to joining ScHARR I was the research manager for a non-profit organization based in Cape Town.

Nasrin Nasr

I am a physiotherapist by background. I was awarded my PhD in patient-reported outcome measures from Sheffield Hallam University in 2007. I joined the Centre for Health and Social Care Research at Hallam University in 2008 and seconded to the ScHARR in 2009. I started a substantive position as research associate in the ScHARR and within the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology group in January 2012.

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Steven Ariss

I have a BA in Sociology, a PhD in Health Studies from the University of York and a PgCert in Learning and Teaching. I previously coordinated an NHS Research Network for Older People´s Mental Health and came to ScHARR from the Bradford Dementia Group (University of Bradford) in January 2009.

I am a health services researcher with an interest in qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods, and complex programme evaluation (including Realist and Developmental Evaluation). I was the Lead Evaluator for the CLAHRC-South Yorkshire programme and am leading the evaluation of new technologies in the combined Yorkshire and Humber CLAHRC. I also have a diverse ongoing programme of research, development, evaluation and service redesign in the use of technology for healthcare, including automated data collection, electronic care records and online dashboard development. I also have an interest in using Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) for service improvement, and carry out qualitative data analysis for the National Audit for Intermediate Care.

More information

Administrative support

Current students can contact the course administrator, Matt Scarbrough, at scharr-clinres@sheffield.ac.uk

External Examiner

The external examiner for the course is Doctor Mary Halter, Senior Research Fellow, at the Kingston University & St. Georges', University of London.

The MSc can be studied full time over 1 year or part time over 2 years for the National Institute Health Research (NIHR) routes and for the standard route the course can be completed in 2-5 years.

To complete the MSc clinical research a total of 180 credits need to be achieved. 135 of these credits are made up of core modules and the final dissertation. The remaining 45 credits can be chosen from optional modules to suit the clinical research needs of the individual student.

Depending on the course route taken the core and optional modules available differ slightly. See the individual routes for details.

The MSc Clinical Research is a taught degree, written by leaders in the field of clinical research in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). Each module will provide opportunities for students to work with staff from ScHARR and as a student group.

Materials will be delivered in a variety of formats which are designed to enhance the learning experience. These include formal lectures, tutorials, small group discussions, online screencasts, videos and podcasts, alongside guided reading and case studies. Some of the modules are available in a distance learning format and all of them are supplemented by online material.

We recommend that students on this course spend approximately 150 hours of study, over the course of the semester, for each 15 credit module. This is equivalent to about 1.5 days study time per week and includes lectures, tutorials, self-study and assessments.

You will use the University's My Online Learning Environment (MOLE) in addition to your face-to-face teaching. MOLE enables you to access all of the course materials, to interact and collaborate with fellow students and tutors outside of the class room setting and to complete and submit formative and summative exercises and assessments.

Our campus and how we use it

We timetable teaching across the whole of our campus, the details of which can be found on our campus map. Teaching may take place in a student’s home department, but may also be timetabled to take place within other departments or central teaching space.

ScHARR was confirmed as the most powerful UK university department for health services research and health technology assessment in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. The School has the largest concentration of world-class and international researchers, above other leading universities such as the London School of Hygiene, York and Manchester. Within ScHARR you will be taught by some of the world's leading scholars in these fields, and benefit from an environment in which teaching and research go hand-in-hand.

The course is co-ordinated and taught by module leaders and tutors with an established track record in health-related research, and mentors based in clinical research teams and clinical research facilities. ScHARR's MSc in Clinical Research features core and optional modules that cover a wide range of relevant topics from which the student can choose the most appropriate for their specific needs.

During the taught component, students will study alongside those taking a range of other health research programmes. This enables students to benefit from a range of options, and enhance their experiences by participation in a large multi-disciplinary student body.

Our students are seeking to develop key skills to enhance their careers within clinical research, both in the UK and globally and typically already work in the following areas:

• Nurses, midwives and allied health professionals working in the NHS and other healthcare settings
• Academic clinical fellows in Medicine and Dentistry
• Non-health professionals who wish to work in healthcare

Our students typically go on to work in the following areas:

• Research positions in the NHS and other healthcare settings
• Higher research training – PhD
• PhD fellowships through NIHR

Who will benefit from studying this course?

This MSc is suited to all those working, or aspiring to work, in the field of clinical research nationally or internationally, whether for the National Health Service, or an equivalent public or private organisation.

For those aspiring to work in the field, the course will provide the comprehensive training needed to gain a position on a clinical research team, to undertake independent clinical research and to critically evaluate clinical research undertaken by others and its clinical implications.

(3 years, all ScHARR courses, response rate 58.5%) data available in full at http://www.careers.dept.shef.ac.uk/studentgems/external/graduate.php
(choose MSc/Clinical Research in the course dropdown menu)