RDF19 Speaker Details

Helen Jones

Job Title: Head of Research Nursing

Organisation: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Biography: 

Dr Helen Jones has spent much of her nursing career working as a Clinical Research Nurse (CRN) across various clinical areas. She is currently the Head of Research Nursing at the Royal Free London NHSFT where she oversees the research workforce as well as delivery of the R and D strategy. She has academic links with the University of Hertfordshire where she co – leads on delivering the NIHR Internship programme and with the University of Middlesex as an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow.

Her career as a CRN has spanned more than 20 years and during this time she has experienced first-hand the growth and development of the CRN role and workforce, and the development of the national research infrastructure supported by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR). In 2017 she completed a Doctorate in Healthcare at Kings College London. Her research thesis is titled “Exploring the experience of Clinical Research Nurses working within acute NHS trusts and determining the most effective way to structure the workforce: A mixed methods study”. Within this, Helen carried out the first national study to examine the organisational structure of the national CRN workforce and the experience of CRNs working in research delivery.

Helen has a national presence within research nursing which includes links with the NIHR, a member of the CRUK Senior Research Nurse Advisory panel and has judged the Research Nurse category of the Nursing Times awards for the past 4 years. She has published and presented on aspects of the CRN role and workforce