In this conversation piece, Claire Powlesland, Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Radiotherapy at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Claire Hayday, Project Manager on the GRACE project talk openly about their experiences and learning on the study.

The GRACE project involved working with a number of NHS Investigative sites across the UK to support recruitment of participants for interviews and for the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) survey.  Each NHS site has a Principal Investigator (PI) and works closely with the central study team to ensure the safety and care of each patient and their data.

Claire Powlesland was stepping into her first role as PI on an NHS investigative site. Meanwhile, Claire Hayday was managing NHS investigative sites for the first time as Project Manager on a large multi-site research project.

Both were experienced professionals but both were also completely new to these particular roles. What followed was a steep learning curve, a lot of collaboration, and many reflections on what it really takes to deliver research within today’s NHS.

Claire Hayday: Before GRACE started, what did you think the PI role involved?

Claire Powlesland: The honest answer is I didn’t have a clue. I’d never been PI before. I’d never really been particularly involved in an NHS research project, nothing on this scale. I didn’t really know what I was volunteering for.

Despite that uncertainty, Claire P knew she wanted to do it. Partly, she says, that came from already developing her research career through her PhD and wanting research to become a bigger part of her role. But crucially, she also had support around her.

Claire Powlesland: The radiotherapy research trials team were brilliant. They just smiled and said, ‘It’ll be fine, we’ll sort it.’ That support, combined with encouragement from managers and colleagues, made it doable.

Even so, the reality was a huge learning curve.

Claire Powlesland: There’s no point pretending otherwise. It was massive.

That sense of learning in real time was something both shared.

Claire Powlesland: What did you expect from the PIs?

Claire Hayday: Honestly, I wasn’t completely sure either. I’d managed large research projects before, but never projects involving NHS investigative sites. I think I underestimated the level of administration and bureaucracy involved both for me and for the PIs.

What stood out quickly was that successful research delivery depended heavily on relationships and communication.

Claire Hayday: I’d been told by experienced colleagues that working with sites is all about relationships. Not in a superficial way but in building trust and open communication so people want to work together to make the study succeed.

That openness became one of the defining features of how the project operated.

Claire Powlesland:  We could just be honest with each other. I knew I could text and ask questions, and equally I knew Claire H would email and say, ‘You said you’d do this and you haven’t done it yet.’ There was no awkwardness around that.

One of the strongest themes in the conversation was the gap between how research can appear from the outside and the reality of delivering it inside busy NHS services.

Claire Hayday: I think people often don’t realise how much work sits around the actual research. It’s not just recruiting participants and delivering the research. It’s governance, approvals, documentation, data management, amendments, communication. All of it has to be meticulous.

Claire Powlesland: If something sounds like common sense in the NHS, you’re probably doing it wrong. (laughs) But usually there’s a very good reason processes are so complicated.

At the same time, both reflected on how much research delivery depends on individuals fitting it around already demanding workloads. For many NHS staff involved in research, there is little or no formally protected time.

Claire Powlesland: I didn’t have protected time. But equally, I didn’t ask for it.

Instead, research became something fitted around clinical work, meetings, and everything else.

Claire Powlesland: When you’ve worked clinically for years, you become very good at managing time in tiny pockets. I used to work in twelve-minute appointment slots. You learn how to find half an hour here and there.

However, this raises important questions about sustainability.

Claire Powlesland: If we want more clinicians involved in research leadership, we need structures that properly support that. It can’t always just rely on goodwill and enthusiasm.

One thing that became very clear was the importance of practical support systems. For Claire P, the local radiotherapy research trials team made an enormous difference.

Claire Powlesland: We developed a really good way of working. It became: I’ll do this bit, you do that bit, and we’ll keep checking in with each other.

Meanwhile, from the project management side, consistency and responsiveness mattered.

Claire Powlesland: You knew who to go to. If I had a question, I emailed Claire H. If she didn’t know the answer, she’d find out.

The wider GRACE team also worked hard to make collaboration realistic for busy clinical staff.

Claire Powlesland: There was an understanding that everyone was juggling fifteen different things. Meetings were organised in advance around availability. Education sessions were shared widely. It genuinely felt collaborative.

That culture mattered.

Claire Powlesland: GRACE never felt like a paper-pushing exercise. It felt like something that would genuinely produce something useful and improve practice.

Both agreed that stepping into unfamiliar territory ultimately built confidence. Claire P now says she would absolutely take on another PI role.

Claire Powlesland: I’d do it again. And I think now I’d have the confidence to actively look for opportunities myself.

The experience also changed how she viewed research leadership.

Claire Powlesland: I think I’m most proud that we pulled it off. And I’m proud to be part of something that I truly believe will make a difference.

For Claire H, the experience reinforced how essential dedicated project management support can be in multi-site NHS research.

Claire Hayday: There are lots of studies that don’t have a specific project manager role. And honestly, I don’t know how researchers could do all of this on top of the actual research itself.

Perhaps the biggest shared lesson was this: you do not need to know everything before stepping into a new role. Both entered GRACE experienced in their own professions but inexperienced in these particular responsibilities. What made the difference was collaboration, openness, supportive teams, and a willingness to learn.

Claire Powlesland: If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly. But you don’t do it alone.