Clinical Education Research Group
The Clinical Education Research Group (CERG) is aligned to the scope of the NIHR Incubator for Clinical Education Research.
“Clinical education research is research which has the understanding or evaluation of any aspect of clinical education as a primary focus.”
Our aim is to provide high quality research in response to practical challenges, where findings can inform practice.

We are a multi-professional group of researchers with expertise in education research across medicine, nursing and allied health professions. Our aim is to provide and support high quality research in response to important and practical challenges, with our findings informing change in practice.
Our research can contribute to the health needs of society by enhancing the education, training and development of all health professionals (undergraduate and postgraduate) and the organisations within which they work and learn. We can achieve this contribution through our local, national and international networks and collaborators.
Clinical education research also often includes the design and implementation of education interventions in addition to conducting research and evaluation studies. Our expertise can add value to many clinical research projects in which there is a health professional training component.
We are passionate about developing researchers who are new to clinical education research and collaborating with educators, trainers and clinicians across the health professions.
An essential aspect of our practical focus is on the development of educational scholarship in which the challenges of day to day teaching and learning prompt further inquiry (with evaluation and research), which can then inform change in practice (evidence-based teaching and learning).
Research in Education Innovation and Scholarship
Led by Professor John Sandars, Professor Jacqueline Leigh, and Professor Debbie Roberts
Applied Research and Evaluation
Led by Professor Jeremy Brown and Professor Axel Kaehne
Useful ‘how to’ resources
The NIHR Incubator for Clinical Education Research has produced a series of 4 open access practical articles in ‘The Clinical Teacher’ on:
- How to… support others in developing a career in clinical education research
- How to … successfully find and apply for Clinical Education Research (ClinEdR) funding
- How to … interest, involve and inspire undergraduate students in clinical education research
- How to … navigate entry into the field of clinical education research and scholarship