Nottingham researcher awarded MBE for services to nursing
Earlier this year Dr Joseph Manning received his MBE for services to nursing. We sat down with Joseph to find out more about his work and what he has been recognised for….
Joseph works as a Clinical-Academic Children’s Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), and as Associate Professor (Research) at The University of Nottingham. He is also a current National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Health Education England (HEE) Integrated Clinical-Academic (ICA) Clinical Lecturer.
After training in Nottingham, Joseph undertook his graduate masters in nursing science before working in the children’s hospital. He says that it was quite early on in his career when he decided to become research active. “I attended a lecture delivered by a professor who spoke passionately about integrating clinical practice with research to develop science and inform clinical care,” he says. “That really inspired me and made me determined to make research an integral part of my career.”
In 2011, Joseph was awarded a jointly-funded PhD supported by NIHR and NUH, which enabled him to undertake a piece of research investigating what children and young people’s lives were like after critical illness. This was completed in 2015, before being disseminated internally and used to drive a lot of work aimed at understanding the lives of children. Joseph went on to be awarded an NIHR Clinical Lectureship position in 2019. He now leads a team of staff dedicated to delivering research to support children and young people.
Working closely with children and their families, Joseph says that he is always astounded by how altruistic they are, and their willingness to support research. “Children and their families are so determined to support research because they know the value it can have for future generations,” he explains.
A key part of Joseph’s work is involving families in the development of research, so that he can make sure that the studies he is delivering take into account the needs of those directly involved. “As the research participants, it is essential that they are active partners in both the development and implementation of studies,” he adds.
He is currently the Chief Investigator for two NIHR studies:
- The OCEANIC study, which is a national, multi-centre study that is comprehensively mapping outcomes across the first year for children and young people following intensive care
- The SAPhE Pathway study, which is co-creating a digital prototype risk mitigation pathway aimed at improving the safety of children and young people admitted to care with a mental health crisis
Joseph was awarded his MBE in 2021 for services to nursing and received it at an investiture ceremony earlier this year. “It was an incredibly proud moment for me and I’m very grateful to whoever nominated me,” he says, adding: “I see it also as a recognition of the team I work with, the children and families who support the research I deliver and the wider stakeholders and support networks that do so much to facilitate my work.”
