Sustaining research capacity in UK paediatrics: insights from a survey of academic resident doctors

Academic physicians are vital for delivering clinical research that enhances patient care and contributes billions annually to the UK economy.1 Concerningly, the decline in clinical academics has been particularly pronounced in UK paediatrics, where the proportion of doctors progressing to academic consultant posts has more than halved, posing a significant threat to the provision of child-centred research.2 3 Despite paediatrics being a female-majority specialty, women remain disproportionately under-represented at lecturer level compared with other female-majority specialties (figure1).4 5 Understanding the experiences and perspectives of this group is therefore critical to strengthening and diversifying the academic workforce. Here, we share survey findings exploring factors enabling or hindering progression from the perspective of paediatric academic doctors.