30 January 2025
Congratulations to Laura Henderson, research development manager at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, who was recently recognised as the sole NHS winner at the national Hidden REF 2024 competition.
Established in 2019, the Hidden REF aims to broaden how research success is measured by moving beyond traditional metrics like publications. Instead, it recognises and celebrates important but underrepresented research outputs, roles, and practices that are vital to the research ecosystem.
Central to the Hidden REF’s mission is the recognition of the often overlooked roles and contributions enabling high-quality research, which they term “hidden roles”.
At an online awards ceremony on 29 November 2024, Laura was announced joint-winner of the ‘Hidden Role’ category, which recognises those individuals who are fostering and maintaining high-quality valuable working cultures within research.
James Cleaver, Head of Publishing at F1000, chaired the Hidden Role panel and said Laura “exhibited all of the qualities that the panel felt were essential to the Hidden Role category of contributing to research culture, the training of others, demonstrating tremendous expertise and regularly going above and beyond” in her role.
Laura’s nomination was made by Dr Samantha Irving, chief paediatric respiratory research physiologist, and Dr Vicky Slonims, consultant speech and language therapist, who referenced the incredible support she offers to nurses, midwives, Allied Health Professionals, healthcare scientists, pharmacy staff and psychologist (NMAHPP) researchers developing personal fellowships.
On receiving the award Laura said:
“I am hugely thankful to Sam and Vicky for the nomination in the first place. I’m also thrilled that the panel recognised the importance of supporting and investing in the career development of underrepresented clinical academics, which should be more widespread. My job is effortless because of the breathtakingly talented researchers we have across our hospitals, and I’m honoured to work alongside them.”
Read more about the Hidden REF and the 2024 competition winners here: The hidden REF – Celebrating all research outputs.
Read more research stories or sign up to the research newsletter.