Brunel–Royal Berkshire Partnership

About Mr Sam Nahas and Current Roles

Clinical–Academic Bridge

Trauma & Orthopaedic Consultant at the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH), delivering acute trauma and elective orthopaedic care.

Head of Trauma & Orthopaedics at Brunel University London, within the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences.

Acts as a clinical–academic bridge between:

Brunel Medical School and wider Brunel faculties
Royal Berkshire Hospital's services, education and research activity

Partnership Foundation

RBH is already one of the clinical placement partners for Brunel Medical School, providing a strong foundation for expanded collaboration.

Brunel Medical School – Context

Brunel Medical School admits around 100 students per year.

The programme was initially focused on international students, and is now expanding to include home students, increasing the number of learners who will pass through RBH in the coming years.

Students are trained within a wider ecosystem that includes:

🔬

Clinical Medicine & Life Sciences

🏥

Health Sciences & Public Health

⚙️

Engineering, Design, Digital Health & Data Science

This growing cohort represents a significant opportunity for RBH to become a flagship clinical partner for Brunel.

Student Selected Components (SSCs)

Year 2 SSCs

All Year 2 medical students undertake a 2-month SSC research project, typically around April.

Projects are proposed by consultants via a structured online form, then allocated to students.

Project types so far include:

Quality Improvement (QI) projects
Retrospective case series and service evaluations

Year 3 SSCs

All Year 3 students undertake a year-long group SSC.

Each group is assigned a consultant supervisor in any specialty.

The extended duration allows:

Larger or more complex projects
More robust data collection and analysis
Implementation and follow-up of service changes

Together, Year 2 and Year 3 SSCs form a potential pipeline from early exposure to clinically relevant research through to more mature, multidisciplinary work.

Bridging the Gap: Why a System is Needed

Currently, SSC activity at RBH is productive but largely dependent on individual consultants. As student numbers grow, this creates several challenges:

Equity for students

Variable access to projects and supervisors
Mixed quality and feasibility of projects within limited time frames

Efficiency for consultants and departments

Ad hoc allocation can lead to uneven workload
Missed opportunities to align SSCs with existing QI, audit and research priorities

Missed strategic opportunity

SSCs could provide a steady stream of structured QI and research activity for RBH, as well as a talent pipeline for more advanced studies.

                    A more coordinated system would:
                    Improve student experience and learning outcomes
Provide RBH with motivated "extra pairs of hands" on meaningful, well-defined projects
Ensure that those consultants who want to engage with students and research are supported and utilised effectively
Position RBH as a flagship partner for Brunel Medical School

                

Existing Model: University of Reading – Royal Berkshire Partnership

Between the University of Reading and RBH, a mature model already exists in the form of the Health Innovation Partnership (HIP):

The HIP is a formal strategic partnership between the University of Reading and Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, established in 2021 and building on an earlier Joint Academic Board.

                    Its core aim is to improve patient care and clinical excellence by:
                    Developing new teaching and learning
Enabling joint research and translating it into practice
Sharing facilities and pursuing commercial opportunities

                

The partnership describes five pillars of strategic activity:

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Research

📚

Education

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Advanced Analytics

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Commercialisation

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Estate / Shared Infrastructure

Practical mechanisms include:

A Collaboration Innovation Fund (CIF) that pump-primes joint projects across research, education and professional services
Recognition of departments that excel in clinical-academic activity, including joint professorships and dedicated resources such as a Clinical Skills Simulation Suite on campus

This partnership provides a working template for how a university and RBH can structure governance, funding and academic recognition to support education and research at scale.

Learning from Reading–RBH for Brunel–RBH

Key principles from the Reading–RBH model that can be adapted for Brunel include:

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Formal governance and joint leadership: A clear partnership structure with named leads and a shared board or steering group

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Defined strategic pillars: Focusing collaborative work around agreed themes (e.g. research, education, data/analytics, innovation)

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Seed funding and structured programmes: Small, competitive funds or "calls" to stimulate joint projects and SSC-linked initiatives

⭐

Recognition and progression: Visible recognition for departments and clinicians who engage in teaching and research (e.g. honorary/adjunct titles, "university department" status, or similar)

Applying these principles to Brunel–RBH SSCs would allow the partnership to move quickly beyond ad hoc supervision and into a structured, sustainable model.

Proposal: A Structured Brunel–RBH SSC and Research Pathway

1. Brunel–RBH SSC Steering Group

Joint group including:

RBH clinical and education leads
Brunel Medical School and relevant faculty representatives

Responsibilities:

Curate a portfolio of SSC projects across specialties
Oversee student–consultant allocation for Years 2 and 3
Ensure alignment with RBH priorities and Brunel's educational outcomes

2. Track-Based, Template-Driven Year 2 SSCs

Use the existing online form but map each project to a standardised track, for example:

Quality Improvement / Audit

Retrospective clinical projects

Case series, registry or database studies

Evidence syntheses

Systematic or scoping reviews

Digital health and data projects

Human factors, patient experience and pathway redesign

Engineering and design projects

Co-supervised with Brunel engineering/design

Each project must include:

Clear question and objectives
Defined dataset and feasible methodology
Named supervisory team (consultant plus, where possible, registrar/academic co-supervisor)
A realistic 8-week deliverable (poster, QI report, or draft manuscript)

Consultants opt in with a declared capacity (e.g. 1–2 students), allowing equitable distribution of students across engaged consultants and departments.

3. Year 3 SSCs as the Next Step

Use Year 3 group SSCs to extend and deepen successful Year 2 projects:

Larger QI cycles and service implementations
Mixed-methods projects including qualitative and patient-experience components
Projects combining clinical input from RBH with Brunel's digital health and data science capacity, health sciences and public health expertise, and engineering and design for devices, ergonomics and workflow

Overall Aim

By combining:

A clear SSC structure
An equitable allocation system that attracts consultants who genuinely wish to teach and supervise
And lessons learned from the Reading–RBH Health Innovation Partnership

Brunel and RBH can create a flagship clinical–academic partnership in which SSCs are not incidental tasks, but central drivers of education, quality improvement and research.

Contact

Mr Sam Nahas MBBS, BSc, MEd, FHEA, FRCS (Tr&Orth)

Trauma & Orthopaedic Consultant, Royal Berkshire Hospital

Head of Trauma & Orthopaedics, Brunel University London

sam.nahas@nhs.net

Building the Brunel–Royal Berkshire Academic Partnership