Welsh Crucible and me – Dr Hayley Reed (2024)

I am a Research Fellow at DECIPHer (the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement) at Cardiff University. My research focuses on child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing from an interdisciplinary approach spanning public health, psychology, education and social care. My methodological focus is on co-producing and adapting interventions and tools through participatory approaches. I have published an innovative framework for involving multiple stakeholders in co-producing health interventions and led the co-creation process of a school-level digital dashboard to empower schools to use data to create healthy environments.

My 12-year career at Cardiff has spanned a professional service role as a Public Involvement Officer, working as a part-time research assistant during my PhD studies, and a post doc position at DECIPHer before I obtained my own research funding for a fellowship through Health and Care Research Wales. Reflecting on this journey, I had often become so caught up in the daily tasks of my research work that I had not allowed enough space to consider where I was trying to get to. It was not until I applied for my fellowship that I thought about my longer-term career plan. It was then that I decided to apply for the Welsh Crucible programme.

I had become interested in this leadership development programme as some of my DECIPHer colleagues are Cruciblees from previous cohorts. While they were keen to maintain the mystery of what the programme entailed, they told me just enough to get me excited about being part of such a unique network. I saw it as an opportunity to review and reflect on where I was, where I wanted to be, and what I needed to do to get there. I was especially keen to develop cross-institution and cross-disciplinary collaborations, as I felt that I often collaborated with the same academics as this was easy and comfortable for me. The programme ended up being all of this and more!

One of the main positives for me has been the peer support network. After a PhD it can be difficult to maintain a network of academic peers as some individuals leave academia for other sectors and others move to institutions throughout the UK or even further afield. This was especially true for me as I had taken maternity leave, and the pandemic began during my PhD. But after the Welsh Crucible I find myself with a ready-made early- to mid-career network that spans the whole of Wales. So far this has included sharing my knowledge of university career progression processes, others sharing their recent publications linked to my field with me, and conversations about future funding opportunities that Cruciblees could apply for together. Even unintentionally meeting others from my cohort at events or in the sbarc|spark building makes me feel more connected within the academy.

I look forward to the future with this cohort of peers who I can call upon for support, to exchange disciplinary knowledge, and collaborate with to address pertinent societal concerns through our research. I’d encourage anyone contemplating their future career plans to apply for the Welsh Crucible – you won’t regret it.