My IRIHS work experience: A week exploring healthcare, research and office life

About the author:

Grace Gould is a 17-year-old student from Surrey with a passion for sociology and understanding how society shapes people's lives and experiences. She is particularly interested in healthcare, inequality and digital innovation, and enjoys exploring how research can improve both policy and patient care.

As part of my work experience with the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (IRIHS) group in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, I was given the opportunity to experience both academic research and office life in a way that completely changed my understanding of healthcare.

Starting the Week: First impressions

I began the week shadowing Senior Digital Health Researcher Dr Francesca Dakin and attending the Direct-to-Consumer Medical Testing Conference at St Anne’s College. I helped organise name badges, welcome guests and register attendees as they arrived. At first these seemed like small tasks, but they showed me how much preparation and organisation goes into running a successful academic event.

Throughout the event, I took photographs of speakers and panellists and made detailed notes during the talks. This made the experience more engaging because I was actively listening and thinking about the discussions.

One thing that surprised me about the conference was how interdisciplinary the discussions were. Many of the talks explored how healthcare is shaped by communication, online culture, digital systems and public perceptions of health. I particularly enjoyed the talks by Associate Professor Tim Child and Dr Deborah Cohen.

Dr Cohen discussed how media and online healthcare culture can increase anxiety around health and encourage people to constantly monitor themselves for possible illnesses. One phrase she used that stayed with me was ‘sick until proven healthy’, which can lead to the promotion of ongoing testing, supplements and health products that may not be evidence-based, blurring the line between genuine medical advice and marketing. I thought this captured modern healthcare culture in a very interesting way.

The conference was also a valuable social experience. At lunch, I challenged myself by sitting at a table where I didn't know anyone. Although this initially made me nervous, it ended up being one of the nicest parts of the day! Everybody was welcoming and easy to talk to. It made me realise how collaborative and social academic environments can be.

Settling into Office Life

The following day was my first full office day at the Department. Catherine Barker, Personal Assistant for IRIHS, met me in the atrium and showed me around the building.

One of my first tasks was editing the photographs I had taken before writing a blog about the conference. I spent a large part of the day organising notes and reflecting on the talks from the event. Looking through my notes helped me understand some of the terminology and concepts I had initially struggled with during the conference itself.

I went to Taylor’s for lunch – a place I was told was a popular lunch spot in Oxford. While waiting in the queue, I found myself people-watching. Students, academics and office workers were all mixed together – some sitting alone working on laptops while others chatted with colleagues or rushed back to work carrying takeaway coffee cups. Although it sounds like a small moment, it genuinely helped me get more of a feel for working life in Oxford and the atmosphere around the University.

An interesting part of that day was meeting Professor Henriette Langstrup, an academic visitor at IRIHS. We spoke about future careers, digital healthcare, AI and some of her research. One of her studies was particularly interesting because it focused on diabetes support groups on Facebook, where people living with diabetes shared advice and experiences with one another. Although people are often warned not to trust medical advice online, she explained that many of the individuals involved developed detailed knowledge simply because they live with the condition every day. This challenged my assumptions about expertise and online communities.

We also discussed AI and chatbots within healthcare systems. One point she made that stayed with me was that introducing AI into healthcare does not necessarily remove workload; instead, it can often shift it elsewhere. Although chatbots may save time initially, professionals still need to check the information carefully to ensure it is accurate and safe for patients. This conversation helped me understand that digital healthcare is not simply about creating new technology, but also about ethics, responsibility and trust.

Research, Inequality and Academic Life

As the week progressed, I started to feel more confident in the office environment. I was no longer nervous about finding my way around the building and had started to feel more comfortable speaking to people and asking questions. 

I had the opportunity to shadow a DPhil student Nicole Mfoafo-M’Carthy, who researches integrated neighbourhood healthcare teams. As someone interested in sociology and human geography, I found her research engaging because it focused heavily on inequality within healthcare systems.

She shared how GP practices in more affluent areas often have better funding, stronger technology and greater capacity to support patients, whereas underfunded practices face greater pressure. Hearing these examples made healthcare inequality feel more real and visible to me than simply reading statistics or case studies in a textbook. It also made me appreciate how closely healthcare outcomes can be connected to geography, funding and wider social inequality.

Nicole also introduced me to some of her research methods, including monitoring patients through different stages of care between GPs, hospitals and home support. It was interesting to see how healthcare researchers observe experiences and interactions, rather than looking at medical outcomes alone. We also discussed AI and academic research, particularly the importance of protecting unpublished work and sensitive information when using AI tools. I had never considered how AI could create ethical concerns within research before.

After shadowing Nicole, Professor Sara Shaw took me to lunch at Green Templeton College. This memorable part of my week gave me personal insight into academic culture and working life. I had the opportunity to listen to conversations between researchers discussing projects, ethics and healthcare issues in a natural and collaborative way.

Meeting Professor Trish Greenhalgh was another particularly interesting moment. When I later researched her work, I discovered how influential she had been during the COVID-19 pandemic. It felt quite surreal to learn that someone with such nationally important work during the pandemic was casually part of conversations happening around the lunch table.

One of the most important discussions I had during the placement was with Sara about careers and university subjects. Before my work experience, I assumed that working in areas connected to digital healthcare, AI or healthcare technology would require advanced computer science knowledge or a traditional medical pathway. However, throughout the placement I was introduced to many careers which focus on understanding how technology affects people, healthcare systems, communication and inequality. This was something I found particularly encouraging because the social and behavioural aspects of healthcare are the areas that interest me most.

Final Reflections

Overall, this work experience significantly changed the way I think about healthcare research and academic work. Throughout the week, I became more aware of how interconnected healthcare is with technology, communication, media, sociology, ethics and inequality. I gained a deeper understanding of office life and academic culture, including the amount of collaboration, discussion, writing and independent thinking involved.

Most importantly, the placement helped me feel much more confident about the possibility of pursuing a future career connected to the social side of healthcare, digital health or healthcare research. Before the week, I had viewed ‘healthcare’ as something far more clinical and science focused. However, this placement showed me that understanding people, behaviour, communication and inequality is equally important within modern healthcare systems.

The experience also pushed me outside of my comfort zone socially and professionally. Whether it was introducing myself to new people, navigating an unfamiliar office environment or listening to conversations between experienced researchers, I gradually became much more confident throughout the week. Looking back, the placement offered valuable insights into healthcare research itself. Equally important, I gained a clearer understanding of the kind of working environment and future career that I could genuinely see myself enjoying.

A special thank you to Charlotte Thompson-Grant for organising the placement within the IRIHS group and arranging my schedule for the week.