How-to guide

How to Email a Consultant About Research

A short, clear email can be the difference between being ignored and getting a great project. Use this guide to contact consultants and researchers in a professional, confident way.

Step 1: Be clear on what you want

Before you write anything, decide what you’re asking for. For example:

  • Shadowing or informal involvement in an ongoing project.
  • Help designing a small audit, QI project, or case series.
  • Supervision for a formal project (e.g. SSC, BSc, dissertation).

You don’t need a perfect idea, but you should sound focused rather than “anything at all”.

Step 2: Choose who to contact

Start close to home

Your own university or teaching hospital is usually the best place to start. Consultants, registrars, and researchers who already teach on your course often like helping students they know, or students from their own institution.

Look for:

  • Consultants in the specialty you’re interested in.
  • Early-career academics (clinical fellows, lecturers, registrars with MD/PhD).
  • People who have recently published work you find interesting.

Step 3: Do 5 minutes of homework

Skim their recent papers or profile so you can mention something specific:

  • Check PubMed, hospital profiles, or university pages.
  • Note their main interests (e.g. breast cancer, sepsis, imaging, medical education).
  • Think how your interests overlap with theirs.

This shows respect for their time and makes your email feel personal, not copy-pasted.

Step 4: Write a clear, concise email

Subject line

Keep it short and specific, e.g. “Medical student interested in breast cancer research” or “F1 keen to help with audit/QI in respiratory”.

Structure of the email

Most good emails follow this pattern:

  • Greeting: “Dear Mr / Ms / Dr / Prof <Surname>”.
  • Who you are: Year, role, university/hospital, and brief background.
  • Why them: One sentence linking to their specialty, clinic, or paper.
  • What you’re asking for: 1–2 lines, simple and realistic.
  • What you can offer: Time, reliability, specific skills (e.g. stats, coding, Excel).
  • Close politely: Thank them, and say you’d be happy to meet or reply by email.

Step 5: Do’s and don’ts

Do

  • Keep it to one short screen of text.
  • Use a professional email address and sign off with your full name and contact details.
  • Mention any constraints (e.g. “I’m on placement Mon–Thu but free most Fridays/weekends”).
  • Proof-read for spelling and get someone else to glance over it if you’re unsure.

Don’t

  • Send a generic mass email to lots of consultants at once.
  • Say “I’ll do anything at all” without any sense of your interests or limits.
  • Oversell your skills or promise time you don’t realistically have.

Step 6: Following up

Consultants are busy and emails get buried. If you haven’t heard back after 7–10 days, it’s fine to send one polite follow-up. If there’s still no reply, move on to someone else rather than repeatedly chasing.

Step 7: Once they say yes

Reply quickly, confirm what you’ve agreed, and turn up prepared. Being reliable on your first project is the fastest way to be invited back for more interesting work later.

Final point

Remember to have confidence in yourself and your own abilites. Whether a medical student, Doctor or an aspiring medical student you will already know a lot and have plenty of skills to offer. The most importnat thing is perseverance, there are sure to be plenty of 'No's' but you only need one yes!

Example email you can adapt

Dear Dr Smith, My name is XXXXX and I’m a 3rd year medical student at St George’s Univerisity. I’m very interested in breast oncology and in getting more involved in research alongside my studies. I recently read your paper on neoadjuvant therapy in triple-negative breast cancer and found the focus on real-world outcomes particularly interesting. I was wondering if you or your team might have any ongoing projects, audits, or data collection that a motivated student could help with. I can offer 3–4 hours most weeks this term and I’m comfortable with basic data entry, Excel and literature searching. I’d be keen to learn more about study design and analysis, and I’m happy to start with simple tasks. If you feel there might be an opportunity, I would be very grateful for the chance to discuss this briefly in person or by email. Best wishes, XXXXX [university email] | [phone number]