Welcome Congratulations in the News General News And
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
May 2010 Research and Development Department WELCOME We are delighted to welcome to the Department Anna Pollard and Nicola Latchem. Anna is our new part- time Governance Officer covering Esther’s maternity leave. (Esther gave birth to a son, Isaac Alexander, on 2 May - mother and baby are both doing well.) Nicola is the Trust solicitor and was formerly located in the Legal Services Team drafting and reviewing research contracts. She now has an office in the R&D Department and we hope this will help her to work with the R&D team to streamline the contractual process. Nicola maintains her line management through Legal Services. CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to Dr A. V. Ramanan on his promotion to Honorary Reader. Dr Ramanan is Lead Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. IN THE NEWS First newborn in the world to receive xenon gas in a bid to prevent brain injury: St Michael’s Hospital has become the first hospital in the world to successfully deliver xenon gas to a newborn baby in a bid to prevent brain injury following a lack of oxygen at birth. This pioneering technique has been developed by Marianne Thoresen, Professor of Neonatal Neuroscience at the University of Bristol and Dr John Dingley, Consultant Anaesthetist and Reader in Anaesthetics at Swansea University’s School of Medicine. This study is being funded by Sparks, the children’s medical research charity. 3D puzzle to mend broken bones: Dr Sanja Dogramadzi, an engineer from Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England working in consultation with Professor Roger Atkins will use CT scans of healthy and fractured joints to work out the mathematical algorithm for the exact displacement and rotation needed for each fragment to be put back together in exactly the right place. The 3D puzzle solution will be a starting point for creating a minimally invasive surgical robotic system. The project entitled: Robotic reduction of complex fractures using 3D puzzle solving algorithm' is being funded by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant worth £97,176. GENERAL NEWS AND INFORMATION Chief Medical Officer: The DoH announced that Professor Dame Sally Davies will take up the role of Chief Medical Officer following the departure of Sir Liam Donaldson until a substantive appointment is made. Dame Sally remains Director General of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and NHS. Sir Liam's last day of service as Chief Medical Officer will be 31 May. An open competition to make a substantive appointment to the Chief Medical Officer role will be held this summer. Guidance on submitting grant applications: The R&D Department has updated our website with a number of tools to assist researchers when submitting grant applications. This information can be accessed here. Guidance on the attribution of NHS non-commercial Research costs, Support Costs and Treatment Costs (ReSeT Guidance): Statement from Department of Health: Following consultation with our research funding partners, the Department of Health has decided not to proceed with the implementation of the ReSeT guidance. We will continue discussions with our partners to agree an approach that builds on the principles set out in HSG(97)32 and in the currently- used ARCO guidance. Page 1 of 4 May 2010 New guide to help health professionals involve patients in the research process: The Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College London has launched a new guide to help researchers involve users in the research process. The guide explains how users can help at each stage of the research process, what issues to consider, and how researchers can involve users. New guidance for doctors involved in research: The GMC has published new guidance ‘Good practice in research’ and ‘Consent to research’ which came into effect on 4 May 2010. The guidance documents provide more detailed advice on how the principles in the GMC's core guidance Good Medical Practice and in Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together apply in the context of research. Questionnaire on e-health records research: To exploit the UK's position as a world leader in health informatics, the UK Health Departments are developing infrastructures to link electronic health data for research purposes e.g. the Health Research Support Service (HRSS) being developed by the NIHR Research Capability Programme (RCP), the Welsh Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) system and the Scottish Health Information System (SHIP). The major UK research funders wish to realise the research opportunities offered by these infrastructure developments and are carrying out a mapping exercise that will review the current capacity in the UK e-health records research. If you are working in e-health records related research or wish to work in e-health related research, you can participate in a questionnaire that can be accessed via this link. Outcome of public consultation on the functioning of the Clinical Trials Directive: In October 2009 the European Commission issued a public consultation paper 'Assessment of the functioning of the “Clinical Trials Directive” 2001/20/EC’ (CTD). This consultation was part of the impact assessment exercise announced by the Commission in December 2008. A report summarising public responses on the functioning of the Clinical Trials Directive has been published. Health Services Research Network: The HSRN has published a review: Governing health services research – is it working? The full copy of the document can be found here. NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio: Latest Portfolio news the latest UKCRN Portfolio recruitment figures are available here. BHI Research News: Have you seen the latest news from the Bristol Heart Institute? This can be accessed here. TRAINING e-learning module on research and human tissue legislation: The Medical Research Council (MRC) has launched a free e-learning module on research and human tissue legislation. The module is designed for researchers as well as all those with an interest in the subject. It gives a highly accessible overview of both the Human Tissue Act 2005 and the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006, with practical examples and guidance on how the legislation applies to licensing, ethical approval and consent. The module takes about 45 minutes to complete and includes a short self-assessment, with alternative questions for England/Wales/Northern Ireland and for Scotland. The module can be accessed from the MRC website. Consent and communications for research involving children: Date: Thursday 1 July 2010. Time: 12.30 – 4.00pm. Venue: Board Room, Noy Scott House, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. This is a practical course aimed specifically at those who are involved in consenting patients to paediatric research studies. This course is a follow on from the Part 1 Communication & Consent course, and aims to provide practical examples with participant involvement and peer feedback. The course will cover the following topics: The essential steps in the consenting process; Approaches to managing each step successfully; Practical application of this process and managing consent in difficult circumstances. If you have not attended Part 1, but believe that you will benefit from Part 2 anyway, please contact Margaret Fletcher direct to discuss this - [email protected]. To reserve a place on the course, or for further information, please contact Nicola Bryant on 01392 406 437 or [email protected]. Software for Research: 29 and 30 July. Venue University of Bristol. This course is hands on introduction to the software used in research. Further information about the course content and a programme for the training is available here. Page 2 of 4 May 2010 FUNDING INFORMATION New Funding initiatives at UHB: Staff are reminded of the two new funding initiatives which were announced by the Director of Research in early May. The first is an open and transparent competition for research sessions/PAs to allow time to prepare NIHR grants; the second is a small grants scheme awarding funds up to a maximum of £20k. Further information about these initiatives are available here. Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards: The Wellcome Trust has announced further details of its Investigator Awards, a major new scheme to support world-class researchers to tackle ambitious research questions about health and disease. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Central Commissioning Facility (CCF) Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme: Registration of Intention to Submit is no longer required for applications from Competition 13 onwards. Next Submission Deadline is 24th September 2010. i4i Invention for Innovation: The i4i feasibility study stream funds project proposals of up to 12 months to investigate first whether a piece of prior basic research or an innovative use of an existing technology could provide a solution to an existing or emerging healthcare need. The 6th Call for Stream 1 - i4i feasibility study programme opens on the 19th May 2010. Submission deadline is 5pm, 2 July 2010. More information is available here. Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme: The EME programme is funded by the MRC and managed by the NIHR as the lead organisation for clinical trials and evaluation. The programme is broadly aimed at supporting science driven studies with an expectation of substantial health gain. The clinical studies are likely to be mostly randomised controlled trials but other forms of evaluation appropriate for the intervention under study will also be supported. The EME programme is an ongoing research funding opportunity. Applicants are welcome to submit a preliminary application at any time; however there are three submission deadlines each year. The submission deadline for consideration in the next round is Monday 12 July 2010 (before 1pm).