This year’s event held special significance as we mark 20 years of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Over the past two decades, the NIHR has been driving life-changing research for the health and wealth of the nation. It has opened doors for new talent, strengthened research capacity nationally, and ensured evidence generated through world-leading research delivers real benefits for patients, families, and communities.
Our focus this year was on research capacity building which sits at the heart of that mission. The programme featured talks from researchers at pre-doctoral, doctoral and post-doctoral career stages and attendees were also invited to explore a vibrant display of research posters created by BRC PhD students. There were also a range of opportunities to find out about the research being conducted across the regional NIHR infrastructure, our partners and support available to researchers.
Professor Andy Blamire, NIHR Newcastle BRC Co-Director and Dr Arthur Pratt, NIHR Newcastle BRC Academic Career Development Lead welcomed attendees to the morning session before introducing key note speaker Professor Wendy Baird, newly appointed Dean of the NIHR Academy who’s presentation highlighted the NIHR’s vision for research capacity development.
The morning session continued with presentations from BRC internship awardees, Chioma Elewa and Matthew Douglas-Harris, describing their path into research, and presentations from BRC PhD students Nana Aboagye, Georgia Graham, Anthony McLean and Dr Tiago da Silva Costa, sharing their current research.Attendees were then invited to join interactive breakout sessions covering:
Dr Silvia Del Din, NIHR Newcastle BRC Deputy Academic Career Development Lead welcomed everyone back for the afternoon session. Dr Kate Hallsworth, Dr Ríona McArdle, Dr Simone Webb and Dr Laura Jardine shared their career path into research. Professor Dave Jones, Director of the Newcastle Health Research Partnership (NHRP) Academy described how the NHRP Academy is supporting research careers across the region.
A panel discussion on how we can work together better to build research capacity across the North East followed with Professor Wendy Baird, Professor Richard Bellamy (Deputy Dean and Director of Speciality Training, North East and North Cumbria (NENC), NHS England), Professor Dave Jones, Dr Oonagh McGee (Chief Operating Officer, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, NENC) and Jeanette Milne (Head of Nursing, Northumbria Health NHSFT) taking questions from the audience. The session came to a close with a wrap up from Dr Arthur Pratt and prizes for the best posters on the day awarded to Jenny Wales (1st), and Marta Chroscik and Daisy Rusdale (joint 2nd).
Jenny said:
"Attending the Celebration of Research Excellence Event was an amazing opportunity to showcase my work. The thoughtful questions and feedback I received will be invaluable as I move forward with my research. I am honoured to have received the 1st place poster prize among so many excellent posters at the event; it is a wonderful encouragement as I continue to develop as an early career researcher."
Marta said:
"The BRC Celebration of Research Excellence event was a remarkable showcase of progression across different career stages and a diverse range of research. The poster session provided an excellent opportunity to share and discuss my work, and I was thrilled to be awarded the joint second-place poster prize!"
Daisy said:
"It was a really inspiring event with such a high standard of posters, and I am really grateful to have won 2nd place. I really enjoyed sharing my work and learning from everyone else’s research”