18 Sep 2023On Monday 11 September 2023, NIHR ARC North Thames was delighted to host a showcase of its research, and how this work is impacting the health and care of North Thames communities.
The showcase brought together researchers from across the ARC’s five partner universities for a day of learning, followed by an evening of networking and presentations to colleagues who work in Local Authorities, NHS Trusts and community settings, and the public. The conversations we had will help to shape our future work, as we aim to meet the local priorities and service needs in our region through our findings, tools and research capacity building opportunities.
Implementation Training
The day began with an implementation training session led by ARC North Thames implementation experts Jenny Shand (UCL Partners) and Fiona Stevenson (UCL). This session aimed to support researchers to move research studies – which may well have establishd the effectiveness of a clinical innovation – to a place where it could be taken up and used routinely. The goal of this session was to encourage conversations between health researchers who approach implementation in different ways, all with the ultimate aim of making sure that high-quality evidence in health and social care is put into practice effectively for the benefit of everyone. This session sparked conversations around questions, which participants continued throughout the day:
- What challenges does the current interface between research and implementation pose to researchers – and how might these be overcome?
- How can theories and frameworks best underpin efforts to adopt, plan and implement research findings into existing services?
- How can we incorporate research findings into existing services or use them to create new ones?
Developing and managing your identity as a researcher
In the afternoon, researchers were invited to join a workshop organised by the ARC NT Early Career Researchers (ECRs) Network. This brought together a panel of ECRs from a spectrum of roles to discuss their experiences of how to succeed in the early stages of a research career, such as getting comfortable in promoting one’s own work, and building networks and mapping out experts to find new research opportunities. Chaired by ARC NT’s Senior Nursing Lead, Alison Finch, the group heard from three speakers:
Meredith Hawking, Lecturer in Social Science at QMUL
Dr Roxy Tehrany, Therapies Research Lead at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
Dr. Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi, Lead Nurse for Research at Moorfields
Throwing open the doors to our research showcase
From 3-6pm, we welcomed guests from our partner organisations and beyond for an open-door showcase of research. An installation of over 80 research posters provided context for our work and how our findings hope to improve health and care services in our region and beyond. We also hosted a Speaker's Corner, where ARC researchers gave quick-fire presentations on their work.
We were particularly grateful to have members of our PPIE community present, to discuss how we are embedding laypersons’ invaluable perspectives on our research at every level of our infrastructure, from individual study to management committees.
We also heard from recipients of our Mental Health Research for All (MH-ALL) funding on their experiences getting into research. Our panel of mental health professionals reflected on how their time with us has shaped their relationship with research, and where they see research aligning with their careers in the future.
We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the event, as well as all those who attended. We appreciate the perspectives you shared with us.
