Training Opportunities

Seeing the big picture: Navigating the science policy landscape
Monday, 5 June 2023 09:30 - 10:30
502 TEACHING HUB - Flex 2 University of Liverpool

This IN-PERSON session is available to PGRs and staff from the University of Liverpool only.
Understanding the science and research policy landscape gives you a significant edge when competing for research grants and similar forms of funding. We will look at where to find relevant information, how to put into practice what you have learned, and what the outcome of that might be in terms of your career development.
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the main sources of information relating to UK science and innovation policy
• Understand how this information can be used to good effect in research grant applications
• Appreciate how this understanding will give you the advantage over others competing for the same funds
• Consider how this knowledge can be utilised in other areas of life, e.g., pursuing a career in research support services or the science policy arena

Presenter Dr Ray Kent:
Ray is a senior manager supporting research and knowledge exchange around emerging and endemic infectious diseases of pandemic potential. In August 2022 he became Chief Operating Officer at The Pandemic Institute, an academic-clinical-civic partnership hosted by The University of Liverpool. This followed on from six years as Director of Research and Innovation Services at The Royal Veterinary College, University of London.

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What intellectual property do I have and how can I commercialise it?
Tuesday 6 Jun 2023 11:30 - 13:00
502 TEACHING HUB - Flex 2 University of Liverpool

This IN-PERSON session is available to PGRs and staff from the University of Liverpool.
You will gain practical examples and coaching to develop your own intellectual property plan. You will learn how to secure your work and how to choose the ideal routes for it reach the wider world.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Classify your intellectual property
• Prioritise its protection
• Recommend commercialisation routes

Presenter Andrew Corcoran:
Since 2004 Andrew Corcoran has worked with academic staff at over 90 universities to develop their commercial and external engagement activities. He is Associate Professor in Marketing at University of Nottingham and Visiting Teaching Fellow at University of Warwick. Andrew is author of Academic Enterprise: A Field Guide and Integrated Digital Marketing in Practice.

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How to build policy into your research workshop for Early Career Researchers

Are you an Early Career Researcher interested in finding out how your research can help to influence policy and how you could translate your research for a policy stakeholder audience?

Join us on Monday 19 June 2023, 12-4:30pm at the School of Law and Social Justice Event Space for our upcoming workshop on how to build policy into your research.

During the workshop, participants will gain practical tips and insights from policy experts, engage in peer-to-peer interactive discussions, and learn from those who have experience in influencing policy through research. The workshop also includes a networking lunch, providing a chance to connect with like-minded researchers, share your experiences and challenges, and expand your network.

Sign up to the workshop.

Research Ethics and the Challenges of New Technologies

Researchers, particularly ECRs and PhD students, are invited to an ethics workshop, funded by the University’s Wellcome Institutional Partnership Award.

High-quality academic research should always be complemented by solid research ethics and integrity practices to ensure that all activities undertaken safeguard the dignity, rights, and safety of the research participants. Moreover, the ethical qualities of the research promote trust in science and technology and increase the acceptability of innovative outcomes. However, with new technological advances, researchers are facing more and more ethical challenges. Probably the biggest challenges we face now are generated by data in various forms from AI technologies to omics.

This workshop will focus on these new challenges, discuss possible solutions and give the participants useful ideas on how to integrate ethics from the beginning into the design of future research projects. It will help strengthen the capacities of researchers to incorporate ethical judgements in the project design and implementation.

Thursday 27 June 10.00-16.00, The Spine

Register for the workshop

Are you a life science researcher who has a good idea for a diagnostic test or someone thinking of starting a career in the medical diagnostics industry?

The University of Liverpool is launching “The Diagnostic Playbook”, a guide to best practice for developing and commercialising In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) diagnostics test kits.

Dr Peter Foster, Royal Society Entrepreneur-in-Residence in Life Science at the University of Liverpool, has brought together his experiences of launching many diagnostic products to provide an insight into how to proceed, starting with assessing whether the idea has commercial potential, through all the development processes and commercial steps to a successful launch.

The Playbook will be launched at an in-person seminar on Thursday 30 March, 2pm – 3pm in the Sherrington Building, Seminar Room 4. Peter will introduce the new resource and answer any questions you may have. Please register your attendance here by 23 March, 2023.

Don’t worry if you can’t make the event as it will be recorded. The Playbook and seminar video will be available on the website here w/c  27 March, 2023.

This project is supported by the University of Liverpool’s Intellectual Property (IP) Commercialisation Team.

Developing new products or technologies is a complicated and challenging process. Our specialist IP Commercialisation team can provide practical advice and support to academics who want to commercialise IP developed at the University via licensing or spin-out companies, in order to maximise the impact of their research results providing benefits to both the University and society. Find out more here.

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Early Career Research Translational Training Event 13-15 December 2021

HLS will run two initiatives to develop translational research interest and capability in early career researchers, via:

• An intensive training event on the fundamentals of translational work. Training will be provided by UoL in-house expertise, as well as industry, NHS and research funding bodies. It takes place Monday 13 December to Wednesday 15 December 2021. Read the full schedule here for the ECR Translational Training Event. Register for this event on Eventbrite here.

• Additionally, participants who have potentially translatable research which is already underway, will be able to bid for pump priming funds of £15k per project (up to £60k available for all projects). This is the Early Career Researcher Dragon’s Den Translational Award. Find further details here of the Early Career Researcher Dragon’s Den Translational Award criteria. Applicants to this funding scheme should register their interest with Rosie Corbin (r.corbin@liverpool.ac.uk) by Wednesday 8 December 2021 and state the research area of the project.

Audience

• Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Early Career Researchers.
• The definition of ECRs is flexible, but it is expected that participants in the training event would be up ten years post-PhD completion for both clinical and non-clinical staff. This excludes breaks such as career breaks / parental or significant sickness leave.
• Dragon’s Den participants would be up ten years post-PhD completion for non-clinical staff. Clinical staff should be no more than five years after consultant appointment for UoL staff.
• Attendees from other faculties are welcome to attend, e.g. those at the engineering/medical sciences research interface.

Format

Training in Monday 13 December to Wednesday 15 December 2021:

• Intensive training over three days. Each session will be roughly 1hr to 1.5hours per session, four sessions a day over three days, between 10am-3pm.
• Additionally, on the final day, there will be a separate introductory session for Early Career Researcher Dragon’s Den Translational Awardapplicants who have a translational research project that they are looking to take to the next stage.
• Sessions will be recorded with speakers’ permission. Accessing recordings is an alternative for those with clinical commitments.

Early Career Researcher Dragon’s Den Translational Award application time w/c 20 December to Wednesday 26 January:

• Pump priming applicants complete paper application.

Funding panel Thursday 3 February 2022:

• Shortlisted applicants will be invited to present their project and answer questions to the ‘Dragon’s Den’ style panel (virtual or in-person depending on availability).

WEBINAR TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SUPPORT FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Across Liverpool and the North West Coast (NWC) a variety of different organisations enable health researchers to better engage in research, provide support across different stages of the research and innovation pathway and help ensure the effective delivery of health research.

LHP is hosting a webinar on 20th July at 12 noon, bringing together some key organisations in this process.

This webinar will provide an overview of each organisation and help both new and experienced health researchers understand the type of support on offer and the best way to access this.

The following organisations will be presenting at this event and a small amount of time will be available at the end for questions. A recording of the webinar will be made available for use at future researcher development and training sessions and for dissemination to new staff.

• Liverpool Health Partners (LHP)
• LHP Single Point of Access to Research and Knowledge (SPARK)
• North West Coast Clinical Research Network(NWC CRN)
• Research Design Service North West(RDS NW)
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast(ARC NWC)
• Innovation Agency(Academic Health Science network for the NWC)

Translational Research Visits - CLOSED

Funds are available to support individual researchers or small groups to travel to a partner’s lab, research group, industry or clinical setting, in order to advancetranslational research. For example, to build capability through the development of research techniques and expertise, or understanding of an area of clinical medicine.

Criteria and eligibility

• The visit has to support translational research objectives.
• Travel can be within UK, EU or internationally, but must bear in mind that travellers have to be able to acquire an appropriate visa in time.

• This fund is available to HLS academics at all career stages
• The researchers should be able to complete travel by 31 December 2023. Awarded funds must be utilised/expenses claimed by 31 December 2023. 

Maximum award per person

Providing all costs meet the University expenses policy:

• £1k for UK
• £1.5k for EU
• £2.5k for international travel

Application process

To request funds, please submit a short application to Rosie Corbin in the Research and Impact Directorate (r.corbin@liverpool.ac.uk): Application for translational research visits.

Those that undertake a placement will have to provide a short feedback report on return.

Deadline

This is call is open to applications at any point from 8 August 2023 to 30 October2023. Please submit as soon as you can, and ensure that there will be sufficient time for you to undertake the visit before the award end date of 31 December.

Introduction to Health Economics

Thursday 21 September 2023, 12.00-13.30pm with lunch

Audience This session will be aimed at introducing researchers in translational medicine to the concept and mechanisms of demonstrating the potential value of an intervention, so that they can discuss this fluently when required by grant providers or health-system decision makers.

Venue The event will be held on campus at the University of Liverpool . Room to be confirmed.

Background The decision to adopt a new service, treatment or other medical technology into a health system always happens within the context of limited resources. There is only so much clinical time, physical space and money available to provide healthcare to a given population; demand always outstrips supply, and there are many, vastly differing diseases and medical conditions competing for attention. Decision makers need to be try to judge the relative value of new interventions – both in terms of patient outcomes and financial cost – within this complex landscape of competing demands and limited resources to assess whether patients and the system as a whole would benefit from their adoption. There are many evidence-focused processes and tools that exist to support the valuation of healthcare interventions, but these processes can seem removed from the practice of medical research and are often not built in to research plans until late in the development of an intervention. However, without early planning to gather evidence to demonstrate the value of a new intervention, decision makers in the healthcare system may decline to adopt a promising service or treatment, leaving patients worse off in the long run.

Agenda and to register:  LINK

Any questions, please contact Rosie Corbin, Research and Impact Directorate: r.corbin@liverpool.ac.uk