ILCaMS 2023 Away Day
The Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences held its annual Away Day at The Spine in Liverpool last week. The day featured a programme of talks, posters and team building activities that allowed staff and students to celebrate and reflect on the successes and challenges of the past 12 months and learn more about plans and priorities for the coming year.
Executive Dean, Professor Pete Clegg opened the day with a ‘year in review’ and a look at how the Institute will build on its research and teaching successes moving forward.
This was followed by Research Strategy, and Education updates from Professor Mandy Peffers and Professor Rachel Williams, respectively. The presentations focused in on how Liverpool can better support postgraduate development, as well as how research funding and strategy can be better managed.
After morning presentations, there was a short interval, in which attendees were able to view and discuss the student poster displays, which coved the full span of the Institute’s research disciplines of Medicine, Eye and Vision Sciences, Cardiovascular Medicine, and Musculoskeletal Biology.
Liverpool Shared Research Facilities (Liv-SRF) Business Manager, Ben Mollitt, then delivered a presentation highlighting how Liv-SRF can help aid Institute teams in their research by providing access to specialised research equipment and expertise.
Team building and skills development was the focus of the afternoon, with two different sessions on offer. The first was a workshop on how digital content can aid researchers in their work alongside specialised training in Viva interviewing.
The second event challenged members to draw upon their teamwork, creativity, and problem solving, as they were split into teams and asked to construct a child’s bicycle from scratch. A circuit was arranged with groups rotating from station to station, alternating between building, cycling on spin bikes, and space hopper racing.
The day concluded with the annual ILCaMS staff awards, with certificates handed out to the worthy winners in a range of categories.
List of ILCaMS Awards Winners:
Excellence in a supporting role – Julie Johnson
Collaborator – Ethan Hearty
Mentor – Gregory Lip
Innovator / creator – Vikki Hegerty and Robyn McKeown
Unsung Hero – Andrew Ainsworth
The Swiss Army Knife – Lisa Heathcote
Wellbeing Supporter – Shirley Rawlings and Christian Hedrich
Best Newcomer – Frederick Frost and Chelsea Adams
Technical Excellence – Michael Aspden
Student Experience Award – Hannah Murphy
PDRA of the Year – Pete Wilson and Donato Leo