Month: May 2018

A message from the Dean of Medicine: Professor Jonathan Weber

Prof Jonathan Weber
As you can imagine, after the College’s high profile international search I was delighted to to be interviewed and subsequently appointed as Dean for our Faculty. Having first joined St Mary’s Medical School as a Wellcome Clinical Training Fellow in 1982 it is an honour to now lead our Faculty.

Since my appointment as Acting Dean in October 2017, I have learnt much more about the work that is undertaken within Medicine and have had the opportunity to work with HoDs and Vice Deans to consider how we can effectively position ourselves as an organisation and across our campuses to best support the immense strengths of our Faculty.

For our research strategy, I am eager to build thematically where we have ambition and critical mass, recruit and support early career researchers across the Faculty with a particular focus on mentorship and career progression.

Having spent my career at Imperial focussed on research, my steepest learning has been in education. Our undergraduate School of Medicine is the landmark which defines our reputation nationally and internationally; as there will be five new medical schools next year, we need to ensure that our medical education remains excellent, attracting the highest quality of students and producing the best trained doctors.

I shall be working with the Vice Provost (Education), our Vice Dean (Education), our Faculty Education Office and departmental leads to continue to enhance and develop all our UG and PGT courses, supporting the ambitious learning and teaching strategy across the College. Meanwhile, in July I shall be glowing with pride at LKC Medicine – our joint medical school in Singapore with NTU – when the first 52 students will graduate. This most successful partnership, Imperial’s first such foray internationally, is a tribute to all of the work of Jenny Higham, Martyn Partridge, Des Johnston, Martin Lupton, Naomi Low-Beer and the teams that have supported them. I thank them all now on behalf of the Faculty.

Jonathan

Professor Jonathan Weber
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

New on the website

UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at Imperial

The challenge of dementia demands new concepts, new approaches and a diverse range of new research tools and directions. A diagnosis of dementia occurs every four seconds – the UK DRI at Imperial will play a unique role in aiming to stop this current trend.

www.imperial.ac.uk/uk-dri


Diabetes Network

The Network of Excellence in Diabetes was established in 2018 with the goal of gaining a better understanding of the disease process and developing innovative new approaches to treatment. Key research areas are in bioinspired engineering, pancreatic islet cell biology, and disease genetics. The Network aims to provide training in the technologies focussing on the interface between disciplines, linking basic research to clinical practice.

www.imperial.ac.uk/diabetes-network/

(more…)

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation

News and events

The impact of conflict in healthcare

IGHI’s May Forum gathered to discussed how healthcare is impacted by conflict.

Call for applicants for an early careers med tech workshop in China

Apply for an all expenses paid trip to China for a workshop on mental health technologies organised by the Hamlyn Centre.

Register now – Health Technology Assessment Toolkit consultation

Registration is open to join the International Decision Support Initiative’s Health Technology Assessment Toolkit consultation process.

IGHI Podcast

Healthcare amongst conflict

In this month’s podcast from the Institute of Global Health Innovation, we speak to Dr Esmita Charani, Senior Lead Pharmacist, Faculty of Medicine and Dr Emily Mayhew, Visiting Researcher and Imperial’s lead on the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership.

Upcoming events

Register now – International Robotics Showcase in Liverpool

Registration now open for International Robotics Showcase in Liverpool. One-day showcase and speaker programme to highlight latest robotics innovation, to be held during International Business Festival. (more…)

Horizon 2020 coordination opportunites

There are currently many opportunities (from 2018 to 2020) for Imperial academics to coordinate large-scale collaborative research consortia through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. Horizon 2020 supports, through various calls for proposals in areas such as Health, Climate, Energy and others, the delivery of high-quality research with clear societal impact. You can access the Commission’s Participants Portal to obtain more information on how Horizon 2020 works.

Imperial’s Programme Management Office from the Enterprise Division is able to provide expert advice and project management support to academics that are planning on coordinating Horizon 2020 projects. If you would like to know more about the individual funding areas, see the following links:

Academic teams interested in submitting a proposal and coordinating a Horizon 2020 project should contact Dr Radu Rautiu from the PMO for further information.

CATO Research Symposium: Call for Abstracts

Submit an abstract

For the CATO Research Symposium research symposium taking on 27 June we are delighted that we will be joined by Professor Eric Alton, Chair of Respiratory Medicine and Gene Therapy at Imperial. He will be talking about his pioneering research which has evolved from understanding the basic pathophysiology of cystic fibrosis, through mice models into human gene therapy: an exquisite clinical academic research career for you all to emulate!

The research symposium is a key part of your clinical academic training/research career development – exposing you to a wider range of research than in your day-to-day work, giving you an opportunity to think of novel collaborations, techniques, and research questions, and see how you can develop a clinical academic career. You should attend if you are an Academic Foundation Doctor, ACF, in a clinical research training fellowship/PhD, CL or other post-doctoral researcher, or a non-medical clinical academic. The afternoon will include research presentations, the keynote presentation, posters and networking opportunities with colleagues and the CATO team.

We encourage you all to submit a research abstract, and there will be PRIZES for the best oral presentations and for the best research poster. This year we encourage you to think about your use of plain English when presenting your research for a non-clinical, non-scientific audience, and of course lay explanations are now needed on all grant and fellowship applications, so the practice is invaluable.

Abstracts must be submitted on the following template.

All submitted abstracts must include a plain English summary (125 words max, see guidance sheet) and we will offer an ADDITIONAL PRIZE for the very best.

Send your abstracts using the attached template to cato@imperial.ac.uk. We will advise you if you have been selected to give an oral presentation or to display a poster by early June. We are open for abstract submissions until 10.00hrs on Tuesday 29 May 2018.

Attend the CATO Research Symposium

Wednesday 27 June 2018, 13.00-18.30, W12 Conference Centre, Hammersmith Hospital

Please book a place ASAP for the symposium using the online booking form.

Advertisement for academic leadership position – Head of Assessment and Feedback – BSc in Medical Biosciences

Sadly for us, Gabby Da Silva will be leaving us and I’m sure you’d like to join me in thanking her for her support of our students, particularly in her leadership roles of Exams Lead and Senior Tutor for Medical Biosciences, and in wishing her well in the future. We are now seeking a replacement for Gabby as Head of Assessment and Feedback for the BSc in Medical Biosciences which commenced last October.

Reporting to the Head of Programme, the post holder will play a key role in ensuring the reliability and validity of assessments and in supporting staff to develop and continuously improve assessment and feedback. The appointee will be an experienced teacher with in-depth knowledge of undergraduate biomedical science education. S/he will have enthusiasm and passion for the teaching and assessment of undergraduates in addition to the ability to develop strong working relationships

The job description and person specification can be found at https://bb.imperial.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/xid-3781226_1

Applications should take the form of a CV and covering letter outlining the skills and experience you would bring to the role and should be sent to me, s.english@imperial.ac.uk, by 12 noon on Friday 25th May. All application received will be acknowledged.

Susan English
Director of Education Management

Currently recruiting: eModule Content Writers – deadline for applications 8am 11 May 2018

BSc Medical Biosciences

The BSc Medical Biosciences (BMB) launched in October 2017 using blended teaching methodologies, sometimes referred to as flipped learning. This involves individual on-line learning using eModules and face-to-face sessions where most learning activities are carried out in group. We are currently developing the learning assets for Year 2 and wish to appoint subject matter experts to develop bespoke eModules.

Successful candidates

This opportunity is open to both internal and external candidates.

We are looking to appoint content writers to assist with the development of 55 online eModules across eight subject areas, namely:

  • Genetics & Genomics (GEN)
  • Stem Cells & reproductive Biology (SCRB)
  • Pharmacology (PHAR)
  • Microbiome in Health & Disease (MHD)
  • Cancer Biology (CBIO)
  • Immunology & Inflammation (IMI)
  • Neurobiology (NEURO)
  • Cardiovascular and Thoracic Biology (CTB)

Successful candidates will have a proven record and be very knowledgeable in at least one of the areas listed above. The role is likely to suit teaching fellows or postdocs but we welcome enquiries from other similarly qualified individuals.

Content Writer responsibilities include:

  • Gathering appropriate resources (e.g. videos, images etc.)
  • Writing engaging course content including knowledge checks and audio scripts
  • Editing content in response to feedback
  • Collaborating with Module leadership to ensure consistency across Module content
  • Ensuring content is aligned to session and module learning outcomes
  • Meeting all agreed-upon turnaround times for deliverables and deliverable reviews

Time commitment

Each subject area requires a different number of eModules to be developed; with between 4 and 10 eModules in each subject area. Each eModule will take roughly a week to draft the content for storyboarding and up to 2 days to finalise the review of developed eModules.

We anticipate that the content for Term 1 eModules will be completed by mid-June and the content for Term 2 eModules will be completed by end-July; with review following in August onwards.

Please contact the Instructional Designers to discuss the exact timings for each eModule and how they can provide support if applicants have not had any previous experience in writing eModules.

Payment

You will be paid £750 per eModule developed and can apply for as many eModules as your time allows.

Successful applicants will be responsible for managing their time to meet the agreed deadlines. Internal applicants should discuss with their line manager before applying. The table below shows the number of eModules per subject area.

TERM 1 Modules No of eModules Content Writing deadline Review period
Genetics and Genomics 6 Mid-June Aug/Sep
Stem Cells and Reproductive Biology 6 Mid-June Aug/Sep
Pharmacology and Toxicology 8 Mid-June Aug/Sep
Microbiome in Health and Disease 6 Mid-June Aug/Sep
TERM 2 Modules
Cancer Biology 9 End-July Oct/Nov
Immunology and Inflammation 10 End-July Oct/Nov
Neuroscience 6 End-July Oct/Nov
Cardiovascular and Thoracic Biology 4 End-July Oct/Nov

 

How to apply

If you are interested and would like to discuss this further, please contact Agata Sadza (a.sadza@imperial.ac.uk) or Emma Blyth (e.blyth@imperial.ac.uk)

To formally apply, please send your CV and information about the eModule that you’re interested in working on to bmb.development@ic.ac.uk.

Closing date is Friday 11 May at 8am.