Category: Research

Relaunching the Faculty of Medicine Staff Rounds

Staff Rounds are relaunching at Hammersmith Campus from Wednesday 18 September.

What are Staff Rounds?

The aim of the Staff Round is to inspire and learn how clinical medicine can be transformed by research. It’s a way for Faculty and Trust staff to discover the extraordinary research carried out throughout the Faculty and to bring people together.

The central premise of the event will be to use a clinical case to highlight research and encourage discussion. Staff Rounds have a long history at Hammersmith Hospital, dating back to the 80s.

The weekly sessions during term-time are organised by Professor Liz Lightstone. Writing about last year’s Staff Rounds, she said: “As part of an AHSC we still value hearing about fascinating clinical problems outside our specialities, and that we are prepared to joust in a friendly manner to promote even better outcomes. But that will only happen if people make the effort to attend, if the senior members of staff come along and bring their teams with them, and if everyone contributes. I would like the Staff Round to once again become a highlight of the week.”

Who can attend?

Research staff, clinicians, nurses, allied health professionals and more are encouraged to attend and will be welcomed.

Upcoming Staff Rounds

Wednesday 18 September 2019 – 12:30-1:30 pm (lunch served from 12 pm)

Willow Suite, PG Education Centre, Hamm House Ground Floor

Chair: Professor Martin Wilkins

  1. Department of Infectious Disease: Professor Graham Cooke; Accelerating the Elimination of Viral Hepatitis
  2. NHLI: Dr Luke Howard; The patient who refused to take pulmonary hypertension lying down

Wednesday 25 September 2019 

Willow Suite, PG Education Centre, Hamm House Ground Floor

Chair: Professor Marina Botto

  1. Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction:  Consultant Prof Mark Thursz (Head of Department and Head of the Biomedical Research Centre) – Title TBC
  2. Department of Immunology and Inflammation – Consultant Prof Liz Lightstone,  presenter Dr Hannah Wilson – Title TBC

 

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation

News

Could bird songs help boost engagement with hearing tests?

A new venture will explore the use of bird songs to encourage engagement with hearing tests. The idea was born out of a two-day workshop led by the NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, developed to stimulate innovative ideas that could help improve communication for adults with hearing loss.

Find out more – http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/190086/could-bird-songs-help-boost-engagement/

Could a smartphone app make hospitals safer?

In a new study, Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) scientists will begin evaluating whether the Streams app can help both patients and healthcare staff by making important medical information more readily available.

Find out more – http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/190069/could-smartphone-make-hospitals-safer/

Running a hospital in a warzone (more…)

Data Protection (GDPR) in the Faculty of Medicine – practical information and Q and A sessions

From October to December 2018, the Faculty of Medicine will be running information and Q&A sessions for staff to accompany the launch of the Faculty’s new Codes of Practice for information governance and for handling health and social care research data.

These new codes of practice will provide practical guidance, processes and advice on how to comply with current key data legislation (GDPR) and to implement the College’s associated policies within the Faculty of Medicine setting.

Dates of drop-in sessions

Drop in between 10:00 – 16:00

Thursday, 22 November 2018 – St Mary’s Campus,  Medical School, Hynds Computer room

Friday, 30 November 2018 – South Kensington, SAF G28

Monday, 3 December 2018 – Hammersmith Campus, Hammersmith Library computer training room

Friday, 7 December 2018 – South Kensington, SAF G28

Monday, 10 December 2018 – South Kensington, SAF G28

Please see further information on the Information Governance SharePoint site.  (more…)

Professor Martin Wilkins, Vice Dean (Research) – the year in review

Professor Martin WilkinsIn my first year as Vice Dean (Research) it has been a pleasure to discover the full breadth and quality of our research.  We continue to build on our strong convergent science, so well demonstrated by our success with initiatives such as the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) Centre at Imperial, the newly established Health Data Research (HDR) UK, and the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub.

The UK DRI at Imperial is led by Professor Paul Matthews and is actively recruiting the best scientists to Imperial to contribute to a UK network to carry out research relevant to all dementias. The HDR has come together to address challenging healthcare issues through use of data science, with Imperial’s participation lead by Professor Paul Elliott in his role as an HDR Associate Director. The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub, which involves multiple research partners, is led by Professor Robin Shattock from Imperial’s Department of Medicine, includes scientists from across the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences. The aim of the Hub is to improve the response to outbreaks, by distributing vaccines quickly and more cost-effectively.

Addressing major scientific questions requires building a critical mass of multidisciplinary researchers, and Imperial is well placed to do this. So we have been working across faculties to develop multidisciplinary networks of excellence with three new networks established this year in the areas of vaccines, diabetes and vascular science.

Celebrating success

Our translational research received another boost this year with our largest ever award from the MRC’s Confidence in Concept scheme.  As well as £1m received from the MRC, additional funds were provided by our Biomedical Research Centre, Royal Marsden Hospital, Wellcome Trust, EPSRC and AstraZeneca, resulting in total funding of £1.7m. This has been awarded to 26 exciting new research projects, across a broad range of areas and collaborators. The aim of the scheme is to strengthen the College’s early translational research portfolio, providing funding to help with the translation of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics towards clinical testing and/or a marketable product. This approach epitomises the research ethos in the Faculty, striving to achieve excellence in research with impact.

There isn’t enough room in this brief piece from me to name all of our investigators, from ECRs to senior researchers, who have been winning prestigious awards. However, congratulations to you all and keep up the good work.

Preparation makes perfect

To help ensure that our researchers remain world-leading, the Faculty Research Committee has taken a proactive approach to a drop in successful MRC awards by implementing ‘MRC Shadow Panels’. These have been established to facilitate systematic review of project grants and NIRG applications to both MRC Infection & Immunity and Population System Medicine Boards.

The Panels comprise senior leaders from across the College who have exceptional MRC success rates. Many work closely with the MRC, and they have considerable experience of peer review and assessment. The strategic feedback offered is invaluable, and participants who have been through Shadow Panel Reviews have found the process extremely helpful.

Our research in the media

I am very proud of the regularity with which our work gains positive media attention and engages the wider public with the importance of research. Again there are far too many to list everything, but a few of my favourites are the wonderful press about our research into using ‘magic mushrooms’ to help with severe depression; a better way of dealing with ‘cyberchondria’ (abnormal health anxiety, made worse by people researching their symptoms online); the negative impacts of London air pollution on the health of unborn babies and older adults; and increasing resistance to antifungal treatments that could lead to global increased disease outbreaks and threats to food security.

Finally I’d just like to wish those taking a break over summer a wonderful holiday, and I’m looking forward to an even more successful year when all hands are back on deck.

News from the Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS)

Using Simulation to Understand your Business

In November 2017 the ICCESS team delivered a Sequential Simulation to a group of delegates from the UAE government undertaking a Public Sector Innovation Diploma with Imperial College Business School’s Executive Education Centre.

The simulation featured a re-enactment of a patient journey through the UK healthcare system. After watching the workshop, participants were encouraged to suggest improvements and draw parallels with their own work environments.

A fascinating video of the simulation has been released and can be viewed on YouTube:

Simulation for Learning: Faculti videos

Centre Director, Prof Roger Kneebone, was interviewed for a series of short videos for the Faculti.net website talking about ICCESS’ work in developing and using simulation for a variety of purposes, including surgical education. The videos can be viewed here: https://faculti.net/learning-simulated-environment/

Royal Academy Schools Guest Lecture

Professor Roger Kneebone recently gave a guest lecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House. Prof Kneebone’s talk, part of the Royal Academy Schools lecture programme, focused on his interest in exploring the parallels between surgery and creative disciplines such as craft and performance.

Prof Roger Kneebone with present (and past?) members of the Royal Academy Schools team

Medical Education Research Unit launches 2018 programme

The Faculty of Medicine Medical Education Research Unit (MERU) launches its 2018 programme of events today, and all are invited to the launch event this evening to find out more about MERU’s work and to network with current members.

Medical Education Research Unit event

Now entering its fourth year, MERU conducts and supports innovative educational research activity to evaluate and enhance Imperial’s teaching and curriculum.

It aims to build a community, including both staff and students, uniting them through an interest in medical education research. Made up of a multidisciplinary group of staff from Imperial, its NHS partners and sister unit at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, the Unit also recruits and encourages interested students to become involved in existing research projects and to consider conducting their own research.

The Unit also supports members by offering financial support to those attending medical education conferences, and advises on ways to develop research questions into feasible studies that yield publishable data, as well as guidance on ethics applications.

Over the past three years, MERU has funded more than a dozen original research projects, made 64 travel awards allowing members to attend conferences, and delivered monthly meetings and workshops to small groups of interested staff. The Unit also offers one-to-one support to any members requiring it, and brings together those with similar research interests to allow them to assist and advise one another in their various projects. (more…)

TOAST SURVEY 2018

The College’s ‘Original Academic Staff Time’ (TOAST) survey is currently in progress for 2017/18. So far, the Faculty of Medicine has achieved a response rate of 76% compared to 85% for the College. All Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Readers and Professors will be sent a total of three survey invitations throughout the year with guidance and a link to the online survey. Your participation in this anonymous survey is essential for the College to fulfil its responsibilities to demonstrate a transparent approach to costing.

Find out more

Update from Imperial College Research Ethics Committee

Calling all postgrads!

Imperial College London would like to recruit a PG Student Representative for the Imperial College Research Ethics Committee (ICREC). Imperial College Research Ethics Committee was set up in order to meet requirements from external research funders for ethical review of proposals, which are not within the remit of NHS Research Ethics Committees.

A key aim of the Committee is to enable Imperial College to maintain the highest ethical standards in all research relating to human subjects.  ICREC normally convenes 6 times during each academic year, on a bi-monthly basis. The meetings normally take place on the second Tuesday of each month at our South Kensington Campus.

If you are interested in joining the Committee, please send a short letter outlining relevant experience and suitability. (more…)

8 ways to boost your chances of getting funded

Research

In today’s ever-shifting political climate, securing funding has never been so competitive for UK-based researchers. However, as Research Strategy Manager (Department of Medicine) Dr Chrystalla Orphanides explains, taking advantage of research support services could be just what’s needed to tip the odds in your favour.

Here are her 8 essential tips for making sure your next grant application is a successful one:

1) Be organised

Be as organised as possible. If you’re going to submit an application that you’re serious about, you should be thinking at least 3-6 months in advance of the deadline about how you’re going to shape it. That means notifying all of the people that you need to notify, including your Research Support team: they can help with the parts of the application that tend to get left until the last minute. This includes things like data management plans, public engagement activities, and pathways to impact.

It’s a question of being well organised enough to access the support on offer both within your Department and across the College.

(more…)

WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training update

Advanced Leadership Course in Dubrovnik, Croatia

CroatiaIn partnership with Zagreb Institute for the Culture of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training will be delivering the Advanced Leadership course in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 5-12 August 2017.

The course will be held in InterUniversity Centre, in the centre of Dubrovnik.

It is aimed at: Policy makers, health managers, heads of clinical and administrative departments, health professionals with an interest in management, and other interested stakeholders. It is an interactive training whereby participants are inspired but also challenged and allowed space for self reflection and development.
(more…)

The UK Medical Bioinformatics partnership programme (UK Med-Bio)

What is Med-Bio?

The UK MEDical BIOinformatics partnership programme (UK Med-Bio), led by Prof Paul Elliott and funded by the MRC, brings together a group of leading multidisciplinary teams in medical, chemical, metabolic, statistical and computational sciences from across Imperial College London (lead institution) and its partners.

What resources it offers

As part of the programme, dedicated infrastructure has been purchased and set up, consisting of hardware that is already integrated in HPC’s CX1 and AX4 clusters, dedicated servers with virtual machines (VMs) and a massive amount of high-performance, secure, tiered storage directly connected to such servers. (more…)

Sharing approaches to maternity services – ICCESS update

Sharing approaches to maternity services

The ICCESS team are partway through an innovative simulation-based research project to map maternity services across North West London. The Sharing Approaches to Maternity Services project, funded by Health Education North West London, aims to identify areas of best practice, challenges in the current system, and suggest ways in which services could be improved.

The project uses Sequential Simulation (SqS) to model the maternity care pathway (see image below). The simulation compresses the nine month pathway into a 30 minute simulation that is being delivered to maternity teams at six hospitals in the NW London region. (more…)

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation

Upcoming events

3 March 2017 18.00-20.00
Students Challenges Competition: Enter the Dragon’s Den
Venue: Imperial College Business School LG101 – LGR, South Kensington campus

Join us on Monday 13 March for our interactive Dragon’s Den style event to find the winner of our annual Student Challenges Competition. The competition provides a platform for students based in the UK to showcase their global health research idea and win up to £5000 to develop it further. Runners-up and audience choice prizes will also be awarded. (more…)

Brain scanning study in ex-smokers and quitting smokers – participants wanted

The Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London at the Hammersmith Hospital, London is studying how the brain and hormones control eating and addictive behaviours in the GHADD study.

Volunteers will have functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans, and an infusion of 2 different hormones to see how the brain responds.

The hormones have been safely administered in many previous studies.

There is a health screening visit, followed by 3 study visits.

To take part you must be aged 18 to 60 years old, have given up smoking cigarettes within the last year, or be just about to give up smoking cigarettes or vaping e-cigarettes.

You will NOT be able to take part if you:

  • are vegetarian, vegan, gluten or lactose intolerant
  • have a pacemaker, or some types of metal implants and clips
  • are claustrophobic, pregnant or breast feeding

You will be paid expenses including travel costs.

Please check our quick online screening tool on www.ghadd.co.uk to see if you may be eligible

If interested, please contact us at: 020 7594 6648 or ghadd@imperial.ac.uk

Approved by Local Ethics Research Committee (REC 15/LO/1041)

MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) update

We’ve changed our name

On1 January 2017 MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) became the new name of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. This is the start of a new chapter of investment in the LMS. After 20 years of outstanding science, we’re building our reputation for excellence in biomedical research. With a mission to build strong links between science and medicine, the LMS will continue to work in close partnership with Imperial College London at its Hammersmith Hospital campus.

New year’s honour list for LMS director

Amanda Fisher, Director of the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, has been made a Dame in the New Year’s Honours List for 2017. (more…)

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation

Calling all UK based students!

Do you have an innovative idea for global health? Enter our Student Challenges Competition to win up to £5,000 to make that idea reality. Competition closes on 20 January at 11.59pm. Find out more by visiting the website.

Upcoming events

19 January, 15.30-17.30

Global Health Forum: Seasonality and health

Venue: Anthony de Rothschild Lecture Theatre, St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington

Seasonal patterns have a significant impact on our health. Many health problems are directly related to climate change. Infectious diseases, respiratory illnesses including asthma, and allergies continue to affect the day-to-day lives of individuals. This month’s Global Health Forum highlights the importance of seasons on our health. Register here. (more…)

Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS) update

Asia Haptics 2016

The SiMMS group within the Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS) presented a paper at Asia Haptics 2016 relating to their haptic Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) Trainer.   Asia Haptics features a new format that consists of interactive demonstrations presented over the two day duration of the conference, with a brief explanation of the work projected live on to the main viewing screen.

The SiMMS team presented a paper entitled ‘Relax and Tighten – a Haptics-based Approach to Simulate Sphincter Tone Assessment’. The haptic DRE Trainer uses metal wires, controlled by motors, to tighten and relax a silicone sphincter around the user’s finger. (more…)

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation


Recent activities

The first Global Health Forum of the year took place on 20 October on Big Data Decision Support. The event discussed big data in medicine and healthcare and the best ways we can use what is available. Watch the full event here.

On 17 November we had our second Global Health Forum focusing on ‘Water and health’. Speakers included Dr Alexander Webb, Simon De Stercke, Dr Pauline Scheelbeek and Dr Michael Templeton covering a range in issues related to water such as salinity in drinking water and sanitation.

Latest IGHI Blog articles

Practitioner and patient-targeted interventions to address excessive antibiotic use

By Dr Olga Kostopoulou, Reader in Medical Decision Making and Professor Brendan Delaney, Chair in Medical Informatics and Decision Making at Imperial College London

Introducing ‘Exosonic’, a new device to combat pancreatic cancer

By Student Challenges Competition 2015/16 Audience Choice Award winners, Antonios Chronopoulos and Tyler Lieberthal

What is the role of social media in health policy?

By Sabine Vuik, Policy Fellow and Head of Analytics, Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation

The State of Diabetes in 2016

By Professor Desmond Johnston, Vice Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine atImperial College London

BIOTOPE (BIOmarkers TO diagnose PnEumonia)

By Dr John O’Donoghue, Senior Lecturer in eHealth & Deputy Director of Imperial’s Global eHealth Unit

Putting TB to the test: My journey so far

By Harriet Gliddon, winner of the IGHI Student Challenges Competition 2015-16

THET Annual Conference – Rethinking International Health Partnerships

By Hamdi Issa, PhD Candidate, Institute of Global Health Innovation

Director for the BDAU interviews the founder of the Open Data Science Conference in London

By Joshua Symons, Policy Fellow, Big Data & Analyitcal Unit, Centre for Health Policy


Write for us

We are always on the lookout for new bloggers.  If you would like to write for our blog, please get in touch with the IGHI Communications Manager, Jo, at j.seed@imperial.ac.uk

Nikita Rathod
Communications and Events Assistant
IGHI

WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training

Imperial/WHO CC Alumni reunion in Riyadh

Professor Salman Rawaf hosted a gathering for Imperial MPH and PhD alumni as well as WHO CC Fellowship Alumni currently residing in Riyadh on the 13th October at the Hilton Double Tree in Riyadh. Attending the gathering was DR. Amal Hassanein, Ms Johara Al Saud, DR Turki Bin Moammer, Dr Thamer Al-Ohali, and Dr Ahmed Al Mujil.

Visit to King Abdul Aziz University College of Medicine, Jeddah

Professor Salman Rawaf and Dr Sondus Hassounah visited the King Abdul Aziz University College of Medicine in  Jeddah on 9 October and were hosted by Professor Waleed Melaat to discuss cross university research collaboration.

Focus Group Discussions in Riyadh, Jeddah, Tabuk, Dammam, and Abha

In collaboration with the Saudi Health Council (the coordinating body for the integration between the various health authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Professor Salman Rawaf and Dr Sondus Hassounah conducted five focus group discussions, over a period of two weeks (3 – 14 October), as part of the larger project to develop a national strategy for the development of Health Protection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The team from Imperial College London’s WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training(Ms Christina Banks, Ms Alex Swaka, Mr Mohamed Al Saffar, Dr Sondus Hassounah, and Professor Salman Rawaf) have been involved in the project since its inception in early 2016 and have been working with their counter parts in Saudi Arabia on the multi-pronged project which includes a desk review of model country case studies, focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders, a nationally representative survey with 5,500 of the public, and in-depth interviews with policy makers.

The project is expected to continue till mid-2017 when the results will be shared and discussed with the Saudi Health Council and other partners in Saudi Arabia.

Mashael Al Sheikh: Systematic Review on Women and Cardiovascular Risks in KSA

Congratulations to Ms Mashael Al Sheikh, PhD student at the Imperial WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training, for her Systematic Review on Women and Cardiovascular Risks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is available for viewing here.

The article has significant public health implications and more results will be available shortly on the impact on culture (beliefs, behaviour etc) on health.

Health policies and family physicians alike should aim to address some of these issues outside the disease model.

Leadership in Health- National Primary Care Services, Kuwait

The WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training hosted Dr Rihab Wotayan (Managing Director for the National Primary Care Services in Kuwait) to discuss future collaboration with the centre and the department of Primary care and Public Health at Imperial. Dr Rihab and her team are interested in working with WHO CC to develop the capacity of, and train, their local health workforce, particularly in ‘Leadership in Health’. Dr Rihab is also keen to expand on the success of their recent investment in Primary Care doctors in the Kingdom and potentially send some of Kuwait’s GP trainees to take part in WHO CC 1-2 year post graduate research fellowship.

For the picture–Left to right: Professor Salman Rawaf (Director WHO CC), Dr Rihab Wotayan (Managing Director for the National Primary Care Services in Kuwait), Dr Sondus Hassounah (Teaching Fellow, WHO CC), Dr Weiam Ahmed (Honorary lecturer WHO CC).

Welcome to WHO CC Post-Graduate fellow Dr Abdulaziz Alqahtani

WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training was joined on 1st October by Dr Abdulaziz Alqahtani from Saudi Arabia. Dr Abdulaziz is a senior Registrar in Family Medicine at the Prince Sultan Military Medical City and will be following his postgraduate fellowship till end of August next year.

Ela Augustyniak
WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation

ighi
Calling all UK based students!

Do you have an innovative idea for global health? Enter our Student Challenges Competition to win up to £5,000 to make that idea reality.  Find out more by visiting the website.

Recent activities

On 14 September, the Centre for Health Policy’s Sowerby eHealth Forum hosted their third annual symposium on the benefits and barriers to sharing patient data.

On the same day, we also jointly hosted a special guest lecture by general practitioner and public health policy advocate Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert on universal health coverage in Thailand. The event was jointly hosted by our new colleagues from IDSI who moved into our Centre for Health Policy recently.  Watch the lecture in full here.

On 20 September, we hosted our 6th Annual Lecture with Dr David Blumenthal on ‘High need, high cost patients: A universal challenge’.  Watch the lecture in full here and read the Storify coverage here.

Latest IGHI Blog articles

International Youth Day, plenty of reasons to celebrate – By Professor Beate Kampmann, Professor of Paediatrics and Director of IGHI’s Centre for International Child Health (CICH)

FEAST – five years on – By Professor Kathryn Maitland, Director of the IGHI Centre of African Research and Engagement.

A letter to…my buddy Sami*, who killed himself a year ago – By anonymous Research Fellow, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London

Learning from Chinese health reforms – By Alexander Carter, Health Economist, Centre for Health Policy, IGHI

World First: UN Decide to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance – By guest bloggers Sarah Greaves, Katherine MacInnes and Alex Stockham, IN-PART

Ending the stigma this World Mental Health Day – By Dilkushi Poovendran, Research Assistant in Patient Experience and Patient Safety, Centre for Health Policy

The impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases on Universal Eye Health – By Professor Alan Fenwick of Imperial’s Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI)

Write for us

We are always on the lookout for new bloggers.  If you would like to write for our blog, please get in touch with the IGHI Communications Manager, Jo, at j.seed@imperial.ac.uk

Jo Seed
Communications Manage
Institute of Global Health Innovation

Partnership for Child Development update

Partnership for Child Development’s Dr Elisabetta Aurino presented the initial findings of a three-year impact evaluation of Home Grown School Feeding on communities in Ghana as part of the School Health and Nutrition webinar series.

Image courtesy of the Ghana School Feeding programme
Image courtesy of the Ghana School Feeding programme

Home Grown School Feeding programmes are government-led programmes which provide free school meals using food purchased from local smallholder farmers. PCD’s impact evaluation looked into the impact that these programmes have on the health and education of the school children who eat them and on the incomes of the farmers that supply them.  Initial findings have shown that schools that provided school feeding experienced higher enrolment and reduced absenteeism rates and that schools girls in particular benefited from HGSF with improvements observed in literacy and cognition. Analysis of farmers data shows that 1 in 3 households in communities with HGSF programmes increased the value of their agricultural sales. A complete analysis of this data will be completed in the coming months.

The SHN webinar is a monthly webinar supported by Imperial College London, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, GIZ and other leading organisations within the School Health and Nutrition field. To sign up to this webinar visit the webinar home at www.schoolsandhealth.org/Pages/SHN-Webinar-Series.aspx

Francis Peel
Senior Communications Manager
Partnership for Child Development

Volunteers of WEST AFRICAN Descent needed for 3D heart scan

Genetic studies of the heart and circulation (Ethics reference number 09/H0707/69).

african-heartThe Robert Steiner MRI unit, within the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, is looking for healthy volunteers from west African descent aged 18-80 with no heart-related health problems. The study aims to develop an atlas of the human heart to help scientists to determine the effect of different DNA and genes on heart shape and function.

The study will involve a single appointment at Hammersmith Hospital, and volunteers are compensated for their time and will receive a free CD of their scan.

Staff who wish to participate should email heart@imperial.nhs.uk
For more information visit the study website http://digital-heart.org/

NHLI creates videos for British Lung Foundation #BreatheEasy campaign

NHLI videos

As part of the British Lung Foundation’s campaign to raise awareness of what breathlessness may mean for your wider health, we highlighted the work of Dr Jennifer Quint and her team here at NHLI. We supported the #BreatheEasy campaign by doing a series of short videos where Jenni and her PhD student, Ann Morgan, talk about their BLF funded research.

The series of videos we created on this research is from the Respiratory Epidemiology group, and is using anonymised patient records to look at respiratory disease. By using simple questions on what the research was about, why it is important and its potential impact we hoped to make the research accessible to the wider public. We found the greatest engagement on twitter was with the simplest questions – “What is COPD?” was only beaten into second place by the promoted tweet pinned at the top of our homepage “Can you tell us what your research is about?”.

Watch the videos on YouTube

Helen Johnson
Communications and Website Officer
NHLI

JRO Research Support Roadshows

In June, the Joint Research Office and its partner teams held Research Support Roadshows at Hammersmith, St Mary’s and South Kensington campuses to outline the range of support services available to staff in the Faculty of Medicine. The sessions were well attended and well received, generating a range of questions and interesting discussions on a number of issues.

The various presentations can be accessed from the JRO website, covering the funding mechanisms and administrative procedures which underpin research grant applications and research-related contracts, including the five-day-submission-rule, online systems, College preferred terms, research governance, and patient and public involvement:

  • JRO Grants (pre-award / post-award / EC)
  • JRO Contracts
  • Joint Research Compliance Office (JRCO)
  • Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)
  • Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
  • ICHT Divisional Research Management

Damian Cerase
Communications & Projects Coordinator
Joint Research Office