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SIA open call for game-changing research concepts: what could you do?

In today’s blog post, Dr Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen, our Research Facilitator for Animation, Simulation & Visualisation explores game-changing research ideas that have come across her desk. To learn more about the call for game-changing research concepts, see our blog post on where to find out more information. 

“In case you are not quite sure just how game-changing your research ideas are, here are some examples randomly culled from the many diverse current projects around the globe to guide and inspire you. Some may even relate to your own field, and provide an indication as to possible directions in which you could drive your research. All game-changing ideas require interdisciplinary collaboration nowadays. The ones below typify projects which integrate two or more of the SIAs, and so represent paradigmatically the type of game-changing ideas we seek to support. Read, and be inspired!

Innovative Technology in the Manufacturing Industry

In their article “Augmented Reality – A Game-Changing Technology for Manufacturing Processes”, Kohn and Harborth (2018) explain that current research has shown that in the digital era companies are experiencing ever-increasing pressure to be both more productive and produce better quality goods while simultaneously cutting costs. The integration of innovative new digital technologies throughout the manufacturing process is now crucial, requiring fundamental transformation in businesses to cope with these increasing requirements, and continue to be competitive. The current integration of such an innovative technology like, eg., augmented reality in the manufacturing industry has a significant impact on different work processes, improving production operations and especially assembly processes, while applied AR solutions involve maintenance and inspection processes. If you think you may have just such an industry solution, let it wing its way to us via your EoI!

Digitalisation and Sustainability

Digitalisation towards sustainability is a rapidly-growing area of research and innovation around the globe (Seele and Lock, 2017), and if you are not on board, you will surely get left behind! E-health services, robotics, emission reduction solutions, and so forth, are all areas of vibrant development geared towards helping ourselves and saving our planet. Sustainability is the buzzword, and rightly so: our survival literally depends upon making almost every area of our lives sustainable. However, the overall “sustainability gap” (Lubin and Esty 2014) continues to be a major issue. As Seele and Lock (2017) observe, “The overconsumption of natural resources and its harmful consequences threaten the basis of our existence and that of future generations”. If you wish to be part of the global mission to achieve a more sustainable planet in light of the sustainable development goals, gear your idea in this green direction. Any research which targets strategic innovation via digitisation in the services of sustainability is by its very nature game-changing research.

Urban Design and Spatial Development

One striking Leverhulme project we have found which inspires us concerns urban design. We love Professor Marion Roberts’ award-winning project. She describes it thus: “Urban design as a practical activity can be loosely described as three-dimensional town planning. Urban designers set out the framework for the spatial development of urban places, at scales ranging from a whole town down to an urban square. This ‘specialist-generalist’ activity covers a complex assembly of agendas, as it tries to accommodate buildings, hard and soft landscaping, transport and movement systems and of course, people in all their diversity. Contemporary urban design theory and practice has largely avoided the night as a time-space…” This project focusses on the dark side and is thus a game-changer in terms of frameworks for urban design. (https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/emeritus-fellowships/urban-design-and-urban-night)

Early Learning with Technology: Determining the Most Effective Use of Digital Learning Tools

The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington describes 6 game-changing projects upon which its scientists are currently working. One of them concerns children and early learning with digital technology (http://ilabs.washington.edu/game-changing). Children are our future; we all know that. They are the ones to inherit this besieged planet and find messianically redemptive solutions for its diabolical troubles. So, from an ASV perspective, how do children benefit from the use of AR/VR technology in particular? Given that our visual sense is central to our learning processes, what we discover in experimenting with how children interact and learn with AR/VR could be used “to refine learning technologies, from computers to mobile phones, in ways that promise personalized learning in developing children”. CV-19 has required a rapid step-change in the further development of these tools, and the pedagogic research surrounding their use in early education. Let your ideas plug into the demand!”

A Guide to Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

What is KTP?

A KTP is part-funded by the government and is a three-way partnership with the aim to encourage collaboration between businesses and academics.  The idea is to for knowledge to be shared and transferred among all parties of the project team (academics, business and a graduate) to embed a new capability of strategic importance within the business. KTPs have been a successful funding stream for over 40 years and are managed by Innovate UK.

This scheme offers a fusion of academic and industry collaboration supported by an associate (graduate).

Why are they important to you?

KTPs are an excellent way of bringing in income and developing knowledge exchange with clear impact.

Key benefits are as follows:

  • Facilitates research impact
  • Increases income
  • Contributes to the University’s REF submission
  • Improves links with industry partners
  • Applies your knowledge to innovative business-critical projects
  • Raises your profile among colleagues, institution and beyond
  • KTPs are valuable to businesses as they provide a distinct transfer of knowledge to an strategic innovative project which adds significant value to their business.

How to apply

As you’ll be applying for funding, there is an application process to follow.  Once we’ve curated a project team and fully scoped out the project, including costings and expected outcomes, we then submit an expression of interest to the funder. As a team, we’ll then construct the application form and seek advice from the local Innovate UK Adviser who will have oversight of the project.  Once the application is ready, it will be submitted to Innovate UK for assessment.  Application deadlines are roughly every 8-10 weeks and application outcomes are expected to be communicated within 8-10 weeks of submission. There are 4/5 submission deadlines a year.

Project examples

If you think this sounds great, here are some examples of completed projects which might help you consider a KTP in future.

  • The Faculty of Science and Technology led a project with a local data management company to develop and embed innovative data analytics and machine learning capabilities to enhance existing and create novel data-driven products with a view to enhanced social impact
  • The Faculty of Media and Communication led a project with a successful and innovative animation company to develop new techniques and a software tool to generate new facial animation from existing face models.

Innovate UK are currently encouraging KTPs within management and have provided a large investment to entice KTP proposals within this area.

To generate some ideas, brainstorm business partners, or simply to find out more; please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser.

Research seminar is on the Way! 😇Detox with nature: Communicating with the great outdoors, urban greenery and its history – 25th May 2021 From 10:00 –11:30 (ZOOM)

We will have a seminar session with a guest lecturer, Professor Hiroko Ochiai (National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Japan). This research seminar is conducted via ZOOM.
Professor Ochiai and Dr Oe will present the recent research outcome ‘Detox with nature: Communicating with the great outdoors, urban greenery and its history’.  Professor Ochiai is a Chief of Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, National Tokyo Medical Center and also a Certified physician of Forest Medicine.

Our research focuses on the the well-beings with forest bathing with medical evidence in the community context. This seminar is held in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ‘Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being’and ‘Goal 17: Partnership for Goals’. This session also aligns with BU2025 strategic investment areas (SIAs), Medical Science.

The BU ECRs, PhD researchers, and MSc students are welcome to this session.
*For more details, please email to Hiroko Oe :hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk

Postgraduate Researchers and Supervisors | Monthly Update for Researcher Development

PG research, Training

Postgraduate researchers and supervisors, hopefully you have seen your brand new look monthly update for researcher development e-newsletter sent last week. If you have missed it, please check your junk email.

The start of the month is a great time to reflect on your upcoming postgraduate researcher development needs and explore what is being delivered this month as part of the Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme and what is available via your Faculty or Department. Remember some sessions only run once per year, so don’t miss out.

Please also subscribe to your Brightspace announcement notifications for updates when they are posted.

If you have any questions about the Researcher Development Programme, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Natalie (Research Skills & Development Officer)
pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Your opportunity to put forward the concepts for which BU will be known in the years to come!

Funding opportunities

The call for game-changing research concepts is currently open to enable the growth of BU’s Strategic Investment Areas.

This is your opportunity to put forward the concepts for which BU will be known in the years to come. Concepts that are prioritised for development by the SIA Steering Groups, will benefit from tailored institutional support to turn your idea into a reality.  This could include identification of match-funding, support from estates, personalised funding development support and much more – you tell us what you need!

 Game-changing research concepts are welcomed from all of our academic community across all career stages. 

To learn more about the SIAs, the open call and to discuss what you could do, read further details on the staff intranet The Teams links for each of the sesisons are here below for you to save in your calendars. For enquiries, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk. 

Briefing Events

Briefing events are taking place on the following dates:

  • Medical Science – 6 April, 9.30am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

  • Animation, Simulation & Visualisation – 7 April, 10am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

  • Sustainability, Low Carbon Technology and Materials Science – TBC

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day:  TBC

  • Assistive Technology – 22 April 10.30am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

 

General drop-in sessions

General drop in-sessions for any queries, to discuss potential ideas or to identify potential BU partners are taking place on the following dates/times supported by SIA Steering Group members and RDS staff:

  • 8 April 2pm

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

  • 19 April 11.30am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

  • 29 April 2pm

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

 

Reminder about the BU Bridging Fund

In summer 2015, we launched the BU Bridging Fund Scheme which aims to provide additional stability to fixed-term researchers who are often employed on short term contacts linked to external funding. This situation may impact on continuity of employment due to breaks in employment, job security and can result in a costly loss of researcher talent for the institution.

The Scheme aims to mitigate these circumstances through early career planning, forward research project planning, redeployment where possible, or where feasible, by providing ‘bridging funding’ for the continuation of employment for a short-term (usually up to three months, but up to six months can be considered in exceptional situations) between research grants. It is intended to permit the temporary employment, in certain circumstances, of researchers between fixed-term contracts at BU, for whom no other source of funding is available, in order to:

(a) encourage the retention of experienced and skilled staff, and sustain research teams and expertise;

(b) avoid the break in employment and career which might otherwise be faced by such staff;

(c) maximise the opportunity for such staff to produce high-quality outputs and/or research impact at the end of funded contracts/grants.

The Scheme was updated in 2020 to:

  1. Update the process to link the funding model with the conditions at the point of application:
    1. Sufficient external funding has been secured to retain the researcher but there is an unavoidable gap between funding (usually up to three months, but up to six months can be considered). If these conditions are met at the point of application and the application is approved then the central budget will cover 100 per cent of the salary and employers’ on-costs during the bridging period.
    2. The researcher is named on a submitted application for research funding and the decision is pending with an outcome expected before the end of the bridging period. If these conditions are met at the point of application and the application is approved then the central budget will cover 50 per cent of the salary costs during the bridging period. The Faculty will be required to meet the remaining 50 per cent of the salary and employers’ on-costs during the bridging period.
  2. Employment legislation updates.
  3. Add an additional financial approval to the application process.

To find out more about the scheme, including how to apply for bridging funding, see the scheme guidelines.

 

The Bridging Fund Scheme is an action from our Athena Swan action plan (which aims to create a more gender inclusive culture at BU) and our HR Excellence in Research Award (which aims to increase BU’s alignment with the national Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers).

PRES 2021 | One week to go

PG research, student research

Just one week to go!

The Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) launches next Monday.

Have your say

We are keen to make sure our PGRs have the best possible experience while studying with us. To do this, we need to know what you think works well and what as a University we could do better.

PGRs are reminded to look out for an email from the University on Monday 12 April 2021 containing your unique link to the survey. If you can’t find this email, contact PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk and we’ll help you to get access.

It will take around 15 minutes to complete. Feedback is confidential and any reporting will be entirely anonymous.The survey is your chance to tell us about your experience as a postgraduate research student at Bournemouth University.

Your feedback is important. The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is the only national survey of postgraduate research students and so is the only way for us to compare how we are doing with other institutions and to make changes that will improve your experience in the future.

We will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

If you would like to know more about the survey, please visit: PRES 2021

We hope you take the opportunity to get involved this year and help us make improvements to your experience.

 

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

Knowledge exchange: what is it and why does it matter?

Knowledge Exchange

Knowledge exchange (KE) is a process that brings together academic staff, users of research and wider groups and communities to exchange ideas, evidence and expertise.  By sharing knowledge with others you can disseminate your research to interested organisations and people, and your research can benefit from the expertise of those who work in relevant fields.  During this week we’ll be sharing some ways in which you could share your research beyond academia, as well as hints and tips for beginning a new collaboration.

Over the last few years, knowledge exchange has become increasingly important in HE policy thanks to the introduction of a number of new initiatives designed to help us measured and improve our KE performance.  These complement a number of existing initiatives, all of which are interlinked and described below.

The first of these is the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), which measures our KE performance over the past three years.  This is a new initiative which is designed to make university KE performance more accessible to potential partner organisations.  Research England (RE) recently published the first iteration of KEF dashboards which can be found here.  RE recognises that not all institutions will be equal when it comes to KE: we all have different goals, different strengths and operate in very different kinds of location.  As a result, they’ve chosen to cluster similar institutions together in order to compare their performance.  At the moment our KEF performance isn’t linked to funding, but the likelihood is that it will inform our Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocation in future years.

Many aspects of our KEF performance are informed by the data we submit annually to the Higher Education Business Community Interaction Survey (HEBCI).  Each year we submit data that captures our activities in relation to collaborative research, consultancy, CPD, public and community engagement and commercialisation.  Our HEBCI performance also informs the amount that we receive for our HEIF funding, which many of you will have benefited from over the last few years.

Our HEIF funding is used to support and develop our knowledge exchange activities and is overseen by the HEIF Funding Panel.  The Panel issue regular funding calls and ensure that our activities are in line with our HEIF strategy.

The final piece of the puzzle is the Knowledge Exchange Concordat (KEC); another new initiative which is a set of principles designed to help us assess our KE performance and decide which areas we’d like to improve.  We will submit our response to the KEC for the first time later this year.  Over the last few weeks, our Heads of Department have been helping RDS and the Head of External Engagement to assess our progress towards each principle, which will inform our response and the areas that we choose to improve.

Tomorrow we’ll be sharing more about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), which are just one of the ways that you could involve external stakeholders in your research activities.

NIHR virtual event – Equality, diversity and inclusion in applied health and social care research

Guidance, NHS, Research Ethics, Training

The NIHR Research Design Service South East is hosting an event to discuss and explore what is meant by equality, diversity and inclusion in research and the importance of thinking about it when planning your health or social care research project.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Director of the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations East Midlands and Centre for BME Health, will talk about his recent research on COVID-19 in ethnic minority populations. Dr Esther Mukuka will talk about her new role as the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the NIHR, and the increasing emphasis being put on those that apply for any NIHR funding to demonstrate their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and a healthy research culture more generally.

The presentations will be followed by informal workshops to look at different case studies demonstrating the application of equality, diversity and inclusion principles in research.

The event is open to anyone with an interest in applied health and social care research.

Sign up online

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/events/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-in-applied-health-and-social-care-research/27216?utm_source=newsletter-fs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fs-2021-04

New BU guides on leading research collaborations, costing projects and maximising value from RKE activity- available for download

Guidance, Knowledge Exchange, Research Integritiy

Three new guides are available to assist BU colleagues with initiating and managing Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) projects. The guides are downloadable from the below links by BU Staff, or from policy documents section of the BU Staff Intranet.

Costing and pricing guide for Research & Knowledge Exchange activity

This guide is intended to constitute pragmatic advice in shaping costs for research and knowledge exchange proposals. The guide provides some outline details on terminologies and concepts used in designing research projects at a UK university. Frequently occurring costs are listed as reminders of items that each Principal Investigator (PI) would be likely to require against type of Research and Knowledge Exchange activity. Examples of sample costs and the expectations on designing sustainable research projects are set out in the appendices against each activity type.

Maximising Income in Research & Knowledge Exchange activity

The intention of this guide is to help shape best practice for a sustainable research environment at BU. The intended audience is Principal Investigators (PI), staff in RDS who are responsible for supporting academics to design or manage projects, and RKE leaders overseeing a portfolio of projects at BU (such as Executive Deans, heads of RKE Centres, Institutes etc.).

Guidance on Leading an external research application.

This guide is intended to assist you through the application stage when you intend to lead on an RKE project. The details of the process may vary between funding bodies, but the basic principles are likely to be very similar.
Helpful advice, and a pro forma table, are available to assist with ensuring the integrity of any collaborative relationships.

If you would like to discuss how to make the best use of these guides, please contact Ehren Milner (emilner@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Guidance on external bids – updated

Guidance

Last year, we published a Guidance on External bids, and this was updated in January 2021. This has been reviewed again and updated for the period April to May 2021. The main change is to the reduction in time for providing a fully completed intention to bid form to RDS. This has been reduced from five working weeks to four working weeks. Please note that there are caveats in terms of when completed applications (all costs and external forms finalised) are required for certain types of bid.

As a reminder, RDS have worked with Faculty DDRPPs to ensure greater transparency around the recent changes to the bidding approval process, and to ensure that research remains a key activity for our academics.

The document, Guidance on External bids, sets out the context for the changes, the measures in place (including timings for bid preparation and parameters for funding opportunities), and the support available to you. This will be reviewed mid-May 2021.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to Research Professional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using Research Professional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of Research Professional. To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on Research Professional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with Research Professional. The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat. Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the second Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

11th May 2021

13th July 2021

14th September 2021

9th November 2021

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Have you noticed the pink box on the BU Research Blog homepage?

By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a Research Professional real-time search of the calls announced by the Major UK Funders. Use this feature to stay up to date with funding calls. Please note that you will have to be on campus or connecting to your desktop via our VPN to fully access this service.

The SIA call for game-changing research concepts: insights from the Institute for the Modelling of Social Environmental Transitions

In this guest blog post, Dr Emma Jenkins, outlines how a concept for interdisciplinary research has become a lived reality through a previous SIA EoI open call… 

The Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET) started off as a vague notion of where the field of archaeology is heading and where BU’s Department of Archaeology & Anthropology could make a significant contribution. The core challenges facing the world are summarised in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The problems behind most of these challenges, however, are neither modern nor restricted to the present – some have long histories that set the world on the trajectory it currently is while others are known to have already challenged communities and societies in the past. This is as true of the recent historic past, as it is of the deeper timelines of prehistory. IMSET was conceptually founded on the notion that we can learn from these past occurrences of socio-environmental transitions, and that what we learn from them can be useful for present and future challenges facing the world. Archaeology, anthropology and palaeoecology can contribute the necessary data, whereas computational modelling and analysis can help shed light on the complex dynamics of the interactions and bidirectional impact between people and their ecosystems.

These ideas gathered momentum with the first BU’s Strategic Investment Areas call for Expressions of Interest in 2018. What was but a vague notion to begin with, developed into a proposal to create a multidisciplinary research institute that straddled the fields of archaeology, anthropology, ecology and computer science with the aim of furthering our understanding of how human societies responded to climate and environmental change in the past in order to provide insights into how modern societies can adapt to the challenges facing them. This was a bold request which, to both our surprise and delight, was picked up to be developed into a Full Business Case in 2019 which enabled the creation of IMSET.

The development of IMSET was a team effort. We were one of the first projects to be asked to complete a Business Case and the first to be supported under the SIA call and, as such, we could be described as ‘lucky guinea pigs’! Some of the procedural ‘hoops’ that we needed to jump through were not really suitable for our purposes and we were also met with one or two ‘surprise deadlines’ but colleagues in RDS and the OVC went above and beyond to support us with some of these challenges. We also, all, learnt a lot from this process and our understanding is that the application procedure is much more transparent and streamlined than it was back in 2019. As an institute we have, on the whole, been fantastically supported throughout this journey by professional services staff across BU and our advice would be that if you have an idea, no matter how vague or crazy, you should go for it. If there was one piece of advice we would give, it would be don’t start a new research institute, that is predicated on the need for over-seas fieldwork and international collaboration, right at the beginning of a global pandemic! Otherwise Good Luck!

At BU we are keen to foster amazing, game-changing, transformative research ideas, so if you have one we would love to hear from you. You are invited to put forward your ideas through the current Strategic Investment Areas (SIA) EoI call for transformative research concepts, aimed at providing the dedicated, tailored support to make your research ideas a reality.

To learn more about the call, sign-up now for one of our open briefing sessions or learn more on the staff intranet.

If you would like to learn more about IMSET or collaborate directly with the team, email Dr Emma Jenkins or see their webpages

UK government sets out bold vision for the future of clinical research delivery

innovation, NHS, Research Ethics

Patients, clinicians and researchers across the whole of the UK are set to benefit from the ambitious vision for the future of clinical research delivery according to this press release from the UK Government.

The plan includes:

  • Strengthening the UK’s renowned research expertise as a world-leader in designing and delivering research
  • An ambitious vision to unlock the true potential of research putting patients and NHS at its heart
  • Using the lessons from COVID-19 to build back better, the government will create a patient-centred, pro-innovation and digitally-enabled research environment.

Saving and improving lives: the future of UK clinical research delivery, published on March 23rd was developed by the UK government and devolved administrations. The policy paper sets out how they will deliver faster, more efficient and more innovative research – from the streamlining of costing, contracting and approvals processes to the Health Research Authority’s rapid ethics review pilot, which aims to halve the time to provide a final opinion for research applications.

Using best practice, it is hoped that participating in research will become more accessible, increasing diversity and allowing more people across the whole of the UK to take part. They will work with Centres of Excellence, such as the Centre for BME Health in Leicester, and there will be more support for research in more diverse and under-served communities and innovative approaches.

The NHS will be encouraged to put delivery of research at the heart of everything they do, making it an essential and rewarding part of effective patient care. This included building a culture across the NHS and all health and care settings that is positive about research, where all staff feel empowered and supported to take part in clinical research delivery as part of their job.

The vision is built around 5 key themes:

  1. Clinical research embedded in the NHS: to create a research-positive culture in which all health and care staff feel empowered to support and participate in clinical research as part of their job.
  2. Patient-centred research: to make access and participation in research as easy as possible for everyone across the UK, including rural, diverse and under-served populations.
  3. Streamlined, efficient and innovative research: so the UK is seen as the best place in the world to conduct fast, efficient and cutting-edge clinical research.
  4. Research enabled by data and digital tools: to ensure the UK has the most advanced and data-enabled clinical research environment in the world, building on our unique data assets to improve health and care.
  5. A sustainable and supported research workforce: which offers rewarding opportunities and exciting careers for all healthcare and research staff of all professional backgrounds – across both commercial and non-commercial research.

The vision reflects the ambition of all 4 UK governments and has been developed through a broad cross-sector approach involving NHS, medical research charities, life sciences industry and academia. Continued collaboration across sectors and organisations will ensure the key action areas will be delivered.

Remember – support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS – email the Research Ethics mailbox, and take a look at the Research Governance and Integrity website.