Tagged / impact

An Academic’s Guide to Medtech Translation

The Medical Technologies Innovation and Knowledge Centre (based at the University of Leeds) has announced the launch of an online guide to medtech research translation for academics and researchers based in UK universities.

The guide aims to familiarise STEM researchers with the complex medtech innovation pathway from bench to bedside, signposting to credible further resources and suggesting reflective tasks to start practically building a business case.

The resource is free, and researchers can work through it from beginning to end or access relevant chapters to suit their requirements.

Take me to An academic’s guide to medtech translation

It’s great to see the launch of this online guide which will support research translation in medical technologies. Advances in medtech have fundamentally improved the length and quality of life on a global scale and the guide will help facilitate the development of new medical technology innovations in all areas, including the introduction of new software like this EMR for Plastic Surgery.

Professor Ruth Wilcox, Director of the Medical Technologies IKC said: “For many researchers, the goal of their work is to make an impact. Translating and commercialising research is a way of achieving that long-term impact on society but the route to clinic is highly complex. We developed this guide to untangle the process overall, and to hone-in on some of the trickiest hurdles to overcome, like regulatory issues and clinical studies. This guide provides practical advice to help researchers navigate the innovation pathway and signposts to appropriate support and resources available for each stage.”

The guide has been developed using experience and expertise developed throughout the lifetime of the Medical Technologies IKC, established by the University of Leeds in 2009, and through Grow MedTech, a consortium of six universities set up in 2018.

“Through these programmes, and working with our industry partners, we’ve progressed over 250 projects (proof of concept or technology development and demonstration), of which 84 have gone beyond Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 – with over 50 products or services reaching the market,” said Professor Wilcox.

Take me to An academic’s guide to medtech translation

HRV and Traumatic Injury- systematic review protocol published in PloS One by MSPH researcher

Rabeea Maqsood is a first year PhD student within the department of Medical Sciences and Public Health. She is exploring the role of serious battlefield traumatic injury and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in military veterans and personnel in a collaborative project between BU and the ADVANCE study, UK (For more: https://www.advancestudydmrc.org.uk/)

Recently, as a part of her PhD thesis, Rabeea’s study protocol on traumatic injuries and HRV has been published in PloS One with open access. The article has been downloaded and viewed hundreds of times since its publication. Here’s the link: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0273688

Watch this space for the full systematic review which will address the evidence gap in the field of HRV and combat trauma research.

Upcoming Research Impact Workshops

There are three Research Impact training workshops coming up over the next few weeks:

Anatomy of a case study is a 2-hour in-person workshop in Fusion  – 8th September, 13:00-15:00.

In this workshop we will be examining REF impact case study examples from REF2021 and identifying what makes an excellent case study. There will also be an opportunity to start building your own impact case study.

Getting Started with Research Impact: what is it? is an online workshop – 16th September, 10:00-11:00.

We will look at the impact basics – what research impact is and why it matters in funding applications, for the REF and for your research career. You will find out how to turn your research into impact and how your research can benefit society/the economy.

Evidencing Impact is online – 12th October 14:00-15:00.

We will look at how to evidence your research impact – what counts as evidence, how to find creative ways of getting it, what qualitative and quantitative evidence is needed for a REF impact case study and how to gather and store it.

You can sign up for these sessions here: RKEDF – Workshop Booking Form (office.com)

 

 

 

 

Reminder: Workshop on including impact in grant applications

Impact and Funding Applications Training: Thursday 30 June 2pm-3pm Online

How to write about impact in your funding bids

Writing about impact in a grant application can be challenging. However, a strong description of the benefits you hope your project will have on society and the economy, and the means you will take to get there, can make all the difference between getting funded or not.

Book your place now on the online training session Impact and Funding Bids on 30 June at 2pm and we will help you understand what you need to include for the best chance of success, and look at the different ways impact may be considered within each call.

Although the session will include a brief look at definitions of impact, if you are new to this area it is advised that you watch the 10-minute introduction to impact video on Brightspace beforehand to get the most out of the training.

Book your place.

Professor Feigenbaum and her team launch guide on social media storytelling for health literacy

Creating social media posts that aim to build health or information literacy is challenging. It is one thing to get likes on a video of a cute dog dancing or your latest holiday pics, it is another to develop reflective, empathetic understanding of complex phenomena in a bite-sized image or video.

To help guide people through the process of creating social media stories for information and health literacy,  Professor Feigenbaum designed the Pick N Mix strategy. This Pick N Mix method is based on research findings from her team’s UKRI/AHRC COVID-19 Rapid Response project that analysed over 15,000 webcomics to look at the role this medium played in public health messaging on Instagram during the first year of the pandemic. The guide also draws from current research in psychology, graphic medicine and media studies. It was designed by creative studio partners Minute Works.

On 10th June 2022 Professor Feigenbaum and her team of BU student RAs — Katie Penfound, Kristy Hart, Linh Trinh and Abbie Smith — launched the new guide during a training workshop for stakeholders delivered to project partners from University Hospitals Dorset, CILIP The Library and Information Association and CEMP’s EdD programme.
The guide and stakeholder training session are set to make a meaningful impact, already getting great feedback from stakeholders.
Reaching out to a wider audience, on 14 June 2022, Professor Feigenbaum and BU alumni Ozlem Demirkol Tonnesen, an AHRC project RA and PhD Candidate at the University of Southampton, published a piece for The Conversation’s Quarter Life series, translating their storytelling strategies for social media content creators in their 20s and 30s.
Professor Feigenbaum and her team’s research on social media storytelling for health literacy will feature later this year at the British Science Festival. For more resources on social media storytelling for information and health literacy, you can check out their healthy socials training pack and AHRC project website.

New Impact Accelerator Programme for ESS

Impact Acceleration Programme: InterAct

This programme will help researchers to enhance their ability to generate impact and provide funding to help them turn their research into more accessible outputs.

InterAct are looking for researchers from the Economic and Social Science (ESS) community or other disciplines that can capture human insights into the adoption of digital technologies and accelerate the digitisation of manufacturing to apply for up to £18,000 to turn results into outputs which are more accessible to policy makers, manufacturers, and Industrial Digital Technology providers.

The funding is available for academics whose research is ready for translation activity, not for further research, and results should already have been achieved but can be at an early stage and pre-publication.

Find out more about InterAct and this funding opportunity here, and if you intend to apply please complete the online ItB here.

If you have any questions about applying for funding please contact your Funding Development Officer, and for advice on impact acceleration plans or how to gather and evaluate evidence of impact please email impact@bournemouth.ac.uk

Upcoming Research Impact Workshops

We have several RKEDF impact-related workshops coming up over the next couple of months; please use the links below to book onto them via OD:

Getting started with research impact: what is it? 12 May, 2pm (repeated on 16th September, 10am)

Evidencing Impact 14 June, 2pm (repeated on 12 October, 2pm)

Impact and Funding Applications 30 June, 2pm

As part of the newly announced Research Conference: Building Impact on 7 June we will also be holding live sessions on the Anatomy of a Case Study, investigating what an excellent case study looks like. This will be repeated online the following day (8 June, 2pm) for those who can’t make it so do look out for booking links for this too.

If you have any questions, please contact the Impact Advisors – Amanda Lazar or Beth Steiner.

BU Research Conference 2022: Building Impact – sign up now

The first annual BU research conference will take place on Tuesday 7 June.

This year’s theme is building impact, celebrating our REF 2021 submission and exploring practical ways to create impact and share your research.

The half-day conference will take place in the Fusion Building on Talbot Campus from 1pm – 5pm on Tuesday 7 June, with internal and external speakers and workshops. Light refreshments will be provided.

The conference is open to all BU staff and postgraduate research students.

It will be followed by a drinks reception from 5pm to celebrate BU’s REF submission.

We’ll be sharing more details around the schedule, sessions and speakers shortly.

To register your interest and receive further updates, book your place via Eventbrite.

Apply now for travel grants for impact development 

Grants of up to £200 are available via the Research Impact Fund to facilitate relationship building with external stakeholders such as policymakers or industry contacts leading to impact development. 

The aim of this is to support ad-hoc requests leading to impact development, such as media appearances, meetings with policy makers, meetings with industry contacts, or attendance at industry/policy/third sector events where network-building (leading to potential impact) is the key reason for attending. 

The funding can be used to meet with new stakeholders, organisations or groups or meet with existing stakeholders to gather testimonials or other evidence to demonstrate how research has made a difference (e.g. has resulted in real world impact). 

Please note that the travel fund cannot be used to fund conference attendance except in instances where attendance will result in achievable impact or evidence of impact. 

Eligibility:  

You will be eligible to apply if you meet the following criteria: 

  • You are an ECR and / or you are new to research, or 
  • You can demonstrate you have emerging impact from existing research 

Please familiarise yourself with BU’s Research Impact Policy and Research Impact Fund Guidance Notes before applying. 

The online application form can be completed here. 

Please contact researchimpact@bournemouth.ac.uk with any queries.