NIHR Nottingham BRC - Associate Professor in Digital Technology and Mental Health

An exciting new post which has been created in the new NIHR Nottingham BRC Mental Health & Technology Theme. Please circulate the link to this post within your academic institution and networks.

Associate Professor in Digital Technology and Mental Health

http://nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/MED171217

The closing date is 6th July, with interviews to be held 13th July.

Starworks - Innovations in prothetics for young people

The Research Collaboration on Child Prosthetics is part of a £1.5m provision of sports prosthetics for kids.

Delivering and Evaluating Domestic Abuse Programmes: A Dissemination and Discussion

Dr Steve Ariss attended the Domestic Abuse Conference last week. 

CATCH “Showcase of Future Healthcare” event draws the crowds

CATCH set up their living room of the future in the Winter Garden, Sheffield last Saturday to showcase to the general public what the future of healthcare might look like.

Part of the Sheffield Festival of Science and Engineering and co-organised with the Public Engagement team at the University of Sheffield, the event attracted more than 1,000 people throughout the day.

Seven CATCH collaborators (see logos below) joined the event with exhibition stands demonstrating healthcare technologies. Partners Sheffield Robotics and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences were also in attendance Children were given the opportunity to learn about future technology by visiting each partner, experiencing the technology first hand and getting answers to six questions. 100 children took part. 

Pepper robot, the latest recruit to the CATCH team was a big pull for children and adults alike who were impressed by the humanoid’s range of movement and interaction skills. Other technology on display on the day included Emego, an EMG switch which senses muscle activity as well as CIRCA, an interactive reminiscence and conversation aid.

Fresh from the great success of his Inaugural Lecture the previous night, Professor Luc de Witte addressed the audience for two pop-up talks about the role of technology in future healthcare.

It was great to have the opportunity to meet so many people interested in our technology and share how CATCH is working to help people to live well and age well.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to the Public Engagement team at the University, notably Nicola Strafford, Public Engagement Manager for her great work in helping us to make this event a huge success.

If you would like to find out more about CATCH’s exciting research and future events, please contact Laura Murray.

INVOLVE Conference 28/11/2017

The INVOLVE Conference has been confirmed for Tuesday 28th November 2017 in central London. 

If you are thinking of submitting an abstract the call for submissions is now open.

This NIHR Conference is to celebrate the progress of public involvement in research and consider the opportunities ahead.

http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/involve2017/

Sheffield Occupational Therapy Clinical Academic Network (SOTCA) Launched!

A group of Sheffield based clinical academic occupational therapists have formed a network – SOTCA. The network is focussed around advancing occupational therapy knowledge and practice in and around Sheffield. It is open to any occupational therapists who share the aim of improving occupational therapy knowledge and practice in and around Sheffield and more widely.

Meetings will be informal, designed to form collaborations and provide peer support to those occupational therapist developing a clinical academic career. Group members are based within clinical practice, education, research and training. The group links with a number of national organisations with similar aims such as the College of Occupational Therapists, NIHR Clinical Academic Network and the Council for Allied Health Professions Research.

The next meeting will be in October 2016. Please contact Laura Di Bona (l.dibona@sheffield.ac.uk) if you are interested in attending.

Sheffield Occupational Therapy Clinical Academics networking at the College of Occupational Therapists Conference Harrogate 2016

Written by Laura Di Bona (Occupational therapist / health service researcher)

CLAHRC Director from Sheffield Invited to NIHR Parliamentary Open Day

The Director of the Collaboration for Leadership and Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber (CLAHRC YH), Professor Sue Mawson, was invited to the National Institute for Health Research Parliamentary Open Day ("NIHR Delivering Health and Wealth") to represent all of the CLAHRCs in England to celebrate the NIHR's 10th Anniversary. The Deaprtment of Health Research and Development Directorate organised the event which took place at Portcullis House in London and was hosted by George Freeman MP (Minister for Life Sciences).

The aim of the event was to showcase the world-class research funded and supported by the NIHR. As Professor Mawson is the director of the NIHR funded CLAHRC YH, she was the perfect candidate to receive the invitation. Parliamentarians were interested to hear how the NIHR had transformed the research environment in England and how it has become integrated into healthcare.

Attendees also included Dame Sally Davies (Chief Medical Officer for England), Professor Graham Lord (Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre) and Professor Ian Bruce (Director of the NIHR Manchester Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit).

Professor Mawson was invited to attend "Zone 3" which was entitled "An Engine for Growth", which aimed to deliver the message that the "NIHR's people, facilities and research may not only improve the health of the nation, but they are also a major driver of economic growth."

From the left: Prof Sir Peng Tee Khaw Director of Moorfields BRC,
Professor Sue Mawson, Professor Ian Bruce and Professor Graham Lord

NIHR HS&DR funding opportunities

Interested? Deadlines are at 1pm on January 14th 2016 and more information can be found here.

100 patients in the Big CACTUS study

The Big CACTUS study, funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme and the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia aims to evaluate the use of computer software and volunteer support as an intensive, long term intervention for improving word finding ability in people with aphasia as a result of Stroke. At the end of June the study reached the first 100 patients recruited to the study in 20 speech and language therapy departments across the UK. The patient and public involvement group went out for afternoon tea to celebrate this achievement, and their contribution to the successful progression of the study.

Follow us on twitter @BigCACTUS_study

Written by Dr Rebecca Palmer (Big CACTUS chief investigator)

Review of self-management support for long term conditions

Great systematic review published by the NIHR entitled: "A rapid synthesis of the evidence on interventions supporting self-management for people with long term conditions: PRISMS - Practical systematic review of self-management support for long-term conditions."

Full reference: 

Taylor SJC, Pinnock H, Epiphaniou E, Pearce G, Parke HL, Schwappach A, et al. A rapid synthesis of the evidence on interventions supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions: PRISMS – Practical systematic RevIew of Self-Management Support for long-term conditions. Health Serv Deliv Res 2014;2(53).

To access the review please click here.

Multimorbidities in older people research call

The NIHR will be launching a themed call for research on multimorbidities in older people on 25th February. To find out more click here.

Freely available resources: encouraging the recruitment of people with aphasia

NIHR Clinical Research Network: Stroke has launched a new set of aphasia friendly online resources for researchers to help them recruit and involve people with aphasia into clinical trials. 

As people with aphasia have varying levels of communication difficulties, they are often excluded from research. Therefore these resources hope to begin to break down this barrier.

These freely available resources include: 
- Study information sheets designed specifically for people with aphasia
- Tips on how to enable them to participate in research studies
- A range of images that can be used in studies to facilitate communication with them

The above resources can help researchers develop "aphasia-friendly" consent forms, information sheets and study guides.

You can access the resources here.

This project has recently won the NIHR New Media Competition for demonstrating the value of public and patient involvement.