The CLUSTER team are still buzzing from the success of our Future Leaders Event held in Manchester on 12th October. We facilitated a showcase and networking event for early career researchers (PhD through to new Senior Lecturers/Senior Research Fellows) in Juvenile idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)/JIA-uveitis. This provided an opportunity for our guests to:
- Network and form working relationships with other JIA/JIA-uveitis researchers
- Learn skills to develop grant applications with colleagues across an array of scientific specialties
- Pick up tips from experts in JIA/JIA-uveitis research, data, research funding, and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement
Setting the scene for the day and ensuring the patient experience was fresh in the minds of our guests, a short film ‘CLUSTER’s JIA stories’ was sent out to our guests in advance of the event.
The interactive agenda kicked off with a motivating opening talk from host, Prof Kimme Hyrich, commenting on the rich benefits of collaboration, whilst also reflecting on the barriers researchers often face in their efforts to collaborate.
Next up was a jam-packed morning of lightning talks from our early career researchers. Expertise ranged from epidemiology to pain psychology. We were so impressed by the breadth of research presented, each bringing a unique skill set and approach to answering important questions in the field of JIA/JIA-Uveitis.
The afternoon’s ‘Collaboration Session’ saw the researchers teamed up and given 90 minutes to come up with a winning grant proposal. Teams were supported by market stalls of specialists in Clinical Data and Governance, PPIE and Finance Support, to ensure each of these vital aspects were considered. A huge thanks to all our market stall holders, including one of CLUSTER’s very own PPIE Champion, Debbie Wilson.
Our teams did a magnificent job of pitching their research ideas to our panel of Dragons for a share of an imaginary ‘£1M’ investment. The Dragons were so blown away that all teams walked away with ‘money’ in their pockets!
The wonderful Dr Gisela Orozco closed the day with her inspiration keynote talk reflecting on her career in science and leaving our guests with some tried and tested advice for a successful research career.
The feedback from the participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with many committing to building on the new relationships and networks they made at the event. Thank you to everyone who participated to make this such a successful day.
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