College of Medical and Dental Sciences
Research and Knowledge Transfer
Bumper Christmas Newsletter
Issue 12
December 2012
Research Funding Alerts of the Month
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Funding Alerts
RKTO Workshop
China
MRC-ARUK
SRMRC Birthday
Research Tips
RCUK Warning
Prizes
Congratulations
Contact Us
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Projects & Programmes Newsletter
Small, Equipment & Travel Awards Newsletter
Studentships & Scholarships Newsletter
Fellowships and Individual Awards Newsletter
NIHR grants
Projects & Programmes Calendar (prints best in A3 colour)
Studentships & Scholarships Calendar
Fellowships Calendar
Intention to Submit Guidance
RCUK Intention to Submit Form
NIHR Intention to Submit Form
RKTO Workshop Alert
Do you work with human participants in a Health and Social Care setting?
Look out for new
RKTO Workshops!
Useful Internal Links
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Buzz Magazine
MDS RKTO
Medlines
Online Pink Form
PDC News
University News
RIS Events
The Research Governance Framework is a guidance structure to help you develop, conduct and
conclude research in these environments. Come along to our RKTO Workshop on the subject of
Governance and Ethics at 1pm on Monday 14th January in the IBR Seminar Room (N143)
to find out more!
Drs Karim Raza and Sean Jennings will take you through the requirements and rationale to
meet the statutory regulations, describing common pitfalls and top tips for researchers to be
mindful of. There will be an interactive Q&A session afterwards if you have a niggling question
or complex research project that needs expert advice.
Consolidating Chinese Connections
Useful External Links
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Research
Professional
BBSRC news
BHF news
BMA news
CLAHRC news
CRUK news
LLR news
MRC news
NIHR news
Wellcome news
Front: Prof Xiao (SYSU), Prof Jenkinson (UoB), Prof Yan (SYSU), Prof Evens (UoG), Ms Miur (UoG), Prof Wu (SYSU). 2nd row:
Prof Frampton (UoB), Prof Pell (UoG), Prof Walters (UoG), Dr Kearns (UoB), Dr Cobbold (UoB).
Following the successful tour of our College by representatives of Sun Yat-Sen University
(SYSU) in September, a team of our own senior researchers delivered a series of workshops in
a whirlwind visit to China at the end of November.
Professors Eric Jenkinson, Jon Frampton, KK Cheng and Jane McKeating, and Drs Pam Kearns
and Mark Cobbold, were joined by counterparts from the University of Glasgow and local
Chinese researchers to attract a terrific audience of enthusiastic staff and students alike at
SYSU. The delegates also visited affiliated hospitals and research laboratories, and discussed
exciting opportunities for collaborations and exchanges. SYSU leaders are keen to promote our
BMedSc and MPH programmes, so we aim to welcome their students to Birmingham from
2013. Other activities include the establishment of a Clinical Trials Unit in one of the hospitals
affiliated to SYSU, a collaborative paediatric cancer trial with another, and Hepatitis C research
with another...
The subject
of our next RKTO
Workshop
at 1pm on
14th January in the
IBR Seminar Room
(N143)
will be:
Additionally, our academics in any discipline are welcome to deliver up to two weeks of
teaching at SYSU with travel and accommodation expenses paid by the host, so please do take
these opportunities to bolster your experience and expertise! More information is available
from our international project officer Dr Junying Jia.
Richard Dawkins Launches MRC-ARUK Centre
Around 400 staff, students, members of the public and funding representatives squeezed
themselves into the Leonard Deacon Lecture Theatre for the official launch of the MRC-ARUK
Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research on the evening of 7th November 2012, with
celebrated speaker Professor Richard Dawkins considering whether or not doctors should be
Darwinian?
‘Governance and
Ethics’
Speakers include:
Dr Karim Raza
Dr Sean Jennings
Prof Lord (UoB), Prof Dawkins, Prof Greenhaff (UoN).
and then
at 8.30am on
12th February in the
IBR Seminar Room
(N143):
‘Working With
Industry’
Also for your diary:
PERCAT
Masterclasses
at lunchtimes on:
9th January
Fellowships
LG14 Learning Centre
4th February
Medical Research and
the Industrial World
IBR Seminar Room
(N143)
There was plenty to celebrate… Our total award of value £3,200,000 will allow us to integrate
the work of world-class researchers, clinicians and health professionals at the Universities of
Birmingham and Nottingham, to focus on better understanding the age-related loss of
musculoskeletal function and develop new ways to tackle this challenge, from basic biological
treatments through to lifestyle interventions and pharmacological therapies.
Passionate talks from Sir John Savill (Medical Research Council) and Dr Liam O'Toole (Arthritis
Research UK) presented the funders' vision of the future of this collaborative centre, and the
level of local enthusiasm and support at both sites was articulated by Professors David
Eastwood (our own Vice-Chancellor) and Saul Tendler (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the
University of Nottingham). The Centre Director Professor Janet Lord (School of Immunity and
Infection) set the context of healthy ageing with some key questions to be tackled in the
coming years, and then introduced Professor Richard Dawkins. Our star speaker gave a very
interesting and humorous talk, touching on everything from Ice Age man, the menopause, the
change from wolf to dachshund, and the need only to outrun your fellow man rather than the
predator pursuing you both…
Happy Birthday SRMRC
The NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMRC) marked its first
year of research activity at the end of November with an event featuring researchers from
across the UK, as well as a patient who is involved in trauma research. The SRMRC seeks to
develop discoveries from the military frontline to improve outcomes for all trauma patients,
and the birthday showcase demonstrated ground-breaking research under way within all
three of its research themes: Acute Response to Injury; Microbiology; and Regenerative and
Reconstructive Medicine.
The event was opened by Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli and Dr David Cox. Professor Sir Keith
Porter then set out the major challenges faced by clinicians in treating both military and
civilian trauma patients. One of the most important elements of the day was an appearance by
patient Stephen Bridges, who was seriously injured in a road traffic collision in April and
treated at QEHB. He talked about his positive experiences of being involved in a study looking
at the nature of inflammation in trauma patients. SRMRC researchers and speakers from
Oxford University, Kings College London, Imperial College and the Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory (DSTL) provided further insights into collaborative work being done
around the country. For more information please visit www.srmrc.nihr.ac.uk.
Research Funding Hints, Tips & Tricks of the Month
This month we supplement our generic guidance in preparing successful grant applications,
with a focus on Public and Patient Involvement.
Warning: Stay Abreast of Research Council Regulations!
Contact Us
If you would like to
unsubscribe to this
newsletter or
if you have some
research news you
would like to include
please contact
rktoffice@contacts.b
ham.ac.uk.
Confused by conflicting notifications of research council regulations in connection to
final reports and publications? Panic not, and read on...
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Please note that
contributions
may be edited for
publication.
From 1st January, as the all the UK research councils try to improve the consistency of
expectations of their respective investigators working within different disciplines, many
previously standard requirements to submit final reports via JeS to MRC, AHRC, EPSRC,
NERC and STFC will be withdrawn. BUT:
NOT in the case of a small number of schemes. Moreover, it has not been possible to
specify which schemes in advance, so if you receive a request for a final report via JeS then
you should proceed to supply one accordingly (in time to meet the deadline!).
Annual submissions of the outputs of your research for RCUK remain essential and
compulsory. Such submissions should henceforth be made via ResearchFish to MRC and
STFC, and via the Research Outcomes System (ROS) to the other councils.
Final expenditure statements must still be submitted via JeS.
Research councils will NOT accept the inclusion of publications expenses in individual
research applications with a start date on or after 1st April, because block funding is now
available to HEIs to cover these costs. For further information about open access and the
block grant you can visit the intranet guidance of the RIS office.
If you require more detailed assistance or answers to individual queries then please contact
your local research facilitator or any of our team via rktoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
Prizes of the Month
This RKTO
newsletter is published
by the
College of Medical and
Dental Sciences
Research and
Knowledge Transfer
Office.
Jump back to….
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Funding Alerts
RKTO Workshop
China
MRC-ARUK
SRMRC Birthday
Research Tips
RCUK Warning
Prizes
Congratulations
Contact Us
September Award Prize
We heartily congratulate Dr Natalie Ives for a double achievement in gaining awards of
combined value almost £2,400,000 within the HTA scheme of NIHR. These projects will
consider the benefits of (i) routine oxygen supplementation following stroke and (ii) a short
course of daily prednisolone in children with frequently relapsing and steroid dependent
nephrotic syndrome.
September Paper Prize
Well done to Dr Cecile Benezech and her collaborators for achieving the publication of a paper
entitled “Lymphotoxin-β Receptor Signaling through NF-κB2-RelB Pathway Reprograms
Adipocyte Precursors as Lymph Node Stromal Cells” in the Immunity journal. The article was
highlighted online and received comments in Nature Immunology Reviews.
And Finally, Welcome and Other Congratulations To…
Technology Transfer
We are delighted to announce the safe delivery of a beautiful baby son to our Technology
Transfer Officer Mrs Claire Fenlon! Eliot Finley was born on Tuesday 4th December (two days
early). We not only welcome this new arrival, but also (slightly older!) Dr Francesco Colacino,
who joined our team last month to over the maternity absence. As always, if you would like to
explore any possibilities to protect your intellectual property or take your research ideas to
market then please do get in touch!
Strategic Projects
Our Research Support Administrator Mrs Linda Briscoe will begin a new role in January,
working as a Strategic Project Officer with Dr Claire Potter and Professor Christopher Buckley
and based in the HSRC building. Well done Linda!
Merry Christmas
from the College of Medical and Dental Sciences
Research and Knowledge Transfer Office!