NIAA Update: February 2017
Welcome to this month's newsletter
NIAA Opportunities
NIAA Research Award 2017
The deadline is fast approaching for this year's Research Award applications, and we are encouraging all investigators who are trainees or new consultants (within 2 years of appointment) to apply by the closing date of Monday 13th March.
We're also pleased to announce our award judging panel: Professor Fang Gao (Birmingham), Dr Brian Jenkins (Cardiff), Dr Gudrun Kunst (London) and Dr Matthew Wilson (Sheffield) who will be reviewing all applications and will form the judging panel for shortlisted finalists.
Applicants should have completed a 'body of work' that may have been presented at an equivalent scientific national or international meeting or published as an abstract or full paper in a peer reviewed journal.
The work should include a project that covers a clear, evidence-based research question, appropriate methods, well-conducted study/studies and statistical analysis of results drawing to a valid conclusion. It would typically be the equivalent to two or more research papers on one subject area or from a higher degree thesis (MD/PhD).
Short listed finalists will be invited to present their research work at the NIAA Annual Scientific Meeting at the RCoA, London, on Friday 12th May 2017. The award winner will be announced on the day and will hold the 'NIAA Research Award' title for one year and receive an honorarium of £500. Information on the criteria and submission guidelines is available here. Good luck!
NIAA research vacancies and funding opportunities
We are currently also accepting applications for a number of vacancies and project funding opportunities for researchers at all levels.
Applications from senior academics, clinicians and non-clinicians are invited for the role of NIAA Research Council Chair, which will become vacant when Prof Robert Sneyd demits from the role in June 2017. The post provides senior leadership and academic support to the Research Council and oversees our research grant funding, which currently stands at approximately £7.5 million.
Applications are also invited for a Trainee Representative as one of two trainees co-opted to the NIAA Research Council. More information on both vacancies is available here, and if you would like to have a discussion about either role with the current post holders please contact us.
The John Snow Anaesthesia Intercalated Awards of up to £2,000 are for intercalating students enrolled on a programme leading towards a registered medical qualification (Bachelors or Masters/MMedSci students are eligible), who are undertaking a research project on an anaesthesia related topic. Institutions can submit applications for a maximum of 4 students, with the award going towards the student's living costs.
Round 1 of 2017 NIAA Research Grants are also now open for applications. Various levels of funding up to £100,000 are available from these funding partners:
- AAGBI/Anaesthesia and Wiley
- Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland
- BJA/RCoA - who have launched a new International Collaborative Grant
- Difficult Airway Society
- Neuroanaesthesia & Critical Care Society
- Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association
- Regional Anaesthesia UK
- Vascular Anaesthesia Society of Great Britain and Ireland
More information on funding opportunities and closing dates is available here.
All funding is available to applicants from across the UK (with the exception of the BJA international grant), however we are particularly encouraging applications from Wales and Ireland (both RoI and NI) as these areas are currently under-represented.
Other Opportunities
VASGBI Trainee Development Grants
Are you a trainee working on a research or audit project in vascular anaesthesia? The Vascular Society has an open call for grants of up to £5,000 to support trainees working in or affiliated with a department providing vascular anaesthetic services, with the aim of both improving patient care and developing the vascular anaesthetists of the future.
Applications will be considered for research and audit projects of up to a 2 year period, and can be undertaken by a number of trainees during this time. You will need to submit a project outline (up to 3,000 words) along with CVs and letters of support. If you're interested in applying and have any further queries please contact Dr Ronelle Mouton at VASGBI. Applications must be made by Friday 31st March 2017. More information is available here.
NIHR ACF Vacancy: Anaesthetics or ICM
Applications are being invited from the Severn Deanery for a National Institute for Health Research Academic Clinical Fellow post, in Anaesthetics or Intensive Care Medicine. There is one position at entry level - ST3 or ST4.
Applications must be made via the Oriel Application Portal where full details of the application process can also be found. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 1st March 2017.
Eligible candidates from Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine will be invited to attend interviews in Bristol on 24th March and the highest ranked candidate will be offered the one ACF post available. For more information and to apply please click here. Also see BMJ advice on research fellowship interviews below.
Anaesthesia Sprint Audit of Practice (ASAP) Fellow
The AAGBI Foundation is seeking to appoint an ASAP Fellow, to work alongside the National ASAP Project Coordinator in measuring and improving clinical quality for patients as recommended by AAGBI guidelines. The successful candidate will be a senior trainee anaesthetist, a member of the AAGBI as well as being a good communicator, an objective critic and enthusiast. Letters of application along with a CV must be submitted by Friday 31st March. Please click here for more information.
Up to £400,000 available for musculoskeletal health research
Arthritis Research UK have issued an open call for awards available to fund applied health research relevant to people with arthritis. The aim of these awards is to support research whose intended primary outcomes will lead to improvements in the quality of life of people with arthritis and/or contribute to the evidence base of knowledge that will lead to improvements relevant to people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. Funding towards salaries, running costs and equipment will be considered.
Any academic, clinician or allied health care professional at an eligible UK institution can apply, and there is a two-stage application process. At the first stage, applicants are invited to submit an outline application which provides an overview of the project and funding requested. This must be submitted online by 16:00 on 1st March 2017.
Those invited to the second stage will be notified by May 2017 and will have until 5th July to submit their full application. For more information and to access the application form please click here.
Events
Booking Now: NIAA Annual Scientific Meeting
Our annual event, now in its second year, will be taking place on Friday 12 May 2017 and we are honoured to welcome Professor Sir Nick Black who will be delivering the keynote HSRC session.
Professor Black's prolific career in health services research and public health has included serving as the first Chair of the UK Health Services Research Network until 2008 and chairing the National Advisory Group for Clinical Audit & Enquiries from 2008-16, providing advice to the Department of Health and NHS England.
He has also served on several other national advisory bodies on quality assessment and improvement, playing a leading role in the adoption of patient reported outcome measures. In 2017 he was awarded a knighthood for services to healthcare research.
Professor Stephen Smye OBE will deliver a session looking at the NIHR over the next 10 years, and Professor David Jones will be speaking on developments in academic training for the future. We will also be announcing the winner of this year's NIAA Research Award.
Delegates will receive 5 CPD credits for attending, and there will be plenty of opportunities for networking and discussion. If you haven't already registered, we'd encourage you to be quick. Please visit here for the full programme and to book now.
NIAA-HSRC Annual QuARC Meeting
If you are registered as a Quality Audit & Research Coordinator (QuARC) within your Trust you should already have received an invitation to attend this meeting, which will provide updates on long-term projects such as the NAPs, NELA, and PQIP, breaking news on new HSRC-led research, and information on emerging research or themes including in paediatric perioperative care, big data and the development of the RCoA/HSRC Quality Faculty. It is being held at the RCoA on Thursday 27 April 2017.
If you're a QuARC and haven't yet registered your attendance please click here for booking instructions and to view the full programme.
RCoA Anniversary Meeting: Landmarks in UK Anaesthesia
There's still time to register for the 2017 Anniversary Meeting, which this year will highlight all the significant developments that have taken place in the specialty during the 25 years since the College gained its Royal Charter, whilst keeping a clear view to the future.
The RCoA's Royal Patron, HRH Princess Royal, will be attending this year's event and we're honoured that she will be presenting prizes to the Trainee and Consultant winners of the inaugural joint NIHR/RCoA Research Awards.
The event will take place 8-9 March 2017 in the Mermaid Conference Centre, London and 10 CPD credits are available. For the full programme and to book your place to attend please visit the event page here.
Other News
Calling all NIAA grant recipients
If you have been successful in securing a grant through one of the annual NIAA grant rounds at any time, you should have received an email from Dr Kariem El-Boghdadly - Trainee Fellow on Anaesthesia and Anaesthetic Registrar, Guy's & St Thomas' - asking you to let us know of any publications or academic output that has resulted from your NIAA funded project(s).
We're undertaking this work as a way of marking the 10th anniversary of the NIAA in 2018 by tracking outputs that can be attributed to NIAA funding and celebrating any particularly successful research studies, so we need input from you if you have anything to report. Even if you haven't yet secured any publications or your project is still on going we'd like to hear from you. We'd be grateful if you could respond to Dr El-Boghdadly's email, or if you haven't received an email and want to report back to us on this please contact the NIAA Coordinator. We look forward to hearing from you.
Academic ARCP resources
The NIAA and RCoA have developed a guidance document and progress report template for ARCP panels when reviewing the annual progress of trainees who have undertaken research placements since their previous ARCP. This includes ACF or ACL posts; MD(Res), MPhil or PhD; training, trust grade or fellowship posts with more than 25% WTE dedicated to research; or time out of programme for research (OOPR) or an OOPE with more than 25% WTE spent on research.
The guidance document, which also includes information on where to go for academic support, as well as the report form are available to download from the Trainee section of the NIAA website here.
BMJ advice for research fellowship interviews
Research fellowships can provide great opportunities but interviews for these posts can be stressful and only a minority of applicants are successful: Medical Research Council data show that only 25% of applications for clinical research training fellowship posts were successful in 2015/16, along with 19% of clinician scientist fellowship posts. Being shortlisted for interview is an achievement in itself, as around 50% of those interviewed gain posts. BMJ Careers has published advice on preparing effectively for these interviews and how to learn from the experience here.
Are you registered on our Researchers' Database?
As a way of supporting the research community, the NIAA has developed a resource for research-active individuals who are looking for networking opportunities and would like to share their areas of interest with other experts. The information in the database is searchable by various criteria and can be accessed through the NIAA website. To join or search the database please visit here.
