They wrote a few lines about their experiences of the event.
"As an NIHR school member, this month I attended the NIHR trainee meeting to take up some of their training opportunities from an inspiring set of expert guest speakers. Through this great experience, I learned some fantastic tips on employing leadership skills in my work which I hope will support me in my new role as co-convenor for MedSoc North East. I also acquired an effective and novel presenting style involving graphic, wordless slides, which I carried forward to apply in my presentation at SAPC North last week." Beth Bareham.
"The conference kicked off with some inspiring introductory speeches that welcomed trainees from every discipline into the ‘NIHR family’. I was particularly excited to hear about the NIHR academy that will be launching soon alongside new opportunities for funding. Many of the proposed changes that were described stem directly from trainee feedback and highlighted the progressive and responsive nature of the NIHR. The range of research topics covered by the trainees were on display in the form of many posters. This spectrum of NIHR research was further highlighted by the poster prizes. I was awarded a prize for my poster on empathy in type 2 diabetes but other prizes were awarded from very different fields. We also heard from successful multidisciplinary trainees at all stages who have taken varying pathways en route to their clinical academic careers to date. Professor Chris Witty then delivered a thought provoking talk emphasising the need for scientific and clinical structures to consider multiple morbidity, rather than focusing on single disease. He also offered plenty of helpful advice on how to have a successful academic clinical career. One suggestion that sticks in my mind was on the value of attempting to predict the research questions of the next decade, and to begin working on them today." Hajira Dambha-Miller.
Beth has subsequently won 'Best Research' prize at SAPC North Conference held in Kendal on 24 November. Congratulations Beth!
"The day was a real eye opener to the breadth of research the NIHR funds, and the range of backgrounds the trainees come from. Attended by over 200 trainees from around the country, I met people undertaking research in a variety of areas such as Emergency Medicine, Paediatrics, Haematology and Physiotherapy to name a few over the two days in Leeds.
I attended sessions on leadership and delivering effective presentations, both of which had practical advice applicable to all roles, not just research based and found the day really informative and useful." Karen Rhodes, SPCR Project Officer.