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Professor Trisha Greenhalgh's keynote address on the 'pathways to impact' and the importance of making evidence readily available to support change inspired a packed lecture theatre in Oxford on 26 September at the National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research (NIHR SPCR) showcase. The event focussed on 'Promoting excellence and impact' and presentations drew on the work of researchers and trainees from the eight member departments, highlighting the wide range of primary care topics and disciplines embodied by the School.

The significance of communicating impact and research dissemination was emphasised throughout, ending with an envigorating discussion on how impact can best be achieved by a panel of experts: Roger Jones, Debbie Sharp, Paul Little, David Mant and Richard Hobbs. As trainees Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Brian Nicholson said in their School blog "... sessions highlighted many of the tensions surrounding impact, focussing on how to create meaningful impact while maintaining a degree of pragmatism, and cautioning the necessity to reserve enough time for research into areas that drive you rather than those driven by the big funders." 

I would argue that academics need to work harder to make their work suitable for publication, learn skills to engage with the media, and adopt modern methods of communication through social media and the web to spread their message - Domhnall MacAuley.

Attended by 66 SPCR trainees and more than 180 primary care researchers both from within and outside of the School, the showcase was an excellent platform for networking, for forming new and affirming existing collaborations.Trainees, most of whom were either presenting their work in parallel orals or as posters, had spent the day before in workshops at the SPCR Annual Trainees' Event at St Anne's College, Oxford. Senior Scientific Manager Georgina Fletcher said "It was a lovely opportunity to chat face to face with SPCR members with whom I correspond on a regular basis during the year and also to meet new colleagues. Of course there was the concern of ensuring all the arrangements were in place, but I thoroughly enjoyed the two days." 

Read Trisha Greenhalgh's keynote 'Research impact: defining it, measuring it, maximising it, questioning it.' The other presentations can be found here. The showcase was complemented by a wonderful account of the day in a CMAJ blog by Associate Editor of the CMAJ, and Professor of Primary Care in Northern Ireland, Domhnall MacAuley: Excellence and Impact in Oxford.

The School congratulates the prize winners in the Best Poster Competition:

First prize

Hazell Everitt, University of Southampton, for 'Antidepressants for Insomnia: Cochrane Review to assess the effects, safety and tolerability of antidepressants for insomnia in adults.'

Second prize

Grace Moran, University of Birmingham, for 'Missed opportunities for the prevention of stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in primary care.'

Third prize

Jennifer Liddle, Keele University, for 'Diagnosis and treatment of Gout in Primary Care: A qualitative study of patient experience.'

The #spcrshowcase twitter feed during the day will display some photographs and additional images from the event will be made available soon.

View photographs taken at the event. 

Below: Delegates from University of Bristol, Gemma Lasseter, Alison Gregory and Natalia Lokhmatkina

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