PenCLAHRC PhD students attend NIHR training camp

Two of PenCLAHRC’s PhD students, Krystal Warmoth and Claire Parker, were nominated to attend the third National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre and Biomedical Research Unit (BRC and BRU) Experimental Medicine Research Training Camp.

Held 4-6th July at the Ashridge Business School, the summer training camp was an opportunity for doctoral students from BRCs, BRUs and Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) to learn together and network with a variety of other students from diverse scientific and professional backgrounds.

The training camp featured presentations from key speakers, including Professor Dame Sally C. Davies (Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Health), Professor Sir John Burn (Professor of Clinical Genetics, Institute of Human Genetics, Newcastle University) and Simon Denegri (National Director for Public Participation and Engagement in Research, NIHR).

The training camp focused on developing the skills needed to communicate to a variety of audiences – the scientific community, the public, patients, clinicians and policy makers. Delegates were split into small multi-disciplinary teams and challenged to create a communications plan and present their work on the final day in front of a fictitious funding panel. In addition to attending workshops on practical skills needed to successfully communicate, delegates were given tasks throughout the day, including being interviewed by a member of the press, responding to press releases and presenting to a lay advisory panel.

Awards were presented to delegates for both oral and poster presentations and on the communication plans that were presented to the funding body. Krystal had the opportunity to present on behalf of her group concerning their research and communications plan. Claire’s team went on to receive an award for second place overall and were commended on the engagement of Public and Patient Involvement.

Both students feel that the camp was a valuable opportunity which challenged them to build and develop skills needed to communicate their research in the future and help with their research career pathway.

You can find out more about PenCLAHRC’s PhD students and their work by visiting their web page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: all delegates from the NIHR training camp 2012