Speaker – Kamran Abbasi, Editor-in-Chief, The BMJ

Format: Keynote
Speaker: Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, Government, England
Session summary: The power of research to transform clinical outcomes and public health is clear historically and has been seen most recently in COVID-19. We should celebrate this success but need to be clear about fields where research has not been as successful, why, and what we can do about it. Supporting fields that are going well is easy; funders, researchers, academics institutions, policymakers and journals all need to play a part to improve those it is not.

Format: Keynote
Speakers: Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology consultant, writer and broadcaster, Steve Gentleman, Scientific Director, Imperial College London, UK, Tom Foltynie, Professor of Neurology, UCL Institute of Neurology & Consultant Neurologist,National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UK and Juliet Tizzard, Parkinsons UK
Session summary: Rory Cellan Jones was the BBC’s technology correspondent until 2021 and told the world he had Parkinson’s disease in 2019. He asks our expert panel of Parkinson’s disease researchers and funders how they work together to help people with Parkinson’s – both addressing the needs of patients today and finding a cure for tomorrow. What’s the best way of deciding where to spend the research money? Who decides how to measure impact? This panel session brings together patients, funders and researchers to dig into the issues and opportunities for research for just one disease – what can other teams learn from their successes?

Stream: Discuss
Speaker: Tauseef Mehrali, Director of Medical Safety and Evaluation, Ada Health, UK, Brad Groves, NICE and Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA
Session summary: Digital healthcare interventions are being implemented across specialities globally. This session explores what regulators, innovators and researchers are doing to make sure we’re not relying on outdated standards of evidence; and how digital innovations can get into the hands of those who need them quickly and safely.

Stream: Learn
Speaker: Helen Macdonald, BMJ, Sonia Saxena, Imperial College London and Mala Rao, Imperial College London
Session description: How to build your researcher identity – practical guidance on how to develop yourself as a researcher, open the door to career opportunities and get the support you need to succeed in the world of medical research.

Format: Keynote
Speaker: Adam Tickell, University of Birmingham, Vice Chancellor, University of Birmingham
Session summary: When Adam Tickell was commissioned to report on Research Bureaucracy for the UK government, he knew there’d be plenty of opinions. The responsibilities of funders, editors and reviewers are so often passed downstream to the researchers. Can we stop applying for grants, and reviewing and revising applications seems to become an infinitely expanding list of tick boxes. Dr Luisa Dilner, BMJ’s Head of Research and development asks the questions.

Stream: Discuss
Speaker: Shomari Lewis-Wilson, Wellcome
Session summary: Wellcome has a lot of power in deciding what research gets done and how, so their efforts in pursuing optimal, equitable research culture affect the whole research ecosystem. What works? What doesn’t? Shomari Lewis Wilson explains.

Stream: Learn
Speaker: Katherine Freeman, EPSRC UKRI, UK
Session summary: Discover examples of new models of funding. ESRC sandpits put together researchers from different specialities to form collaborations. Could these models be used more widely?

Stream: Discuss
Speakers: Theo Bloom, BMJ and Robert Kiley, Head of Strategy, cOAlition S, Juan Franco, BMJ, Shomari Lewis-Wilson, Wllcome
Session summary: The unit of science is changing – are journals still relevant?
Session summaries: Theo Bloom, BMJ Executive Editor at the BMJ leads a conversations with some of the leading lights in the scholarly publication industry. With Robert Kiley, strategic lead of Coalition S and Juan Franco, Editor of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, and others discuss Open Access, Preprints, peer review and whether the STM publishing world has the tools to meet the challenge of rapid, data led research and innovation.

Stream: Learn
Speakers: Paul Wicks, Wicks Digital Health and Natasha Ratcliffe, Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships, COUCH Health
Session summary: 
Researchers increasingly involve patients and the public in their studies (PPI). But how does this work in practice? Two experienced PPI practitioners will share their perspectives from the charity sector, industry, and research worlds on how to embed PPI throughout your research and the impact this can have. There will also be opportunity to share your questions in a live surgery.

Format: Keynote
Speakers: Elin Haf Davies, Aparito and Charlotte Summers, Cambridge University
Session summary: Clinical Trials are changing and Elin Haf Davis and Charlotte Summers are at the forefront of that change. HEAL covid has used a range of exciting new digital tools to make research not just quicker, but more rich, accurate and accessible. We learn what’s already happening for platform trials and what what research will look like in the future.

All delegates, whether attending one or both days, are invited to attend a complimentary drinks and canape reception on Thursday 8 December from 17:20-19:30 at BMA House to continue any conversations in an informal setting.