Research Bulletin - April 2019 (Issue 38)
 

The change of seasons and start of the new financial year often signals the launch of new projects, initiatives and strategies – the research environment is no different and April has welcomed a host of new activity.  

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood released her fourth annual report on Realistic Medicine, with a focus on the principle of Building a Personalised Approach to Care; HDR-UK announced the release of its One Institute strategy for 2019/20; Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Vice Principal, University of Glasgow was announced as the new Medical Research Council Health Innovation Champion; and University of Glasgow unveiled plans to build a Nanofabrication Centre and Precision Medicine Living Lab.

Positive news continued as SHARE (The Scottish Health Research Register) hit the 250,000 sign-up milestone with football personalities Craig Levein and Paul Heckingbottom offering their support to Scotland’s efforts to shape medicines of the future; NRS Neurooprogressive and Dementia shared a range of innovative research studies and exciting funding awards that have opened since the inaugural Neuroprogressive Conditions Research Day in 2018; and ScotPEN was awarded £500,000 from Wellcome trust to support public engagement in research.

More information was also released on the UK Local Information Pack due to be introduced on the 5 June 2019 as part of the Four Nations NHS/HSC Compatibility Programme, designed to make it easier to carry out research in the UK.

The month has been full of highlights but sadly not all positive as we bid farewell to Ricky Verrall, Head of Chief Scientist Office (CSO). Ricky has led CSO for over two years, positively driving the research, development and innovation agenda and will be a loss to the research community in Scotland. Ricky moves onto a new position within Scottish Government at the end of April and succession plans will be announced shortly. 

In other news NRS Diabetes have announced their Annual Meeting on 17 May open to anyone involved in Diabetes research in Scotland; registration for the 2019 UKCRF Network Annual Conference has launched, the annual R&D Forum will take place 12 – 14 May, with NRS exhibiting alongside the four nations; and many more events have been added to the NRS calendar. 

Enjoy reading and as always your ideas, feedback and contributions are welcome.