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March 2025 Newsletter
Date: 31 March 2025
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Welcome to the Forum March 2025 Newsletter
Where has the first quarter of this year gone?!! Registration for the RDF25 Conference in Manchester 18th-20th May 2025 continues to grow with now over 700 delegates registered. The programme is on the website, with a wide and exciting variety of sessions and speakers from across the UK showcasing their knowledge and experience. In addition to the fantastic posters that will also be on display and are being created as we speak.
It was great to see so many people face to face at the MHRA GCP/GLP symposium in early February, where we were provided with a comprehensive update of the impending UK Clinical Trials regulations and ICH GCP E6 R3 implementation plans. In addition, R&D Forum colleagues were also present at the UKRD Summit earlier this month.
With these updates, the benefit of our existing forum working groups is strengthened, which should help us to continue to navigate, learn, and share knowledge and best practices. A full list of the working groups is on the R&D forum website. If you are interested in joining or assisting in supporting any of the working groups, please contact the relevant chair for more information. Additionally, if you have ideas for new working groups, we would love to hear from you at info@rdforum.org.uk.
Wishing you all a lovely spring now that it feels like it has finally sprung and look forward to seeing many of you very soon!
Shahista Hussain
R&D Forum Trustee
Shaping Research Futures: Join Us at RDF25
Join us at RDF25, the UK’s premier event for health and care R&D, where the future of research culture will. be shaped through powerful sessions on AI and research practice, inclusive leadership, sustainable careers, and global collaboration.
Limited exhibition stands remain, and Live Lounge sessions are still available; an opportunity to present in the exhibition hall to an engaged audience. Sponsorship opportunities are also open for those looking to connect with the research development community.
Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the next chapter in researcher development; be part of the conversation.
Upcoming Training Courses – Register Now
Don’t miss your opportunity to take part in this month’s training courses, tailored specifically to meet the needs of the R&D Forum community.
Essentials of Research Sponsorship – 27th March 2025
- Join us for this online course, tailored specifically for those new to research sponsorship or who would like to build on current processes, which provides critical knowledge in:
- The basics of Sponsorship
- The concept of oversight
- Essential tools and processes for effective oversight (Risk Assessment, Quality Management Systems)
- Pragmatic and effective approaches to sponsorship
Local Capacity and Capability for Research – 31st March 2025
- Join us for this online course that provides unique insights into:
- The process and importance of feasibility assessment
- The questions to be asked/information to be collected when undertaking a local assessment
- Familiarisation with the study documents and sources from which the information is collected
Trustee of the Month – Pippa Brice
This is a new monthly feature so our community can meet and find out more about our Trustees. Meet Pippa Brice, R&D Forum Trustee and Associate Director for Research and Impact (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board), where she leads an R&D Office for primary and community care and non-NHS settings.
NIHR Updates
- £60m made available to NHS organisations to buy crucial research equipment
- Blog: Better public partnerships are vital for a truly inclusive research organisation
- Public Partnership Team Webinar Announced & February Event Update
- New £42m funding for net zero research hubs across the UK
HRA Update – GDPR transparency wording template to be used by all sponsors from 1 April 2025
To help ensure research participants have all the information they need to make an informed decision about the use of their data the HRA have developed a GDPR template that they recommend sponsors use.
HRA Update: Progress reports
On 1 August 2024 the HRA removed the requirement to submit annual progress reports for studies that have received a final opinion from any Research Ethics Committee (REC) in the UK.
England Rare Diseases Action Plan 2025: Main Report
This action plan is firmly aligned to the DHSC health shifts and the work underway on the 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS. Earlier diagnosis helps the NHS shift from treatment to prevention wherever we can as interventions can be given sooner, improving health outcomes in the long term. With better co-ordinated care comes opportunities to shift from hospital to the community.
Clinical Trials Update
The statutory instrument to amend the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 was laid before Parliament in December last year. The House of Commons approved the proposed updates to the regulations on 3 February, with the House of Lords following on 10 February. The proposed updates have now been shared with the Northern Ireland Assembly, and if approved, the 12 month implementation process will begin. This would see the new regulations coming into force in early 2026.
Mobile vans helping people in coastal areas to be part of research
State-of-the-art mobile research units are set to break down barriers to health and care research participation in 2 coastal regions of England.
The 2 bespoke vehicles are part of a pioneering pilot project exploring how mobile units can improve clinical trial accessibility and efficiency. By reaching people where they live, the initiative is tackling barriers to accessing research.
Essential Guide to Grant Applications 2025 – a Free Masterclass
The free masterclass is for anyone thinking of applying for an applied health or social care research award from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) or other competitive peer reviewed funding programmes.
This free three day course is well-established and well-regarded – it has been running since 2017 (under the old Research Design Service South Central and now the RSS) – and is all about helping potential applicants put together a compelling funding application to NIHR or other funding bodies. It is by the NIHR Research Support Service Hub and Specialist Centre for Public Health, and delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners.
Blog: What could the shift from hospital to community mean for research and innovation in the NHS?
The Wellcome Trust recently published its vision for a research and innovation-powered NHS. The report calls for a renewed focus on research and innovation to be at the heart of the future NHS, positioning ‘research to reality’ as a ‘fourth essential shift’ that needs to sit alongside the government’s much talked-about three shifts (from analogue to digital, sickness to prevention and hospital to community). A blog by the Kings Fund discusses what this means for research and innovation that takes place outside of hospital settings.
Department of Health and Social Care / NHS England Bulletin for system wide stakeholders – March 2025
Please see letter via the button below that provides an update on continued efforts to maximise the potential for the UK to be world-leading in clinical research for the benefit of patients, the NHS and the economy.
Interim requirements are being introduced as part of the transition to a real-time data dashboard to complement the Research Delivery Data and Intelligence (RDDI) Programme.
These two fields are essential to linking site participation to studies within NIHR’s central portfolio management system.
RDF Resource Exchange
Resources from The Research and Development Forum are there to support health and care research in the UK.
Browse the newly added resource from NIHR, “CONSULT e-learning on designing and conducting trials involving adults with impaired capacity to consent” below.
Browse the Resources available to the RDF below.
Contacting The Research and Development Forum
As a reminder, should you need to contact the Forum the best way is via email which is info@rdforum.org.uk