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February 2021 Newsletter

Date: 1 March 2021

Welcome to the Forum February 2021 Newsletter

Thank you for your continuing support and all of your efforts towards to the COVID 19 research response.

This month we are reminded of the remarkable interview conducted by Professor Sir Jonathon Montgomery with Dame Fiona Caldicott, at our 2019 annual Forum conference. This was the last conference when we were all physically together. We were very sorry to hear that Dame Fiona had died earlier this month and we know that her legacy and leadership for the protection and use of patient and personal data will continue, as will our community and community spirit, until we meet altogether again. You can read about Dame Fiona’s life, contribution and impact in these tributes from colleagues at the National Data Guardian and HRA.

Please remind your team members to sign up to the Forum. It is free and for all www.rdforum.nhs.uk

Did you know?

The Forum resources exchange hosts over 500 tools, policies and guidance documents submitted by R&D teams across the UK. It is used by many members of the community to find and support practice. The Forum R&D contacts directory is also used by researchers, Sponsors, CROs and CTUs everyday to send local information packs or amendments to R&D offices.  It can also host details for non-commercial Sponsor offices.Please continue to help us keep these valuable, open access resources up to date and relevant by contributing directly or by emailing info@rdforum.org.uk 

Spot a gap or a broken link? Please let us know. Our groups try their best to keep a watchful eye but if something is broken, please help us to fix it. Email info@rdforum.org.uk or upload a replacement resource directly.

Reflect & Connect: 17–21 May 2021

This event has now been moved to May when our Annual Conference usually takes place. The content, structure of the programme (days & times) are exactly the same and we hope your diary will allow you to join us from 17–21 May. The programme and speaker details are available on the event webpage.

As a result the RDF21 Virtual Conference due to take place in May has been pushed back and may take the shape of themed one day symposia events after the summer. Details will be announced as soon as available.

More details and booking

Archiving Masterclass: 7th June 2021

A one day in-depth master class developed to support research management teams with their processes for archiving. Taking participants through all the key requirements for managing, storing and archiving essential documents and research data, this virtual course is for anyone who has responsibility for archiving research in their organisation.Click on the button below for full course information and details of how to book your place.

More details and booking

Essentials of NHS Research: 14th & 15th June 2021

This interactive two day course is designed for any role at all levels when new to a health care R&D department. The course might also be of interest to colleagues in industry, academia and the third sector that would like to better understand managing NHS Research or just for those who need to keep updated.

Click on the button below for full course information and details of how to book your place.

More details and booking

Local Capacity & Capability: 28th June 2021

This one-day course is designed to provide an understanding of the requirements of an NHS organisation when determining whether to take part in a particular research study as a host. Designed for staff in R&D offices responsible for assessing and confirming local capacity & capability, for sponsors of health research and researchers designing studies.Click on the button below for full course information and details of how to book your place.

More details and booking

Roundtables

The Importance of Team Science and Systems Leadership in Biomedical and Health Research – recording available.

Listen to this excellent event hosted in partnership with ARMA exploring systems leadership, Team science and collaboration for research. Led by Angela Topping from Newcastle JRO we heard about the importance of shared purpose, the value of teams, lessons learned from the pandemic and what needs to be done to continue to build research capability for health and care. Speakers included, Angela Topping, Chris Duncan, Simon Denegri and Catherine Adams. Listen here

Coming up…
Updated Model Contracts Q&A
A discussion with the Forum contracts group and 4 nations contract leads.
12th March 11-12pm
Register to attend 

Do you want to host a discussion or suggest a topic? Please complete the form on our website or get in touch info@rdforum.org.uk

Influence
The Forum feeds into Restart, Resilience and Growth (RRG)

Dr Maria Palmer continues to feed into the RRG advisory board with Christine McGrath, on behalf of the Forum and UKRD. Support is provided via regular input from all our group meetings and our weekly COVID Coffee chats. If you have something to feed in please share your thoughts.

CARE group hears from CQC

We continue to support the cross sector CARE group  (Coordinated Approaches to Research and care Embedded). This month we heard from CQC who outlined their approach to their draft strategy., which is being consulted upon. On the basis of this meeting a smaller policy group has worked together to collate evidence to share how research improves quality and we will be responding to the consultation on behalf of the Forum community next week.

New Short Courses Coming Soon…

Our training team has partnered with experts to provide two new short courses to be launched next week.

An Introduction to Digital Preservation/Archiving

A ninety-minute presentation delivered by archiving and digital preservation professionals with expertise taking participants through the key considerations needed to ensure ongoing accessibility, readability, and usability of digital data and records throughout the duration of their required retention period. This event will be of interest to both R&D and Information Governance teams.

GCP for Medical Devices Clinical Investigations

A 4-hour introduction to the regulatory framework governing clinical investigations in the UK. Covering an Overview of ISO14155 and changes coming to regulations and guidance on Medical Devices Clinical Investigations.

Hot off the press

Creating time for research in the NHS: CRUK publish a new report Feb 2021
Read more here

CCG ETC Payments for Devolved Administration-led Studies
Read more here

Further Revision to CCG Excess Treatment Cost Provider Thresholds for 2020/21
Read more here

‘Go Live’ of new national CCG ETC Payment System
Read more here

The Department of Health & Social Care Legislative Proposals for Health & Social Care Bill. Integration and Innovation working together to improve health and social care for all.
Read more here

Updated MHRA guidance on Devices – Updates are related to EU Exit
Read more here

R&D Roadmap and Survey: The UK R&D Roadmap survey results have been published.
Read more here

MHRA Inspectorate: New Blog Reference Safety Information (RSI) for Clinical Trials- Part III
Read more here

Updates have been made to model agreements in IRAS
Read more here

COPI notice extension until Sept 2021
Read more here

NIHR Update
We would like to share the following updates on behalf of NIHR.

  • NIHR report on diversity in research
  • NIHR issues final update on implementation of the Restart Framework
  • New ‘Keeping  you safe in your research appointment’ video
  • Associate Principal Investigator (PI) Scheme
  • Radiotherapy Trials Quality Assurance Service Support Costs
  • New Business Development & Marketing Director appointed

Read the full NIHR update

New resources in REX this month

Mentoring resources: Academy of Medical Sciences

Short animation video demystifying Intellectual Property Rights

Cragg WJ, Hurley C, Yorke-Edwards V, Stenning SP. Dynamic methods for ongoing assessment of site-level risk in risk-based monitoring of clinical trials: A scoping review. Clinical Trials. February 2021. doi:10.1177/1740774520976561

Ekezie W, Routen A, Denegri S, Khunti K. Patient and public involvement for ethnic minority research: an urgent need for improvement. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. February 2021. doi:10.1177/0141076821994274

NIHR Sponsor Decision Tree for Excess Treatment Costs

Please be mindful that some resources will require updating over time.

View the latest additions to the Resource Exchange

Latest Jobs

To view the latest job vacancies displayed on our website please click here.

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