April 2025 Newsletter
Date: 30 April 2025
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Welcome to the Forum April 2025 Newsletter
R&D has always been an environment where the only real certainty is uncertainty. Uncertainty can make many of us feel vulnerable – particularly in times of major change. It is times like these where what we feel we are in control of is very limited.
What I have learned over my career is that showing vulnerability is not a weakness – it is a strength. And through the R&D Forum, we are able to share this vulnerability as a collective voice, with key stakeholders in the sector in times of change to ensure we are not ‘done to’, but ‘done with’.
There are many ways you can engage with the R&D Forum, and I encourage you to do so however and whenever you can, so that your voice can be heard. You will find further details in the newsletter.
For those of you attending RDF25 – see you in Manchester in May!
Angela Topping
R&D Forum Chair of Trustees
3 Weeks Left Until This Year’s Conference
We’re officially three weeks out from the R&D Forum Annual Conference 2025, taking place in Manchester from 18th-20th May, and the countdown is on……
For over 20 years, RDF has been the essential gathering for professionals involved in health and care research management across the UK. After the incredible momentum of RDF23 in Newcastle and a record-breaking RDF24, we’re gearing up for the biggest and most impactful conference yet.
Join us for:
- Two full days of learning
- Evening networking opportunities
- Pre-conference professional development
- & more……
Whether you’re a Director of R&D, a Project Manager, part of a patient group, or from organisations like NIHR, HRA, MHRA, or DHSC, RDF25 is where knowledge is shared, connections are made, and the future of research gets shaped.
New Training Course Announced
Don’t miss your opportunity to take part in the R&D Forum’s training courses, tailored specifically to meet the needs of the R&D Forum community.
Bespoke Courses
All of the courses in the R&D Forum Training Course prospectus are available to run in your local organisation or region. With 15 minimum participants, exclusive, bespoke or in-house training courses allow you flexibility for staff training.
Registration Now Open: Good Documentation Practice (GDocP) – Leeds, 10th July 2025
Join us for the first iteration of this one-day, in-person course which provides advanced clinical records management expertise taking participants through all the key requirements for creating, reviewing, approving, finalising, managing, storing and archiving / preserving essential documents, records, and research data.
Trustee of the Month – Rachel Gemine
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
- Summary of 4th NIHR RDN Transformation Survey Findings
- Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST) – EOI for local government interventions
- Applications Now Open: NIHR Principal Investigator Pipeline Programme
HRA Update – Is my project research? How to determine which projects require review by a Research Ethics Committee
Dr Simon Kolstoe is a Research Ethics Committee Chair who also chairs the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee and the UK Health Security Agency Research Ethics and Governance Group. With lots of experience of helping researchers work this out, he has published a paper with Janet Messer, Director of Approvals at the HRA and others, which is designed to help researchers and others involved in project governance to understand when an NHS research ethics review is needed.
HRA Update: Changes to the amendments process in Northern Ireland from 31 March 2025
From Monday 31 March 2025 the process that researchers need to follow to make amendments to studies being carried out in Northern Ireland has changed. Both multi-centre and single-centre amendments should now be emailed by the sponsor to both the R&D Office, and to the Principal Investigator and delivery team of each participating organisation.
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.
Policy Statement – Streamlining and reform of Study Set-Up
Latest figures in the UK Clinical Research Delivery Performance Indicators Report (UK KPI) suggest most commercial studies still face delays in setting up once regulatory approvals are obtained. All four UK nations are fully committed to working with partners across the clinical delivery system via a newly recharged UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD) programme to make the UK a world leader in clinical research and streamlining and reforming the set-up and delivery of clinical trials is a key priority for the programme. Please see link below for a Policy Statement Published 2nd April 2025.
Research Delivery Network Leaders Blog – March/April 2025
Please browse the RDN Leaders Blog March/April 2025 from Prof Andrew Ustianowski – Interim RDN Executive Director by following the link below.
#Red4Research – Friday 20th June 2025
#Red4Research Day on Friday 20th June 2025 aims to get as many people as possible wearing red to demonstrate their support and appreciation for all those participating, undertaking and supporting research. It is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the phenomenal work, learning legacy and innovative treatments/systems/techniques that have arisen from R&D.
Gear up to #Red4Research celebrations at the RDF Conference in Manchester by wearing red.
Read more & download the #Red4Research resources from the NHS R&D Forum website to get involved.
Three ways to engage with the R&D Forum
Follow us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). We are also now on Blue Sky.
The Hive Mind provides an opportunity for R&D colleagues to come together once a month and discuss all aspects of research. The Hive Mind is a great place to have open and honest discussions, often providing solutions to issues through experience of others. Contact info@rdforum.org.uk to join Hive Mind.
The R&D Forum have a number of Working Groups. Our groups include a Sustainability Working Group, Data and AI Working Group, Non-Commercial Sponsors Working group and ICB Research Leads Group and others – these are shaped by the needs of the R&D community and we also have targeted Task and Finish groups Find out more and join a Working Group.
ABPI response to Prime Minister’s announcement on support for medical research
The Prime Minister has announced new funding and ambitious targets for UK medical research Please see link below for Response from The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
Exploring Opportunities and Challenges to Supporting Trialists’ Behaviours for Greener Trials
This research study sponsored by the University of Aberdeen is interested in exploring factors that influence trialists’ behaviours and attitudes in relation to the design, delivery, reporting and analysis of greener trials. When we refer to ‘greener trials’ this means clinical trials that are designed and delivered without unnecessary and unjustified carbon emissions.
The University of Aberdeen would like to invite you to take part in one of their focus groups via Microsoft Teams (or alternatively an interview via Microsoft Teams if preferred). Only trialists who are, either full-time or part-time, involved in any aspects of trial design, delivery, analysis, or reporting are eligible to take part in this focus group / interview.
If you are interested in taking part, please email Frank Sui-keung You: s.you.23@abdn.ac.uk from the University of Aberdeen
Health and Care Research Wales has welcomed the launch of the first five year strategy on Research and Innovation for Healthcare Science Professionals in NHS Wales
Health and Care Research Wales has welcomed the launch of the first five year strategy on Research and Innovation for Healthcare Science Professionals in NHS Wales. The strategy, developed by the Healthcare Science Programme within Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) and the Healthcare Science Research and Innovation Group (HCS RIG), was informed by the healthcare science profession in Wales across all specialties.
It aims to establish healthcare science professionals as recognised key contributors of research, innovation and in the transformation of clinical practice at a time that NHS Wales has increasing need.
Streamlining and reform of study set-up webinar link
The webinar took place on April 2nd 2025. You can watch the webinar via the link below. You will learn about the Study Set-Up Plan, a plan that aims to streamline and reform the set-up and delivery of all clinical trials to rapidly address the delays affecting clinical research. This plan is co-led by The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England and delivered through the UK Clinical Research Delivery programme, a cross-sector programme of work that brings together key stakeholders to achieve the common aim to offer a world-leading environment for life sciences to undertake research across the UK. This webinar is for anyone working within the UK clinical research ecosystem who is interested in learning more about this Government priority.
RDF Resource Exchange
Resources from The Research and Development Forum are there to support health and care research in the UK.
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