NIAA Update: September 2016

Welcome to our September newsletter, we hope you've had a good summer.


Funding Opportunities

NIAA Research Grants: Round 2 2016

The deadline is fast approaching for R2 of this year's NIAA grants. Funding in this round is being offered by:

  • AAGBI/Anaesthesia
  • Anaesthesia-Wiley
  • BJA/RCoA
  • ACTACC (previously ACTA)
  • DAS
  • NACCSGBI

Your application must be submitted by 12 noon, Friday 23 September.

Please check our website for further details and application forms.


We also have NIAA grants FAQ and guidance sections available on our website to help solve common issues, which you can find here.


BJA/RCoA International Collaborative Grant 2017

The British Journal of Anaesthesia have announced details of a new International Collaborative grant to be awarded in Spring 2017.

The grants are intended to support internationally collaborative research projects in Anaesthesia, Critical Care or Pain Management and may be for salaries or for the purchase of items of equipment.

Applicants should be from outside of Great Britain & Ireland. The proposal must involve real, credible, collaboration with an individual / institution based in Great Britain & Ireland. Pilot / feasibility studies are welcome.

£100,000 per grant is available, and there will be funding available to make at least one award.

For more information on criteria and eligibility as well as an example application form, please visit our website here.
Please note the formal application process for this award will open early next year, as part of NIAA Grants 2017 Round 1.


NIAA Grants Officer

We are inviting clinicians and non-clinicians to apply for the position of NIAA Grants Officer, which will become vacant in 2017. The post-holder will provide specialist advice to grant applicants, liaise with funding partners and specialist societies, and act as the outward face of the NIAA grants scheme.

Prof Dave Lambert (Leicester) is the current NIAA Grants Officer and says "This is a great opportunity to have a say in the management of grant funding in anaesthesia and its related specialties and to have a strategic input into associated funding streams. If you like a challenge this is for you."

There is no direct payment for the role although it is supported by the cost of 1 PA per week backfilled to the post-holder's employing organisation, and will require a minimum commitment of 4 hours per week.

For more information, a Job Description and Person Specification please visit our website here. We also encourage you to contact us if you'd like to discuss the role with Prof Lambert.

The deadline for applications is Monday 12 December 2016 at 5pm. Interviews will take place in January 2017.


Perioperative Medicine Clinical Trials Network

The first POM CTN Autumn Meeting will be taking place in Birmingham on Wednesday 9 November, and we encourage you to sign up and join us. The day will combine Investigator training and up to date information on current and future trials, with sessions including What does a good Principal Investigator look like? and Ten common mistakes in trial design.

For a copy of the event programme and to book your place, please visit here.
Attendees are invited to submit proposals for their clinical trials to be adopted by the CTN here.

Registering as an Investigator can be done via the secure area of the CTN website: www.pomctn.org.uk.


25th Anniversary celebrations at the RCoA

In 2017 the Royal College of Anaesthetists will be celebrating 25 years of gaining its Royal Charter and becoming a Royal College, and you're invited to join the celebrations!

There's a full programme of activities across the year including events, competitions, talks and meetings. The first will be taking place this month, with ARIES Talks on Thursday 29 September. These are a series of short, informative, entertaining talks from high profile speakers on areas of relevance to anaesthesia, critical care and pain medicine, recorded in front of an audience and made available for online viewing.

The first ARIES Talk will include speakers Colonel Peter Mahoney on Gelatine and Silicone, Professor Tim Cook on National Audit Projects (NAPs), and Surgeon Commander Kate Prior on Lessons from the Battlefield. The next ARIES Talk on Wednesday 26 October 2016 will include Dr Suellen Walker and Dr Ramani Moonesinghe as speakers on the topics of children and pain, and anaesthetists over the next 25 years.

For more information and to get involved with the RCoA's 25th Anniversary please visit the website here.


Caldicott Review consultation response

The Royal College of Anaesthetists and the British Journal of Anaesthesia have both co-badged the Association of Medical Research Charities' (AMRC) response to the Department of Health's consultation on the National Data Guardian for Health and Care's review of data security, consent and opt-outs.

The consultation invited responses on the recommendations made by Dame Fiona Caldicott on data security standards across health and care including sharing patient information, and proposals for consent/opt-out models so that patients can clearly understand the choices available to them about how their personal confidential information will be used.

As member organisations of the AMRC both the RCoA and BJA are amongst a number of medical research charities that have co-badged this response, supporting the right for patients and the public to have the option to choose whether their identifiable health information is used for purposes beyond their direct care, as well as supporting the use of a single consent/opt-out question to help simplify understanding of the question for patients and the public.

For more information on the consultation please click here.
For the full AMRC response please click here.


SALG Patient Safety Conference

The Safe Anaesthesia Liaison Group (SALG) is pleased to host the annual Patient Safety Conference at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh on Wednesday 30th November 2016.

This single-day meeting is intended for doctors engaged in clinical anaesthesia, pain management and intensive care medicine who have an interest in improving patient safety.

Experts will present up-to-date information on a wide range of patient safety related topics, and we are delighted to confirm that the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Dr Catherine Calderwood and Shona Robison, MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport will both be addressing the conference. The programme for the day is available here. For further information or to book a place on the event, please click here.


New exhibition recognising anaesthetics at the battle of the Somme

In the third of a WWI series, The Price of a Mile honours the work of doctors who gave anaesthesia and pain relief to the wounded during the Battle of the Somme.

The evening launch event takes place on Friday 7 October 2016 which will include:

  • A talk by Dr Emily Mayhew, author of Wounded: The long journey home from the Great War.
  • Panel discussion with Prof Roger Kneebone and Dr Jean Horton
  • Private viewing of The Price of a Mile and the Anaesthesia Museum
  • Special canapés menu to commemorate the Battle of the Somme

For more information visit The Price of a Mile.


MRC Research Board and Panel Recruitment 2017

The Medical Research Council are seeking new members to join a number of their funding boards and panels from 1st April 2017. These include the Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, Neurosciences and Mental Health Board, and the Clinical Training and Career Development Panel.

MRC research boards and panels are comprised of a group of leading scientists who play a key role in delivering MRC objectives across the portfolio. The research boards hold their own research budgets and review and manage scientific activity within their specialist areas.

The deadline for applications is 4pm, 3 October 2016 and the MRC particularly welcomes applications from researchers who are currently under-represented; females, ethnic groups and those with disabilities. For more information on criteria visit here.


PQIP Podcast Editor

Applications are being invited from people interested in audio technology to join our exciting UK wide Perioperative Quality Improvement Project (PQIP) as Podcast Editor. PQIP is a new joint initiative between the Royal College of Anaesthetists, NIAA Health Services Research Centre, and the Health Foundation and will launch later this year.

The successful applicant will be responsible for producing one 15-30 minute podcast per month initially, based around topics related to perioperative medicine, data and statistics, and QI and improvement science. In addition, the role will involve the opportunity to become a part of the PQIP project team, attend monthly PQIP meetings in London (in person or by teleconference), and the potential to expand into other medias.

For more information on the role please click here.
More information on PQIP is available here.


SARS Annual Meeting 2017

The Society of Academic Research & Surgery (SARS) 2017 meeting will be held at The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin) on 18th and 19th January 2017.

The 2-day programme includes prize sessions for best clinical paper and best experimental/basic science paper, a medical students prize and an ASiT symposium on trainee collaborative research.

Day 2 of the meeting will have a perioperative theme, and the NIAA together with SARS and the British Orthopaedics Trainees' Association (BOTA) will be holding a parallel meeting as part of the event. There is an open call for submission of abstracts for the 'Perioperative Care and Enhanced Recovery' session, and winners must be available to present at the meeting on 19th January 2017.

Registration for the event will open in October.
Abstract submission closes 4pm, Friday 7th October 2016.
Early Bird registration closes 30th November 2016.
More information is available here.


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