Our staff enjoyed the conference and found the speakers, focus and sessions informative and enjoyable.  The conference is a great way to build on relationships with staff from other CRFs and BRCs in the UK.  Some of our staff share their experiences of the event below.

This was my first experience of attending the UKCRF Network conference (day 2) in person, and I found it to be highly informative, featuring excellent speakers and engaging parallel sessions. One session that particularly stood out was the ‘Demographic Data Collection: Insights and Impact’ session, where three speakers from various CRFs and BRCs across the UK shared their experiences of collecting demographic data from participants, PPI contributors, and workforce.

It was especially interesting to hear from Chrissie Adams from Moorfields (CRF & BRC), who discussed an annual workforce equality monitoring questionnaire that was designed and is currently used by Moorfields to collect information on both staff experiences and demographic data. Some of the questions included aim to provide deeper insight into equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace, offering actionable feedback that can drive positive change. It was also reassuring to learn that the practices employed at NIHR Sheffield CRF align closely with those other centres are using to collect demographic data, confirming that our approach is well aligned with established best practices.

Additionally, I was pleased to contribute to the conference by producing a poster that was displayed on the conference app titled ‘Understanding Our Workforce; Shaping a Culture of Representation’, which outlined the workforce diversity data project undertaken by our team at NIHR Sheffield CRF.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this conference to other members of the CRF team should they get the opportunity to attend. It offers valuable opportunities for learning, sharing best practices, and networking within the CRF and BRC community.

Zoe Whiteley, Project Coordinator

The Conference, as always, was a valuable chance to hear about national priorities, upcoming changes, and to connect with colleagues across the UK and Ireland.

A key theme was the continued move towards “One NIHR” – a more joined-up approach across the various infrastructure to strengthen our collective impact and make sure we are telling our story well. This aligns strongly with a push to raise the NIHR’s profile and communicate the real-world difference the research we deliver makes to patients, the wider public and to the economy.

The NHS 10 Year Plan was another clear focus, and it was helpful to see how research sits within the broader vision for healthcare with the key priorities of:

• Shifting care from hospital to community

• Moving from analogue to digital

• Focusing on prevention over treatment

It will be interesting to see how these visions for the NHS start to shape the future of NIHR and the expectations of CRFs in the near and longer-term future.

There was also a strong emphasis on improving study set-up times, with a national target of 150 days to studies opening — something we will need to keep in mind as we plan and deliver studies locally.

I also attended a detailed session on PPIE engagement which I found thought-provoking — there were some good ideas around building trust with communities, being flexible with formats, and supporting public contributors well which I have shared with the colleagues who lead on this for us and will incorporate into our upcoming CRF PPIE group.

Overall, the conference was a great reminder of the big picture and the direction of travel for research in the UK and the part we play in that here at NIHR Sheffield CRF. I think there are opportunities for us to reflect on how we work and where we can align even more strongly with these national goals.

Rikki Titheridge, Operations Manager