SMHRN Annual Scientific Meeting: 'Working with Industry'

Date:	8th December 2011
Venue:	Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

The Scottish Mental Health Research Network Annual Scientific Meeting took place on the 8th December 2011 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. A full review of the meeting and copy of the programme can be found by clicking on the relevant tab below.

A selection of speakers presentations available on request. Please email the network administrator to request these.

Feedback from delegates

"A greater understanding of some of the challenges of carrying out clinical research

"A better understanding of SMHRN and how NSGC program fits into this network of funding"

"A good balance of academic and industry speakers with entertaining presentations"

SMHRN and University of Edinburgh - Research Training Day review

On the 27th September 2011, SMHRN and the University of Edinburgh co-hosted their first Research Training Day for people interested or involved in mental health research.

The event was attended by over 40 people from across Scotland, with varying amounts of research experience, and from a range of NHS and academic backgrounds including nursing, psychiatry and psychology.

Speakers on the day included Prof Stephen Lawrie (Brain Imaging), Prof Andrew McIntosh (Genetics), Prof Jeremy Hall (Epi-genetics), Dr Alan Carson (Epidemiology), Dr Chris Burton (Complex Interventions), Dr Pippa Thomson (Bio-informatics), Prof Gordon Murray (Statistics), and Prof Andrew Gumley (Clinical Psychology).

A selection of speakers presentations available on request. Please email the network administrator to request these.

Feedback on what people gained as a result of attending:

"An excellent insight into the current research being undertaken and the different methodologies"

"Good to get some contact details I can use to see if I can get involved"

"I found the day helped to inspire continued involvement in research - a very good day thank you!"

"This renewed my interest in developing a complex intervention study"

"Vastly improved understanding of SMHRN's role/focus/capacity to help and a lot of practical knowledge from individual speakers"

Possible future events and workshops

• Mental health research for beginners
• Working up your research idea: methodology, statistics, funding, and user involvement clinics
• Research Fair: meet existing researchers to see how you could get involved in their studies
• Involving service users in research

We are hoping that this training event will be the first of many. Future events will be more interactive and might focus on specific research areas, or be pitched at people at a particular stage in their research career. We would welcome your ideas about the kinds of training events that you would find useful, so please do get in touch. Please contact the SMHRN team if you would like to be added to our mailing list to hear about future events

SMHRN Newsletter

The newsletter will be available to download on our website and will be sent out electronically every quarter to our mailing list. If you have not already done so, please join our mailing list.

New GMC guidelines for doctors involved with research

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published new guidance for doctors, Good practice in research and Consent to research. This replaces the guidance booklet, Research: The role and responsibilities of doctors (2002) and comes into effect on 4 May 2010.

Research is essential to maintaining and improving healthcare but it can be a difficult area for doctors to navigate. The pieces of guidance provide a framework to guide doctors’ decisions throughout all stages of a research project. They include specific advice on:

• The law and governance arrangements that apply to research in the UK
• Good research design and practice, including the importance of promoting equality and preventing discrimination at all stages of research
• Avoiding conflicts of interest and protecting participants from harm
• The process of seeking participant consent
• Involving adults who lack capacity in research
• The considerations about involving children or young people in research