ACRC Symposium springs into life

Students, researchers and public contributors across the ACRC had the opportunity to share learning and experience with colleagues at the ACRC Spring Symposium earlier this week.

While more detailed feedback will be forthcoming, an immediate overview of the day has been provided by Rob Mackie, Communications Officer.

The internal event, open to everyone affiliated with the ACRC, contained a mix of presentations, discussions and dialogues.

In lunch and breaks, students from the 2022 cohort of the ACRC Academy presented posters of their research. There was a great variety of styles and content, and plenty of time for delegates to ask questions of the students.

At 1pm, the main event kicked off with a welcome from Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie, Chair of the Advisory Board, and a Lay Address by Peter Smith, one of our Public Contributors.

The first session was chaired by Professor Margaret Maxwell, a member of the ACRC Academy Advisory Board, and gave the 2021 cohort of PhD Students in the Academy an opportunity to present on their research.

Each of the students was able to succinctly describe their research within their allotted three minutes. It was a delight to see their confidence and knowledge shine through on such a stage.

Following the students, we moved into two sessions of fireside chats and panel discussions, allowing our work packages (WP) to have some time to discuss their progress to date. Each WP followed a similar format, with an interview facilitated by a member of a different WP. 

The first block was chaired by David Brown, Director of Strategic Partnerships, University of Edinburgh. A presentation by some of the team from WP4 (Understanding the Person in Context) was followed by fireside chats for WP3 (Enhancing the Data Infrastructure) and WP5 (Data Driven Insight and Prediction).

The second session was introduced by David Grayson, a member of the Advisory Board. It started with a Panel Discussion of Objective 3 within our sister programme, AIM-CISC, then a presentation and interview with WP6 (New Technologies of Care) and closed with a panel discussion with WP7 (New Models of Care).

The event was closed by Deputy Director Stewart Mercer who reflected on an interesting and positive event.

Throughout the day, it was fantastic to see different work packages sharing ideas, and asking in-depth questions of each other, seeing the students explaining their research to PDRAs from different disciplines and public contributors getting involved at all levels. The supportive nature across the day was the highlight for me.

Next up, our Winter Symposium, attempting to replicate this with an external audience.