Partner events
Work in Progress (WIP) meetings
Take place weekly, every Tuesday 12.00-13.00, Meeting Room, Medical Research Building, University of Sussex, Falmer
These weekly meetings are open to all at BSMS, where research in various stages, from initial planning to nearing completion, is presented. The goal is to provide everyone with opportunities to present their research to a supportive audience throughout the course of their projects.
Weekly Grant Drop-ins
Take place weekly, every Tuesday 3-4pm, Ground floor pod, Medical Research Building, University of Sussex, Falmer
These drop-ins are facilitated by Rebecca Merola, the BSMS Research Development Manager. Please come and have a chat with Rebecca if you have any queries on a current bid, future bids, research funding eligibility or other grant related queries.
Data Management and Open Access: Practical Tips and Solutions for Busy Academic Researchers
Monday 27 January, 9:30-14:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitators: Karen Patterson, Eilish Purton and Maggie Symes.
In our endeavour to support and improve Open Research practices, a four-hours session is being offered. The first two hours will focus on crafting effective data sharing plans, increasingly required by research funders. This workshop will guide you through key strategies for managing data during and after your project. With support from a Sussex library expert, you'll explore practical templates and discover tailored resources to meet your specific data management planning needs. We'll then dive into long-term data management, covering critical topics such as sustainability, data portability, and associated costs. In the second half, we’ll explore your options for Open Access publishing, including the current publishing landscape and the various Open Access options available to you as an author.
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How Copyright protects your work and those of others
Monday 24 February, 11:00-12:30. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitator: Maggie Symes.
This workshop will cover the fundamentals of copyright and explore the relationship between authors and publishers. It will address the process of checking and obtaining permission to use materials created by others in your work. In addition, it will examine the use of Creative Commons licenses and explain how the University’s Publications and Copyright Policy enables authors to retain the rights to their creations.
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Dual role of being a clinician and a researcher
Monday 3 March, 14:00-16:00. Room 3, Level 11, Louisa Martindale Building, University Hospitals Sussex, Brighton (to access please use lift C).
Facilitator: Martin Llewelyn.
This will be a joint session delivered by the UH Sussex Research and Innovation Team and Brighton and Sussex Medical School looking at how to build fruitful clinical – academic collaborations. It is aimed at clinicians from all professional backgrounds and stages of training. Attendees should expect to come away from the session with a good understanding of the routes to building collaborative research with the medical school and be aware of potential pitfalls and how to avoid them. The session will also provide opportunities for networking and to contribute to shaping the trust and medical school in expanding collaborative research.
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How can Professional Services staff nurture a positive research culture in the school?
Wednesday 5 March, 12:30-14:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitators: Deeptima Massey (Research Manager) and Jenni Wilburn (NIHR Programme Manager).
Professional Services staff are integral to the core missions of learning, teaching and research in higher education institutions. They are often the first point of contact for staff seeking help and key to sustainability and success of an institution. This session is for all PS staff who directly or indirectly support researchers (Faculty, post-docs, PGRs) or research within BSMS particularly Departmental Administrators, Personal Assistants, Research Assistants, Project Coordinators and those in other roles. The aim of the session is to consider how we can contribute to developing a positive research culture at BSMS through our respective roles, the challenges experienced and evaluate effectiveness of our practices.
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Co-publishing with non-academic authors
Monday 10 March, 10:00-12:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitator: Helen Kara FAcSS, an independent research scholar.
This session will cover the pros and cons, barriers to and enablers of co-publishing with non-academic authors. We will identify who 'non-academic authors' might be, and what and why we might want to publish with them. We will discuss where the power lies in collaboration and publishing, and how we can best navigate the power dynamics. We will consider what and why non-academic authors might want to co-publish with academics.
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Ethics of Engagement and Impact
Tuesday 11 March, 14:00-16:00. Online via Zoom.
Discover the essentials of ethical research impact in this online workshop. Drawing on the latest scholarship on the ethics of engagement and impact from a project led by Professors Mark Reed and Eric Jensen, this workshop provides a comprehensive framework to guide ethical impact practices and foster meaningful, long-term impacts. This session, developed by Fast Track Impact, the Institute for Methods Innovation and the University of Plymouth, will equip you with practical strategies and ethical good practices to employ as you seek to make a lasting difference with your research.
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BSMS Research Bake Off competition,
Monday 17 March, 10:00-11:30. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitator: Beatrice Ramunno.
We are excited to announce the Great BSMS Research Bake-Off Competition, a unique opportunity to blend culinary creativity with academic research. Participants are invited to craft sweet or savoury baked goods that creatively reflect their research themes - think colours, shapes, and themes that reflect your academic passions. Compete as an individual or as part of a team and showcase your research with a poster or banner at your stand. Our panel of judges will include a professional baker (Selene Aio, from Selene’s Sweet Cakes, Brighton) evaluating baking skills, alongside an academic judge (Professor Melanie Newport) assessing how well your creation embodies your research. Prizes include £150 for first place and £75 each for second and third. This event aims to bring researchers together in a fun and engaging environment while celebrating our collective excellence.
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Get published - navigating the academic publishing process: insights from PLoS ONE
Monday 14 March, 10:30-12:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
This talk will be presented by Dr Johanna Pruller Associate Editor and a member of the Public Health & Medicine in-house editorial team at PLOS ONE. It will cover topics including how to prepare your manuscript for submission to an academic journal, deciding on where to submit and an overview of the peer review process from submission to publication.
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Hearing Grants Reviewers’ Perspectives
Thursday 3 April, 10:00-12:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
In this session, four BSMS colleagues (Professors Sarah Newbury, Carrie Llewelyn, Mel Newport along with Dr Chris Jones) who have all been part of different grant review panels will be sharing their experience on panel composition, the review process and consideration of policies and guidelines on confidentiality, equity, inclusion and conflicts of interest. The aim is to help researchers understand what grant reviewers look for, their perception of the quality and effectiveness of research proposal and how a panel discussion can influence the decision. A further objective of this session is to help researchers write a competitive and compelling grant application.
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Creating a strong social media profile as a researcher: Choosing from a range of platforms
Thursday 3 April, 15:00-16:30. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitated by Matt Bemment, Digital Communications Officer,BSMS.
Social media can help you to maximise the reach of your research and to engage with your target audience. But how do you choose which platform to use? How do you decide your goals and reach the right audience? This session will explore using social media as a researcher, looking at how LinkedIn has increased in popularity, why researchers create video reels for Instagram and why X might still be relevant for your research.
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Building a research career – independent or inter-dependent?
Monday 7 April, 10:00-12:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
In this workshop four colleagues from across BSMS and Life Sciences, Professors Chris Pepper and Gail Davey, Dr Charlotte Rae and Dr Mahmoud Maina, will share their experience of forming and leading their respective research groups and establishing a research team. It will debunk the myth that researchers need to be independent investigators and will instead focus on the importance of teamwork and developing a shared sense of purpose. Come along if you are in the process of building a critical mass of researchers within your field, and looking at bringing together varied skills and experience and will be working towards a shared research vision.
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Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Your Research
Tuesday 8 April, 15:00-17:00. Online via Zoom.
Facilitator: Alex Pearson MBE.
Alex specialises in Personal Leadership and Sustainability and is a qualified Carbon Literacy Trainer and Climate Fresk facilitator. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sussex Business School. What’s your research carbon footprint? While the average person in the UK emits 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, many academics emit more than 15 tonnes. In this interactive and non-judgemental workshop, we’ll consider how our energy use, digital activities, travel, diets, consumer habits, and research practices all contribute to our emissions. The session will cover a) Why we need to urgently reduce our carbon footprint; b) What science tells us about the impact of our activities and c) How we can make changes to reduce carbon emissions. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have Insights into your current carbon footprint; practical actions you can take to reduce your emissions; tools for considering the impact of future activities.
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Running a national multisite clinical trial- challenges and pitfalls
Wednesday 9 April, 14:00-16:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitators: Sumita Verma and Wendy Wood.
In this session, Professor Sumita Verma and Wendy Wood (Director of Brighton and Sussex Clinical Trials Unit BSCTU) will share insights from the development of a NIHR grant for a multicentre clinical trial (REDUCE 2) and then show how the CTU has helped with delivery of the trial with Alison Porges (REDUCE 2 Trial Manager). We will discuss how BSCTU works with researchers throughout the life cycle of a trial as well as the expected impact of REDUCE 2 on improving health outcomes and quality of life for patients with end-stage liver disease.
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Tackling the two elephants in the room: “Engagement” and “Evidence” and starting to frame an impact narrative
Monday 14 April, 10:00-13:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitators: Deeptima Massey and Chris Pepper.
In this half-day workshop, we will make a start in framing the impact narrative for the forthcoming REF but also when drafting funding applications and outputs. We will consider bringing together different material gathered so far and, in the pipeline, to sketch out a writing framework for impact. Most importantly we will tackle and unpack the two often confusing aspects ‘engagement’ and ‘evidence’ when thinking about impact. Do come along, let’s start early and prioritise developing impact in our research.
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Understanding Due Diligence (tentative)
Monday 28 April, 12:30-14:00. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitator: Sarah McDonald (Research Development Manager)
Career Options and Pathways for Developing Researchers
Thursday 8 May, 10:00-13:00. Online via Teams.
At this half day online event jointly being hosted by BSMS and NIHR ARC KSS a series of talks will be delivered focussing on developing research careers in and beyond academia. One session will specifically focus on abilities and skills development such as writing CVs, preparing for interviews, effective communication and teamwork and building a social media presence. Thereafter, there will be an opportunity to hear from a range of professionals including those from academia and health and care organisations. The aim of the event is to equip you take control of your research career journey, set specific goals, identify strengths, interests and capabilities and connect with peers and professionals.
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Promises and Pitfalls: AI's Role in the Future of Research Communication
Thursday 15 May, 11:00-12:30. Meeting room, Medical Research Building.
Facilitator: Andy Tattersall, an Information Specialist at The Division of Population Health (ScHARR) at The University of Sheffield.
There’s much we do not yet know about the impact of generative AI within academia, but we do know it comes with opportunities and threats. One benefit we are starting to see is the area of research dissemination, but that is not without potential hazards. Academics and aligned specialists, including library and information professionals all have a vested interest in the communication of new knowledge. The barrier to this often comes down to the triple threat of time, money and expertise - AI might be able to help with that. Yet it is not so simple, the lure of new shiny things as with any new technology requires a greater understanding of how to leverage them. In his talk, Andy Tattersall will explore some of the opportunities to employ AI to help disseminate research using digital technologies and AI but also investigate what pitfalls await those keen to rush in without consideration.
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Explore our partner-run events through the webpages listed below. These events are open to health and care academics across Sussex. Please see read the specific event details for further information and guidance on registering.
Click to University Hospital Sussex NHS Foundation Trust Events >
Click to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Events >
Click to ARC KSS Events >