SPEAKERS
Paul ClarkDirector of Policy, Universities UK
09:25
Paul Clark is Director of Policy at Universities UK. He is responsible for overseeing the full range of higher education policy development at UUK, coordinating priorities, and shaping the future policy agenda on behalf of member institutions.
Prior to that, he worked as a manager in a number of institutions in the higher education sector and the public sector, including holding senior management positions at the University of Oxford. Paul was educated at the University of Oxford, and holds an MBA from the University of London. He has also worked in local politics and in several not-for-profit roles.
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David Way
Prior to that, he worked as a manager in a number of institutions in the higher education sector and the public sector, including holding senior management positions at the University of Oxford. Paul was educated at the University of Oxford, and holds an MBA from the University of London. He has also worked in local politics and in several not-for-profit roles.
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Director of Knowledge Exchange and Special Projects, Technology Strategy Board
09:35
David Way is Director of Knowledge Exchange and Special Projects in the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), an executive non-departmental public body reporting to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The TSB promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, science and technology and new ideas for the benefit of business, in order to increase sustainable economic growth and improve the quality of life. David has specific responsibility for promoting knowledge exchange, including leadership of the Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs), Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and the Catapult initiative. In addition, he leads on the exploitation of space for UK wealth creation, with the TSB a delivery partner to the new UK Space Agency.
David read the Engineering Tripos at Cambridge University, graduating with First-Class Honours. He then worked on a broad range of military and civil air vehicle and propulsion research and assessment at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, now part of QinetiQ.
Following a year on secondment at the Royal College of Defence Studies, David joined the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2000 in the role of Director Aerospace & Defence Technologies, with responsibility for promoting the technology interests of the UK aerospace sector within government. He then transferred to Innovation Group (latterly the Office of Science and Innovation) where he was responsible for developing and delivering the Technology Programme to promote UK wealth creation, and also for the National Measurement System.
Presentation: Cooperate to innovate: what knowledge transfer networks and partnerships can achieve
Research Networks are not only economic drivers for future prosperity, but can impact on our societies, communities and our daily lives. Collaboration and knowledge transfer are key to tackling some of the major challenges, such as food security and climate change, and it requires cross-disciplinary engagement to expand on theories, ideas and inventions.
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David Sweeney
David read the Engineering Tripos at Cambridge University, graduating with First-Class Honours. He then worked on a broad range of military and civil air vehicle and propulsion research and assessment at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, now part of QinetiQ.
Following a year on secondment at the Royal College of Defence Studies, David joined the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2000 in the role of Director Aerospace & Defence Technologies, with responsibility for promoting the technology interests of the UK aerospace sector within government. He then transferred to Innovation Group (latterly the Office of Science and Innovation) where he was responsible for developing and delivering the Technology Programme to promote UK wealth creation, and also for the National Measurement System.
Presentation: Cooperate to innovate: what knowledge transfer networks and partnerships can achieve
Research Networks are not only economic drivers for future prosperity, but can impact on our societies, communities and our daily lives. Collaboration and knowledge transfer are key to tackling some of the major challenges, such as food security and climate change, and it requires cross-disciplinary engagement to expand on theories, ideas and inventions.
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Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, Higher Education Funding Council for England
09:55
David Sweeney has been Director (Research, Innovation and Skills) since 2008. In this role he is responsible for developing policy on research (including the Research Assessment Exercise and Research Excellence Framework), business & community and skills policy. He is also responsible for the London and East regional teams and for the Strategic Development Fund.
A statistician, David worked at two BBSRC research institutes, developing mathematical models of plant growth, then moving into senior management in the IT area, becoming Director of Information Services at Royal Holloway, University of London, and serving in a national role as Chair of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association. He became Vice-Principal (Communications, Enterprise and Research) in 2004, responsible for research strategy, the 2008 RAE submission and for developing Royal Holloway's research-led commercial and consultancy activities, knowledge transfer and development programme.
Presentation: Raising the bar – how the Research Excellence Framework can help to improve research quality and outcomes
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The assessments aim to provide accountability for public investment in research, provide benchmarking information and produce evidence of the benefits that research investments bring.
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Dr Matthew Hallsworth
A statistician, David worked at two BBSRC research institutes, developing mathematical models of plant growth, then moving into senior management in the IT area, becoming Director of Information Services at Royal Holloway, University of London, and serving in a national role as Chair of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association. He became Vice-Principal (Communications, Enterprise and Research) in 2004, responsible for research strategy, the 2008 RAE submission and for developing Royal Holloway's research-led commercial and consultancy activities, knowledge transfer and development programme.
Presentation: Raising the bar – how the Research Excellence Framework can help to improve research quality and outcomes
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The assessments aim to provide accountability for public investment in research, provide benchmarking information and produce evidence of the benefits that research investments bring.
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Head of External Relations, NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI)
10:15
Dr Matthew Hallsworth is Head of External Relations for the NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI). He leads on external stakeholder relations and engagement with the pharmaceutical industry.
NOCRI works with companies to support collaboration with the expert investigators and research facilities funded by the Department of Health, from early-phase translational medicine through to later-phase clinical trials.
Prior to NOCRI Matthew was Head of Communications at the UK Clinical Research Collaboration – a partnership of government, charities, industry, the NHS, academia, regulators and patients focused on improving the clinical research environment in the UK.
Matthew has also had Research Management roles at the medical charity Asthma UK and for the Department of Health's National R&D Programme.
During his earlier career Matthew was a Research Fellow in Respiratory Medicine at Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, London, where he completed his PhD on the mechanisms of inflammation in asthma and allergic disease.
Presentation: Pooling resources to help take research to the marketplace
Collaborative partnerships, whether they are rooted in finance, skills or knowledge-based, are fundamental in helping to commercialise research. There are challenges for businesses at the start-up end of development and it is important to understand and identify market opportunities and conditions to develop further and expand on the research base.
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Professor Dan Tovey
NOCRI works with companies to support collaboration with the expert investigators and research facilities funded by the Department of Health, from early-phase translational medicine through to later-phase clinical trials.
Prior to NOCRI Matthew was Head of Communications at the UK Clinical Research Collaboration – a partnership of government, charities, industry, the NHS, academia, regulators and patients focused on improving the clinical research environment in the UK.
Matthew has also had Research Management roles at the medical charity Asthma UK and for the Department of Health's National R&D Programme.
During his earlier career Matthew was a Research Fellow in Respiratory Medicine at Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, London, where he completed his PhD on the mechanisms of inflammation in asthma and allergic disease.
Presentation: Pooling resources to help take research to the marketplace
Collaborative partnerships, whether they are rooted in finance, skills or knowledge-based, are fundamental in helping to commercialise research. There are challenges for businesses at the start-up end of development and it is important to understand and identify market opportunities and conditions to develop further and expand on the research base.
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Professor of Particle Physics, University of Sheffield
13:45
Dan Tovey is a Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Sheffield. He is currently Spokesperson and Principal Investigator of ATLAS-UK, representing the 15 UK institutions participating in the international ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. His main research interest is the search for first evidence of 'supersymmetry' - a new theory of fundamental physics that could explain the origin of mass and the nature of dark matter in the universe. Dan holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Sheffield.
Presentation: Zeptoscale science with global collaboration: the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva are now answering fundamental questions about how the universe functions at scales far smaller than the nucleus of an atom. The technical challenges facing scientists and engineers at the birth of this project were immense but were overcome by developing trans-national collaborations of unprecedented global scale. The history, structure and sociology of these collaborations will be discussed with a view to identifying lessons for future networks of similar size.
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Professor Paul Boyle
Presentation: Zeptoscale science with global collaboration: the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva are now answering fundamental questions about how the universe functions at scales far smaller than the nucleus of an atom. The technical challenges facing scientists and engineers at the birth of this project were immense but were overcome by developing trans-national collaborations of unprecedented global scale. The history, structure and sociology of these collaborations will be discussed with a view to identifying lessons for future networks of similar size.
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President, Science Europe; Chief Executive, Economic and Social Research Council
14:05
Paul Boyle since October 2011 is the President of Science Europe. In September 2010 he took up the post of ESRC Chief Executive. Before joining the ESRC Paul was Head of the School of Geography and Geosciences at the University of St Andrews and prior to moving to St Andrews in 1999 he had been at the University of Leeds.
Paul's research has been within population and health geography and he has been the Director of the ESRC-funded Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland. He was also Co-Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for Population Change, and Co-Investigator on the Wellcome Trust-funded Scottish Health Informatics Programme and the ESRC-funded Administrative Data Liaison Service.
Presentation: International collaboration: how to maximise the impact of the European Research Area and foster innovation
The aim of the European Research Area is to give researchers, institutions and businesses access to a Europe-wide open space for knowledge and technologies and encourage cross-border cooperation. The current economic climate further underlines the problems of research funding with no single country having the sufficient resources to be competitive on a global scale. Transnational cooperation can help improve the use of national and regional resources so that research outcomes are more efficient and more effective. How can research organisations and institutions directly engage with the other projects and programmes, with the right businesses and commercial partners, and at the right level?
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Martin Yuille
Paul's research has been within population and health geography and he has been the Director of the ESRC-funded Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland. He was also Co-Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for Population Change, and Co-Investigator on the Wellcome Trust-funded Scottish Health Informatics Programme and the ESRC-funded Administrative Data Liaison Service.
Presentation: International collaboration: how to maximise the impact of the European Research Area and foster innovation
The aim of the European Research Area is to give researchers, institutions and businesses access to a Europe-wide open space for knowledge and technologies and encourage cross-border cooperation. The current economic climate further underlines the problems of research funding with no single country having the sufficient resources to be competitive on a global scale. Transnational cooperation can help improve the use of national and regional resources so that research outcomes are more efficient and more effective. How can research organisations and institutions directly engage with the other projects and programmes, with the right businesses and commercial partners, and at the right level?
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Co-Director, Centre for Integrated Genomic Medical Research, Manchester University
14:25
Martin Yuille holds a readership in biobanking at the University of Manchester, the first such readership in the country. The first biobanking network in the world – the MRC-funded UK DNA Banking Network – was developed with him and Bill Ollier as principal investigators. Martin was Associate Coordinator for the planning of the European biobanking network (BBMRI). He leads on Manchester's contribution to the scoping of a UK biobanking network funded through the Technology Strategy Board and sponsored by AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline. Martin leads on a Manchester-based project to implement a hub-and-spoke biobanking network across the city's hospitals and university, funded through the Manchester Academic Science Centre.
Presentation: Next Generation Biobanking: The rise of the networks
New medicines and health improvements require research biobanking networks of people, things and processes. First steps in this direction will be described.
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Dr Jonathan Sheffield OBE
Presentation: Next Generation Biobanking: The rise of the networks
New medicines and health improvements require research biobanking networks of people, things and processes. First steps in this direction will be described.
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Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health Research, Clinical Research Network
14:45
Jonathan Sheffield is Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health Research, Clinical Research Network. This organisation is funded by the Department of Health to support the practical delivery of both academic and commercial clinical research in the NHS, and was responsible for recruiting more than half a million patients into clinical studies last year.
Jonathan trained as a doctor at Dundee University, before following a career as a histopathologist at Yeovil District Hospital, where he was instrumental in developing its research capabilities. In 2003, he became Medical Director for the trust, before moving on to University Hospitals Bristol – again as Medical Director.
In 2009, Jonathan was awarded an OBE for services to the NHS. In 2011, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians' Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine – its highest honour – for his contribution in the area of clinical research delivery.
A passionate advocate for clinical research, Jonathan's ambition is for participation in a suitable research study to be a standard treatment option, open to all NHS patients.
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Jonathan trained as a doctor at Dundee University, before following a career as a histopathologist at Yeovil District Hospital, where he was instrumental in developing its research capabilities. In 2003, he became Medical Director for the trust, before moving on to University Hospitals Bristol – again as Medical Director.
In 2009, Jonathan was awarded an OBE for services to the NHS. In 2011, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians' Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine – its highest honour – for his contribution in the area of clinical research delivery.
A passionate advocate for clinical research, Jonathan's ambition is for participation in a suitable research study to be a standard treatment option, open to all NHS patients.
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