The residential component will be held at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre, from 09:30 on Friday through 16:00 on Saturday, with a course dinner on Friday night.
As you are aware, we are proud of being academic specialties. The course is intended to prepare final year trainees to become principal investigators on their own NIHR portfolio studies as they move into the consultant grade.
It has been designed to ensure our trainees ‘graduate’ with a robust understanding of clinical research. The NIHR Hepatology and Gastroenterology groups understand that, although many of our NTNs have previously had some research experience, this may not include the skills required to lead a CRN-supported clinical trial at any UK NHS hospital. The programme aims to equip you with the skills required to be a Consultant Principal Investigator on day one of your Consultant job.
Additionally, we hope the course will also be an opportunity for you to meet other Hepatology and Gastroenterology NTNs and create lasting networks to facilitate collaborative future research.
We are aware that training is expensive and that study budgets can only go so far. The BSG and the NIHR Clinical Research Network support the financial costs of the course and you will only be asked to pay a £50 registration fee. Some LCRNs have offered to support travel expenses. If yours will not (please check), you may be able to reclaim retrospectively from the BSG.
A programme for the Course is under development and can be accessed on the BSG website. The residential component of the Course will be held from 09:30 on Friday through 16:00 on Saturday, with a course dinner on Friday night. Some on-site accommodation at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre has been reserved. If you’ll need a hotel room, please be sure to let us know by email no later than 5pm Thursday 22 August. Any rooms not formally reserved by then will be released by the hotel for general sale to the public.
NTN supervisors have been notified about the Course dates (and are in full support) so we anticipate that arranging study leave for the 27th of September should be straightforward. After you have registered, we suggest emailing your supervisor (for September 2019) to confirm you have registered for the Course.
Due to the interactive nature of the programme we are limiting the course to 38 places. Course materials will be provided in advance of the course date.
