Register your interest now for this half day course and we will be in touch when we have set a date with more information and associated costs!

What is the CPD course about?

Medicines are continuously being developed to improve patient health. Understanding which medicines might become available for clinical use in the future requires insight into what is in development now. Horizon scanning is a key method for informing decision makers of innovations and developments in medicines to support delivery of effective and efficient healthcare. Borrowing methods from a variety of fields and applying these in an agile manner to understand future events, horizon scanning is a systematic examination of intelligence gathered from multiple sources ensuring that decision makers are informed not only by hindsight, but foresight also.

Why is this course needed?

Where does a horizon begin and end? Definitions and understanding of what constitutes horizon scanning are not consistent. We will explore the terminology, methods and application of these methods to real world examples. We will demonstrate how innovators, decision-makers, policymakers, and researchers can use these methods to support their activities and goals.

Benefits of this course

Participants will gain an understanding of the concepts of horizon scanning and how it can be used in different contexts, and specifically in the discipline of healthcare. The course will walk participants through the steps to consider before, during, and after conducting a horizon scan. Using the knowledge gained during the course, participants will be able to build a horizon scan on their topic of interest and use it to understand the landscape in development, identify gaps in development and support further research, and plan for future policy and decision-making.

Objectives of the course

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. understand the different concepts of horizon scanning

2. demonstrate the steps and elements of horizon scanning

3. identify relevant sources for a robust horizon scan

4. assemble information in a meaningful form

5. build a horizon scan

Who is the audience?

This course will be relevant to both those new to horizon scanning and those with some experience. It would also be of interest to those working in health technology assessment or regulatory science where horizon scanning plays a vital role. It will also be beneficial to researchers, representatives of industry, and clinical academic, who would like to apply horizon scanning methods in their work.

Who will deliver the course?

The course will be delivered by members of the Medicines Horizon Scanning Team at the NIHR Innovation Observatory, a world leading health and care innovation scanning centre. The team deliver horizon scanning outputs to key stakeholders in the UK including the National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE), NHS England, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Innovation, Research, Life Sciences and Strategy (IRLSS) group.

The course will be led by Dr Sarah Khan who has been team lead of the Medicines Horizon Scanning Team since 2019. Aside from leading the team in delivering outputs regarding medicines in development to national stakeholders, she has delivered lectures for masters students and workshops at national and international conferences on horizon scanning.

Where and when will the course be held?

This half day course will be conducted in person at The Catalyst, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Date TBC

Please note that when we have a date set we will communicate costs associated with the course which will be tiered depending on your current status.

Medicines Horizon Scanning CPD Course