PULSE
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL
A people-centred
Our Charity
APPROACH TO RESEARCH
OUR CHARITY IS SUPPORTING GROUND-BREAKING MEDICAL RESEARCH
Public engagement bringsmajor societal benefitsandhasbecome an integral part of research at theMedical School. By involving members of the public in our research, it becomes more relevant to people’s needs and concerns and is more likely to be used to improve health and social care decisions, treatments and services.
The Population Data Science group at Swansea University Medical School sees engagement as the cornerstone of our work. We involve members of the general public from the outset; from preparing research applications, shaping ongoing research direction, disseminating research and activity outcomes - right through to wider work such as raising the awareness of using data for research purposes. “WE’VE ADOPTED A PEOPLE- CENTRED APPROACH TO ENSURE OUR WORK IS RELEVANT AND REFLECTS PUBLIC INTERESTS AND VALUES” Professor Kerina Jones, Associate Director for Public Engagement.
A recent proposal to the Medical Research Council to fund a collaborative research project to explore the links between frailty and when an individual is living with more than one chronic disease and is taking many medications for various conditions, consulted the Consumer Panel early on in the planning process. The Panel’s supporting statements were incorporated into the proposal. “I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE OUTCOME OF THE PROPOSAL COULDNOTHAVEBEENACHIEVED WITHOUT THE INPUT OF THE CONSUMER PANEL. THANKS TO ITS INPUT, THE FUNDING PROPOSAL RECEIVED A SCORE OF 9/10” Professor Ronan Lyons, Project Lead and Co-Director of Population Data Science Research. DID YOU KNOW... The Data Science activities of the Medical School have attracted £30million of UK Government funding. This makes the servers in the building one of the main Data linkage sites for anonymised health data in the UK.
St David’s Medical Foundation is an independent charity raising funds to support the ground-breaking work in medical research and education at Swansea University Medical School. The Foundation supports the advance of the health of people in Wales and across the world.
St David’s Medical Foundation was formed in 2006 to support exciting innovations in medical research and education. Under the leadership of Professor Julian Hopkin CBE, a former Head of the Medical School, the Foundation is in a unique position to support the work of world leaders in their field. Significant developments include research to identify the causes of childhood epilepsy, the early diagnosis of blood- clots in strokes and heart attacks and a clinical research centre for diabetes.
Chairman of Charity Trustees, Professor Julian Hopkin, explains: “We identify potentially life changing research at its earliest stage and offer seed-corn grants to ensure important opportunities are followed through. We forge strong links with institutions on our doorstep and globally, collaborating with partners in Wales and beyond and most importantly we invest in our outstanding students – the great scientists and doctors of the future. Together we are making a difference. We can and should have a healthier world. The Foundation is our way of contributing to this” In 2020, three £6,000 grants will be awarded to support for new research ideas to allow student and staff research projects to advance and grow, and go on to secure external funding. Find out more about how you could support or benefit from SDMF:
DR NICK JONES Lecturer & Researcher
“As
an
early career researcher, seed
corn funding from SDMF has enabled me to pursue some of my own research ideas. It has also given me the opportunity to collaborate with some fantastic scientists within the UK and Ireland. I wanted to investigate how a particular group of white blood cells known as CD4+ T cells might use nutrients such as sugar and protein from our diet to generate the energy and building blocks that are needed for them to function effectively in different disease settings. SDMF provided the seed corn funding to start thisworkenablingus tomaphow T cells change their use of nutrients as they become active. The most interesting finding was that T cells need an amino acid called glutamine to become fully functional and this finding has now been published in Nature Communications”
“WE SEE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AS IS A TWO-WAY PROCESS. IT ENRICHES AND ANIMATES THE WORK OF OUR RESEARCHERS STIMULATING NEW IDEAS HELPING OUR RESEARCHERS THINK ABOUT BROADER SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES” Lynsey Cross, Public Engagement Officer.
A core part of the group’s engagement involves its Consumer Panel. Made up of sixteen members of the public who meet quarterly, the panel offers researchers an opportunity to discuss their projects and provide suggestions on how best to engage with the public and recruit public participants.
At present more than 40 research projects are supported. In addition to these, the Foundation also awards Seed-Corn Grants from its funds annually to support new exciting research projects.
Interested in studying Patient and Population Health? Turn to Page 9 and Page 32
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