NIAA Update: April 2015



NIAA Vacancies

Clinical Research Fellows in Health Services Research

The National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia's Health Services Research Centre (NIAA HSRC), in conjunction with the UCLH Surgical Outcomes Research Centre (SOURCe), the London Clinic and Princess Grace Hospital, seeks to appoint three clinical research fellows to work on national health services research projects. The positions are:

Health Services Research Fellow to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA)

Health Services Research Fellow to the second Sprint National Anaesthesia Project (SNAP-2)

Health Services Research Fellow to the Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme (PQIP)

Each of these posts is linked to a clinical commitment to the critical care unit at either the London Clinic or the Princess Grace Hospital, both situated in central London.

The closing date for applications is 5 pm on Tuesday 5 May and interviews will be held on Monday 18 May 2015.

Further details can be found by clicking here.


Director, UK Perioperative Medicine Clinical Trials Group

The NIAA wishes to appoint a Director to lead the development of a national Clinical Trials Group (CTG) for perioperative medicine, capable of supporting world-class multi-centre trials from idea to publication and dissemination.

The postholder will be expected to develop a national network of hospitals and investigators to recruit to trials and develop and implement a transparent and robust process for identifying and selecting studies to be considered by the CTG. He/she will also need to engage the appropriate stakeholders in the project and work effectively with the NIAA and its founding and funding partners and trainee research networks.

The post is a three-year fixed-term appointment, subject to annual review.

Further information about the role including the job description and person specification can be found by clicking here.

Closing date for applications: Friday 1st May 2015 at 12 noon
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted and interviews will be held on: Tuesday 9th June 2015.


Trainee Representative on NIAA Board

Applications are invited for the role of co-opted Trainee Representative on the Board of the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA). Trainees who hold a National Training Number in Anaesthesia, and are either Academic Clinical Fellows, Academic Clinical Lecturers or are undertaking/have completed an MD(Res) or PhD are eligible to apply.

The appointment will be made for three years or until achievement of CCT in the first instance, with the potential for re-appointment for a second three year term.

The closing date for application is 5 pm on Monday 18 May 2015 and further details can be found here.


Events

Introduction to Academic Anaesthesia Courses

The NIAA is offering three bursaries of £500 to support a course for trainees on any branch of academic anaesthesia, including improvement science, but excluding simulation or other medical education based courses. The course must be planned to run between July 2015 and June 2016.

For more information or to apply for one of these bursaries, please click here.


Research Impact: Evidencing the REF

14th July 2015, Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Last year the research of 154 UK universities was assessed with 30% of submissions judged to be world-leading.

This event will explore case studies and testimonials to help universities effectively measure impact and offer practical guidance on delivering high quality submissions across disciplines and projects.

Topics to be discussed:

  • Research Impact: Delivering Excellence
  • Assessment and evaluation process
  • Impact of the REF: What are the factors leading to high performance?
  • Case Studies: Lessons from REF applications - Outputs, Impact and Environment
  • Understanding outcomes and gathering evidence
  • Reflections on the 6 types of impact


The benefits of attending include:


  • Benefit from an in-depth look at the plans for future REF exercises.
  • Practical guidance, advice and solutions to assist universities in improving the quality of REF submissions.
  • The impact of the Research Excellence Framework and how the assessment process will inform future submissions and assessment.
  • Learn how to best evidence impact, excellence and diversity across a variety of disciplines.
  • Examples of good practice and improvements for future REF exercises.
  • Insight into the intended and unintended consequences of the REF exercise.


If you would like to know more about this event, please click here for more details.

Funding Opportunities

Small RCoA grants

Details of the small RCoA education, travel and research grants available this year are now available.

Please click here for full details. Applications are also invited for the Macintosh Professorship, the Maurice Hudson Prize and the Payne Stafford Tan Award. The deadline for all these awards is 5 pm on Friday 28 August 2015.

Update on Anaesthesia and Perioperative Care Priority Setting Partnership

Thank you to everyone who completed the interim PSP survey, which closed on 7 April. Your responses will help us to identify the most important 'treatment uncertainties' or 'unanswered questions' for future research and to understand the perspectives of both 'providers' (healthcare professionals) and 'consumers' (patients and their carers) of healthcare.

Of the 93 questions that have been received, the 25-30 most popular ones (i.e. those ranked as 'top ten' questions by the most respondents) will go through to the final Prioritisation Workshop, at which a group of stakeholder representatives will use Delphi consensus methodology to agree the final 'Top Ten' research priorities.

Those questions that don't make it into the final Top Ten (or even into the final workshop) will still be collected in 'UK DUETs' (the UK Database of Uncertainties of Effects of Treatments) - an online repository organised by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) where 'uncertainties about the effects of treatment are collected and published'. UK DUETs provides a rich resource for researchers looking for topics for future research: by entering every suggestion received (i.e. not just the top ten), we ensure that none of the proposed topics get forgotten.