7th Annual Trials Methodology Symposium 2021

The HRB-TMRN (UCD) are delighted to partner with the MRC/ NIHR – Trials Methodology Research Partnership (MRC/NIHR-TMRP) to welcome some of the world’s leading experts in trials methodology to our 7th online Trials Methodology Symposium on October 4th, 5th & 6th. The theme for this year’s event is “The future of clinical trials: people, project, purpose, place.”

Session 1

PEOPLE: Developing expertise, supporting careers

October 4 | 14:00 – 16:15

Session 2

PURPOSE: “When uncertain, the best treatment option is an RCT”

October 5 | 09:00 – 10:30

Session 3

PROJECT: Evolution of trial design

October 5 | 14:00 – 16:00

Session 4

PLACE: Trials in a post pandemic era: lessons learned for the future of trials

October 6 | 10:00 – 12:00

Session 5

Special Session – MRC/NIHR-TMRP Working Groups

October 6 | 14:00 – 15:30 & 15:30 – 17:00

Guest Speakers

Prof Peter Doran

Clinical Research Centre UCD, Ireland

Prof. Peter Doran earned his BSc. from Dublin City University in 1998 and his PhD from University College Dublin in 2001. Prof. Doran is a lecturer at the UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, and Scientific Director of the UCD Clinical Research Centre (CRC). He is also the Director of the Ireland East Hospital Group Research Network. The UCD CRC with facilities at both the Mater Misericordia and St. Vincent’s University Hospitals drives clinical and translational research which is aimed at improving patient care by acting as a catalyst to bring all members of the biomedical research enterprise together to ensure novel health interventions are developed and diffused into Irish healthcare practice.

Professor Robert Harris

Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Born and educated in the UK, conducted a PhD at University College London in the field of parasitology. Moved to Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden in 1994 and became Professor of Immunotherapy in Neurological diseases there in 2013. Leads a research group focusing on immunotherapy in ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Currently Academic Vice President of Doctoral Education and head of the International Council at Karolinska Institutet. Currently the president of the international doctoral education organisation ORPHEUS.

Ms. Adepeju Oshisanya

Benevolent AI, UK

An advocate for diversity and inclusion in data generation in clinical research, Peju is passionate about raising awareness about the importance of including a more diverse population in research and the potential benefits of Artificial Intelligence in enabling this.

Peju is an innovative operational strategy expert with over 18 years wide-ranging experience relating to strategic programme leadership, planning and management of clinical trials with responsibility for global clinical programmes. She started her career working in early drug discovery and exploratory phase focused on the transition of early stage assets to clinical development. Following this, she moved into programme management responsible for key clinical programmes and assets within Eli Lilly, Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer and Takeda.

After gaining extensive experience with major pharmaceutical organisations, Peju has moved her career to working with start-up organisations and SMEs. In her current role as director of programme management, she is responsible for driving the asset strategy to maximise the value of both early and late phase drug development programmes in a pioneering startup that harnesses artificial intelligence to accelerate and enhance scientific discovery.

Prof. Paul Glasziou

Bond University, Australia

Professor Paul Glasziou is Director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University and was the Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford from 2003-2010. His key interests include identifying and removing barriers to using high quality research in everyday clinical practice and improving the clinical impact of research by reducing the more than $85 Billion annual loss from unpublished and unusable research (Chalmers, Glasziou, Lancet 2009). He co-founded the International Collaboration for the Automation of Systematic Reviews and the RACGP’s Handbook of Non-Drug Interventions. He has authored over 400 peer-reviewed journal articles and 7 books.

Dr Eoghan McKernan

University College Cork / Infant Centre, Ireland

Eoghan is the INFANT Operations Manager. He supports INFANT investigators and research teams in preparing all grant applications for all competitively awarded funding, both exchequer and non-exchequer. He is also the focal person for INFANT’s Global Health Programme. Since 2001, he has worked with large institutions including University College Cork, Trócaire, and the United Nations where he developed his extensive research and project management experience both in Ireland and in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has developed skills and experience across a range of disciplines including: research, research support, project management, monitoring and evaluation, results based management, strategy development, lecturing, resource mobilisation, budget management, training and facilitation, programme design, proposal development, impact assessment and articulation and liaising with institutional funders. He has delivered results in numerous projects in Trócaire, the community and voluntary sector in Ireland, EU FP6 funded research, United Nations Development Programme, Tanzania and United Nations HABITAT. He has 20 years’ experience in Eastern and Southern Africa working, researching and supporting research in health and human development.

Dr Danielle Edwards

Kings College London, UK

Dr Danielle Edwards has worked as a Research Fellow at KCL since April 2020 and is interested in trial methodology, linking datasets for research, and the use of routine data to improve clinical trial efficiency. Prior to that she completed her first post-doc at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London working on linking registry data with hospital records. She worked as trial statistician at the University of Bristol before studying the use of routine data for recruitment and follow-up in trials for her DPhil at the University of Oxford.

Dr Alice Biggane

Roche Products Ltd, UK

Alice completed her PhD at the Universities of Liverpool and Paris. She undertook her PhD with the EU Horizon 2020 framework, as a fellow of the Methods in Research on Research (MiRoR) Project.

Her PhD focused on the inclusion of patients and members of the public in clinical outcome selection in the context of core outcome sets and clinical guideline development. After her PhD, Alice spent one year as a post-doctoral researcher before transitioning to her current role as a patient centred outcomes research (PCOR) scientist at Roche Products.

Dr Lennie Derde

University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

Alice completed her PhD at the Universities of Liverpool and Paris. She undertook her PhD with the EU Horizon 2020 framework, as a fellow of the Methods in Research on Research (MiRoR) Project.