If you are interested in science, improving patient choices & treatments, and enjoy working as part of a team, there are many options within academic clinical trials.

In collaboration with the UK Trial Managers Network, we have published an e-flyer to highlight the role of Clinical Trials Units and the types of jobs on offer within them.

The flyer looks at five key areas: Trial Management, Quality Assurance, Information Systems, Statistics, and Data Management, and outlines some of the core activities and skills for each one.

Download your copy to find out more.

We are exceptionally pleased to announce that Prof Rustam Al-Shahi Salman has accepted the offer of a part-time secondment to the UKCRC CTU Network as Clinical Director, after an open application process in 2022.

Rustam is a chair of clinical neurology at The University of Edinburgh, practising honorary consultant neurologist in NHS Lothian, as well as clinical director of the Edinburgh CTU.

He leads the Research to Understand Stroke due to Haemorrhage (RUSH) programme, which is dedicated to improving the outcome for adults who have diseases that may cause, or have caused, stroke due to intracranial haemorrhage.

He also has an interest in increasing the value of biomedical research by minimising waste in the choice of research question, study design, study conduct, regulation, and reporting.  This led to him becoming one of the lead authors of The Lancet’s 2014 Series on Increasing Value and Reducing Waste in Research (www.thelancet.com/series/research) and the related campaign (www.thelancet.com/campaigns/efficiency).

Drawing on his experiences as both a clinician and a clinical trial chief investigator, he will define the scale and scope of what better relationships between clinical trials units and clinical communities look like, plan and carry out some activities to improve this relationship, and what metrics could be used for light touch evaluation of this activity across the UK.

We very much look forward to working with him over the next two years.

The collection and management of robust, reliable, and statistically sound data has long been recognised as a vitally important part of a successful clinical trial and a core activity within a well-functioning clinical trials unit (CTU).

In CTUs, data managers usually work closely with IS teams, or are embedded within them. For that reason, data management has always been within the remit of the IS Operations Group. However, it deserves further attention as a activity in its own right.

In order to raise the profile of this important part of the Groups remit, a number of changes have been made. Firstly, a permanent working group has been established to take data management activities are taken forward. Four workstreams have been identified and the teams will begin meeting this year. The workstreams are:

1. CRF/eCRF Development
2. Data validation and query process
3. Study database lifecycle
4. Working with external/third party data sets

Secondly, the name of the Group has been changed to Data and Information Systems Operations Group (DaIS for short).

We look forward to sharing updates on the work of the four data management workstreams, as well other DaIS outputs, throughout the year.

Find out more about the Network and its mission here. You can also follow on us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The UKCRC Registered CTU Network are excited to be part of the 6th International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference in Harrogate.

Running from the 3 – 6 October 2022, ICTMC is the leading international platform for researchers and practitioners to present the very latest in trials methodology research. The meeting also offers valuable networking and training opportunities, with over 750 delegates from 22 countries attending in 2019.

As well as a stand in the exhibition hall, the Network has a showcase session “Better Trials Together” (Wednesday 5 October 2022 at 14:00), with sessions on how working together continues to impact and enhance the clinical trials landscape.  Presentations include lessons from the PANORAMIC Trial, an update from an ongoing project to reduce carbon use in clinical trials, and a look at current and future challenges for CTUs, and clinical research more broadly.

Registered CTUs are also featured in most of the parallel sessions and have dozens of posters on view.

Find out more about the conference here.