Researchers from Oxford’s two NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) took over the city’s Westgate Centre on Thursday 29 May for their annual Health Research Showcase.
Hundreds of half-term visitors, including a large number of children, were able to find out about work of researchers looking to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for health conditions as diverse as cancer, mental health, dementia, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, infection, sleep problems or genetic diseases.
As well as being able to engage with leading researchers, there were also a wide range of fun hands-on activities designed to help visitors understand and be excited about science.
The NIHR Oxford Health BRC is a partnership between the University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, while the NIHR Oxford BRC is a partnership between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust. Together they conduct research across 26 different healthcare themes.
As well as highlighting to the public the important research taking place in Oxford, the Open Day was a chance to encourage people to get involved in research, whether by participating in trials or getting involved in designing and evaluating studies.
Speaking about the day, Beth Pritchard, Assistant Psychologist in the Oxford Health BRC Mental Health in Development Theme’s AnDY Research Clinic (pictured above, left) said:
“The AnDY Research Clinic operates within the NHS and we offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Treatment for young people and run new research trials as well. Lots of the attendees have knowledge about this area already and seemed really grateful that this sort research is being carried out in an NHS population.
“Lots of flyers have been taken and parents seem really interested because they feel that this is quite a relevant topic at the moment.”
NIHR BRCs are collaborations between universities and NHS organisations that bring together academics and clinicians to translate scientific breakthroughs into potential new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies that benefit NHS patients.
Kerri Dempster, Patient, Carer and Public Involvement and Engagement Manager at the NIHR South Central Research Delivery Network (pictured above, middle) said:
“We’ve been talking to people about our new research registry service Be Part of Research. Encouraging people to sign up to be contacted about future studies that they might be interested in taking part in. I’ve had lots of really good conversations with people, with the public, and also with other researchers.”
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the UK’s largest funder of health and care research.
