We took a moment to chat with him about his project and what has changed in the 12 months since he won his award. Here’s what he had to share:

With Munya’s pioneering work, we glimpse a future where clinical trials stand as beacons of innovation, empowering both researchers and the public alike.

If you like to find out more about Munya and the PANDA Project visit https://panda.shef.ac.uk/.

The UK Registered CTU Network welcomes the NIHR RSS announcement and looks forward to working collaboratively in the future.

Some registered CTUs will be part of NIHR RSS, and some will not. All CTUs offer the following:

• collaboration throughout the whole lifecycle of a trial from grant application through to analysis and dissemination.
• specialist clinical trials expertise.
• breadth and depth of knowledge including trial management, data management, regulatory and statistical support.
• UK wide availability.
• assured high quality collaboration, internationally peer reviewed.
• higher likelihood of delivery to time and target.

For more information on the work of the UK Registered CTU Network and member CTUs please visit https://ukctunetwork.org/about-us/.

Further details on the remit of the Research Support Service can be found on the NIHR’s website.

The Network is now able to announce that we are opening a call for applications for the post of Director of the UK Registered CTU Network. As the collective voice of clinical trials units the Network plays an important role in engaging with Government, funders, other agencies and patients to improve and strengthen clinical research in the UK. The Network is seen internationally as an exemplar for the development of national clinical trials support.

The Director appointment is made on a paid secondment basis. Please see the candidate brief for further details [Download candidate brief].

Interested candidates are asked to submit an up-to-date short CV plus covering letter (500 words) outlining their vision for the Network, how they would evolve its activities and how they believe they fulfil the role description by Monday 19th June 2023.

The Network had a fantastically busy 2022. Find out more about our activities through some of our favourite facts and figures!

• We got a new Clinical Director, the wonderful Rustam Al-Shahi Salman. Although his appointment was formally announced in January 2023, he worked with us in 2022 to help design his role. Find out more here.

• We ran seven webinars and training sessions, including four Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on different aspects of clinical trial monitoring. These can be viewed for free via our website. You can also get a copy of the accompanying handbook from the same page. This has now been downloaded over 4,400 times. You can view and download these and other materials here.

• Our various Operations and Task & Finish Groups met 70 times during the year to work on activities that are of benefit to CTUs and CTU staff across the Network. This included producing guidance, webinars, training events and, of course, the 8 national meetings we held for key staff groups including CTU Directors, statisticians, and trial monitors. We’re very pleased to say that three of them took place face-to-face. Find out more about the Network and our groups here.

2023 is already shaping up to be another exciting year and we look forward to announcing lots of events, activities, and guidance documents as the days and weeks go by. Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter (@UKCTUNetwork) for more updates.

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.

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 UK Registered CTU Network as Clinical Director, after an open application process in 2022.

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 UK 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.