We thought we would take this opportunity to provide a summary of our recent Early Career Researcher events, as well as give some more details about our upcoming Annual Symposium.
Our Early Career Researcher event
In November 2024, we hosted our Early Career Researcher event at the Wellcome Collection, Central London.
The day kicked off with an interactive workshop about media, public relations and science communication delivered by First Create the Media giving attendees an insight into what makes an interesting story to the general public and how to contribute to and steer public conversations. In our 5-minute Fellowships session, we were joined by Lily, Elisa, Cini, Arlene, and Alexis each of whom presented on their research before answering questions from the audience. In our final session we heard from two speakers; Ivana talked about her experiences forming a University spinout, with useful tips for those thinking of following the same path, and Toby spoke about meaningful patient and public involvement and engagement in research.
You can view the recorded sessions from Ivana and Toby and view the summaries of the 5-minute Fellowship talks on our Events page.
UK Ageing Research Funders’ Forum Early Career Researchers’ event
The UK Ageing Research Funders’ Forum (UKARFF) were delighted to host an Early Career Researchers’ event in February 2025, co-organised by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), The Dunhill Medical Trust, The Health Foundation and Medical Research Council (MRC).
We started the day with a question and answer session with Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, with attendees’ questions focusing on the key priorities from the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2023: health in an ageing society. We then heard from eight Early Career Researchers, funded by UKARFF member organisations, who presented work ranging from fundamental understanding of biological ageing processes through to addressing inequalities in living environments for older people. To round off the day, we were joined by Professor Catherine Green who gave an inspiring talk on her involvement in the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
We’ll be making recordings from the day available on our website soon.
Our Annual Symposium 2025
Join us in-person 12:00-17:30 on Tuesday, 29th April 2025 at the Wellcome Collection, Central London. Hear about the fantastic initiatives we have been supporting and meet our 2025 Excellence Award winners. We will also be launching our strategic priorities for the period 2025-2030.
You can see the full agenda for the day on our Eventbrite page, where you’ll also be able to register to attend.
The event is free to attend* and the deadline to register is Friday, 11th April 2025. As part of the registration process, we are offering attendees the opportunity to nominate themselves for a poster presentation. We’ll be reviewing and selecting titles/abstracts to ensure a diverse range of topic areas, career stages and presenters are represented. The deadline to submit a title and abstract for a poster is Friday, 4th April 2025. Given the limited space available for posters, priority will be given to work funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust. We will notify all applicants in advance to confirm whether their poster has been selected for presentation at the event. In summary:
- Poster submission deadline: 4th April 2025
- Event registration deadline: 11th April 2025
We plan to make recordings of the event available on our website for those unable to attend.
*We will also cover the costs of travel to the event for early career researchers, where there is no other means to claim these back – attendees intending to claim travel costs should confirm these with the Trust prior to booking travel. If you have any questions about this, or the event in general, please email admin@vivensafoundation.org.uk.