Staff from the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility (CRF) and Biomedical Research Centre who attended the first joint NIHR BRC and UK CRF Network conference on 14th and 15th of July 2025 won two of the five poster awards on offer at the conference.
Shuk Wa Lau, Senior Laboratory Manager at the CRF, won the ‘Collaborative research category’ with her poster on ’Collaborative Delivery of Diverse NIHR Portfolio Trials at UCLH CRF’, while Aalam Yousuf, Quality Assurance Associate, and Melanie Dhanaratne, Quality Assurance & Governance Manager, were awarded the prize for the ‘Innovation and Impact’ category, with their poster titled: ’Quality e Co-system: Streamlining Compliance and Oversight through a Centralised eQMS’.
Aalam said: “Winning two poster awards was such a lovely surprise. It was a proud moment for our CRF team and a great chance to celebrate the effort and passion we put into our work every day.”
Shuk Wa reflected: “The poster wasn’t to showcase how good we are, but to share our experience, offer support, and create connections. We share resources and contact details, to encourage future collaborations.”
Professor Vincenzo Libri, Director of the NIHR UCLH CRF said: “I am proud to see the UCLH CRF winning 2 out of 5 poster awards. Very well done to all involved!”
Over 900 delegates attended the conference which took place in the impressive ICC in Birmingham. 2025 was the 20th annual UK CRF Network Conference, and to mark the occasion, the conference format was expanded for the first time to include the national BRCs. The overarching aim of the conference was to promote and celebrate cross-infrastructure collaboration.
Plenary speakers included Dr Gail Marzetti, who is Director of Science, Research and Evidence, at the Department of Health & Social Care, and Deputy CEO of the NIHR.
UCLH staff were also involved in presenting at three of the parallel sessions: Christine Menzies, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) & Communications Lead for the UCLH CRF and Patience Renais-Zuva, PPIE Lead for the UCLH BRC, presented on how they work together and collaborate to deliver PPIE & Equality, Diversity and Inclusion staff. They did this alongside colleagues from NIHR Birmingham BRC; Coventry and Warwickshire CRF and NIHR Nottingham CRF.
Melanie Dhanaratne, QA and Governance Manager at the CRF, led an interactive session on ’Why you shouldn’t sweat over GCP inspection interviews’, which included audience participation in mock interviews. Feedback showed that attendees felt more confident about inspection interviews following the session. Marivic Ricamara, CRF Lead Nurse, helped deliver a session on ‘Co-Creating Excellence: Advancing Early Phase Dementia Trials Through Collaborative Innovation’ to a full room of attendees.
Reflecting on the conference, Christine Menzies said: “I enjoyed meeting PPIE colleagues from around the country face to face; meeting new people; hearing some truly inspiring presentations; watching the amazing colourful dancers before the Gala dinner; and hearing that Shuk Wa and Aalam had won posters awards!”
Patience Renais-Zuva said: "Attending and presenting at the joint CRF and BRC Conference in Birmingham was an inspiring experience — the energy, collaboration, and passion for research were truly electric!"
CRF member of staff Sam Barnett reflected: “It was great to share ideas between other CRFs about the similar challenges in which the UK currently faces to deliver research. It's comforting to tackle these in a unified strategy.”
CRF General Manager Raj Khengar said: “I felt so proud of UCLH CRF winning 2 of the poster awards. Our staff are already looking forward to the next UK CRF Network conference in Dublin!”
