Jane is the National Academic and Strategic lead for the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Research Methods Academy, and a Senior Methods Advisor at the Imperial College London and Partners RSS hub. Jane is Principal Research Fellow at UCL's Research Department of Primary Care & Population Health where she has extensive experience in dementia research, ageing, palliative care, and managing complex health needs.

Krishnaraj Rathod has been recently appointed as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and an Honorary Interventional Cardiology Consultant at Barts Heart Centre in London. He has completed the Associated Principal Investigator (API) Scheme for two studies (iCorMicA and CHIP-BCIS3). He played an essential roll in setting up these two studies at Barts Heart Centre and continues to help with recruitment and presents at regular investigator meetings. He is also now a local API Champion at Barts Heart Centre and the Barts CVCTU. Krishnaraj has also presented at a number of national meetings to help promote the API scheme both at a regional and a national level. In addition, following completion of this scheme, Krishnaraj has now started to take up roles as Principal Investigator in studies that he has started at Barts Heart Centre and QMUL.

I have worked in the Academy for over six years and am responsible for managing some of our career development awards, in particular the Predoctoral and Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Awards; this includes supporting applicants and awardees, working with our funding committees and Chairs, and running associated funding competitions.

Academic Clinical Fellow in Intensive Care Medicine

Chris is an academic intensive care trainee based in London. He is also the vice chair of the Pan-London Perioperative Audit and Research Network and a committee member of the national intensive care trainee research collaborative. His current research focuses on using markers of end-organ perfusion to personalise resuscitation in different shock states, but he is enthusiastic about all forms of research - particularly multi-disciplinary and collaborative work!

Workforce and People Senior Manager

Imogen Sargent is the Workforce and People Senior Manager for the South East Regional Delivery Network, the Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) Engagement Lead for the South East and the Regional GCP Programme Lead. Imogen is a registered CRP with a background in Psychology and Mental Health Research Delivery.

Dr Mayur Murali is a senior registrar in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine on the London rotation, PhD Candidate at Imperial College London and Chair of the Pan-London Perioperative Audit & Research Network. His research interests include building machine learning models to support decision-making on intensive care that incorporate an understanding of human physiology, and bridging the implementation gap to support their use in clinical practice.

Rebecca Fitzgerald OBE FRS FMedSci HonFREng FRCP EMBO is Professor of Cancer Prevention and Founding Director of the Early Cancer Institute and Head of University Dept of Oncology at the University of Cambridge and practices medicine as Hon. Consultant in Gastroenterology and Cancer Medicine at Addenbrooke's Hospital. After training in Cambridge, Stanford and London she moved to Cambridge to focus on research to understand how tissues become cancerous and whether identifying pre-cancer at scale can reduce cancer morbidity and mortality, focussing on the upper GI tract. Interdisciplinary research is key to her approach, especially with bioengineering and public health, which forms the philosophy underpinning the Early Cancer Institute. Her work to develop and implement a non-endoscopic capsule sponge and related biomarker assays for detection of Barrett's oesophagus and associated dysplasia has gone from inception to clinical implementation through her start-up Cyted Health. Rebecca has contributed to evidence reviews and policy work around screening including for the Department of Health in the UK and led a review of cancer screening for the European Commission that led to new screening policy for EU member states. She been awarded several prizes including the Westminster Medal, an NHS Innovation prize, and the Don Listwin Early Detection Prize. In 2022 Rebecca was awarded an OBE for services to cancer research.

Deirdre Brooking is a highly experienced leader in NHS research delivery, boasting over 30 years within the NHS, including 15 years dedicated specifically to research. Academically grounded with a BSc in Biochemistry and an MSc in Biotechnology, her scientific background informs her strategic approach and her first role was a research assistant at Royal Free NHS Trust.

Currently, Deirdre serves as the Workforce & People Senior Lead at Regional Research Delivery Network North London. In this capacity, she is deeply committed to developing and inspiring research staff, encouraging them to invest in their careers and achieve their full potential. She acts as a crucial conduit for the 20 NHS Trusts in North London, along with mental health and community trusts, and out-of-hospital settings, ensuring that training and development needs are identified and solutions implemented. Also recognising opportunities and sharing across the region.

Deirdre previously spent 15 months as the National Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) Strategic Engagement Lead. During this time, her work focused on establishing CRPs as a recognised research delivery workforce, and building strategic partnerships with employing organisations. A core commitment of Deirdre's work in this area is recognising the unique skills and expertise of Clinical Research Practitioners (CRPs) and ensuring their vital contributions are formally acknowledged and integrated into the broader research delivery workforce. Her dedication continues to be instrumental in shaping the future workforce strategy for NHS research.

Kathryn Simpson has been Head of Research at Whittington Health NHS Trust for 3 years and supporting the growth of the Trust’s research teams for 9 years prior. In all, Kathryn has over 16 years of experience in NHS research ethics and research & development. She holds a law degree and post-graduate diploma in leadership, has strong interpersonal skills along with a background in governance and ethical considerations within healthcare research. Kathryn’s expertise lies in being able to identify pragmatic solutions to research delivery and development challenges, navigating complex operational frameworks and regulatory requirements with good humour and an unyielding desire to ensure social justice and that patients have access to research opportunities that are relevant to their and their families lives.

Lily graduated in 2011 with a BSc in Nursing and built her research expertise while living in Sweden. Combining clinical knowledge with a passion for improving patient outcomes, she brings valuable insight to research delivery at Whittington Health NHS Trust. Joining the research team in October 2021 on a part-time secondment, Lily quickly became indispensable and was promoted to Lead Research Nurse in December 2022. She now leads a dynamic team of nurses and CRPs, fostering collaboration across departments to enhance practice. Lily’s deep understanding of the diverse population we serve drives her commitment to equity and inclusion, ensuring research opportunities are accessible to all.

Professor Jon Wadsley is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Weston Park Hospital, Sheffield where he has worked since 2004. His clinical interests are in thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumours and other endocrine malignancies, with a particular research interests in molecular radiotherapy and targeted therapies for advanced thyroid cancer and neuroendocrine tumours.

He is one of the NIHR National Specialty Leads for Cancer. He is a member of the UK Thyroid Cancer Research Group. He is passionate about the role of research in improving patient care and outcomes.

Saul Faust FRCPCH PhD FFPM(Hon) OBE, is Professor and Hon Consultant of Paediatric Immunology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. Saul is currently Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Southampton Clinical Research Facility, Co-Director of the new NIHR Wessex Commercial Research Delivery Centre, national clinical lead for infection vaccines for the NIHR Vaccine Innovation Pathway, NIHR Research Delivery Network co-national clinical lead for children, co-Director of the UK National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) and a NIHR Senior Investigator. 

Saul Faust’s academic background is in translational research related to children’s infectious diseases and immunology including bench to bedside research and clinical trials of anti-infective agents and vaccines in children and adults. He was Chief Investigator for the UK national COV-BOOST 3^rd and 4^th dose COVID-19 vaccine trial that informed UK and global policy, and paediatric lead for the RECOVERY trial. He designed the innovative HARMONIE trial that demonstrated the impact of nirsevimab to prevent hospitalisation of healthy infants due to RSV lower respiratory tract infection in collaboration with colleagues and Sanofi.

Outside of research, Prof Faust is NHS England national clinical lead for paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases and a member of the NHS England Clinical Panel. He chaired the UK NICE Guideline Committees for sepsis in children and adults (2016) and for Lyme Disease (2018).

Dr Zena Aldridge is a registered mental health nurse whose career in health and social care has spanned four decades. Her passion has always been improving the outcomes and experiences of care for older people, their families, and those who deliver health and care services.  Zena holds a master's degree in Mental Health and PhD in Nursing Studies. Zena is  NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Office Associate Director for Social Care and Programme director for NIHR Researcher Development Programme for Social Care Nurses and was awarded an NIHR Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award (SCPRA) in 2024. As a Clinical Academic Zena holds a wider portfolio of roles including, Independent Dementia Nurse Consultant and Consultant Editor of Nursing Older People. She is also a Queens Nurse and in 2024 received a CNO for ASC Gold Award for her services to research and dementia. 

Research Nurse – Infection and Sexual Health (RID-TB)

UCL Centre for Clinical Research in Infection and Sexual Health

Institute for Global Health

Sammy is currently a TB Research nurse for UCL, working on different research studies across London. Sammy has an MSc in Adult Nursing and an MA in Social Development HIV research. They have worked in HIV for 7 years as a HIV practitioner, specifically within Middle Eastern and South Asian communities. Sammy specialises mainly in social stigma as per their thesis and has developed it within their role over the years, such as training and awareness within the communities and also to management working in the third sector.

Sarah joined the Health Research Authority in 2012 as an administrator for research ethics committees which reviewed a variety of research applications from studies only using existing data through to complex clinical trials. She played a major part in setting up the technical assurance service, reviewing applications through the Pharmacy Assurance and Radiation Assurance processes. She now works in the coordination and standardisation team, working on initiatives to make it easier to do research across the UK, with a particular focus on contracts and site set-up. Sarah also chairs the HRA's internal staff-led Green Team, and has an interest in how to make research more environmentally sustainable.