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Institutional Context
Summary
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), founded 1898, was the first institution dedicated to research and teaching in the field of tropical medicine. We work to fulfil our mission of reducing the burden of sickness and mortality in disease endemic countries and remain at the cutting edge of innovation in research and intervention, by attracting the best researchers from around the world to address global health issues to attempt to break the cycle of poor health and poverty. We support over 600 students from 68 countries in Post Graduate Research, Masters and professional courses, working in partnership with health ministries, universities and research institutions worldwide to train the next generation of doctors, scientists, researchers and health professionals.
Institutional context
As an institution with a vision to translate its research findings into practical benefits for people across the globe, the driving force for the development of our research questions comes from the communities where diseases and conditions are prevalent. Our Translational research model is collaborative by definition and LSTM’s major achievements have always been delivered through partnerships. Our Research operates globally and has developed close links with academic and non-academic partners including governmental, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), product development partnerships (PDPs) and industry (large pharma and SMEs) in over 60 countries, predominantly in LMICs but also regionally and across the UK.
Innovation and translation are at the forefront of work at LSTM as it aims to discover and develop, then go forward with implementation of its innovative ideas. The continuous search for, and development, of new products will help to improve prevention and treatment of many diseases and address global health issues. This, together with knowledge of their effective implementation and an understanding of their impact through monitoring and evaluation, provides evidence to enable the uptake of LSTM’s research outcomes into policy and practices, ultimately benefiting the global population.
LSTM delivers Research across 8 broad themes, over 4 academic departments supporting 10 centre and units.
Neglected Tropical Diseases - LSTM is working to identify critical bottlenecks through its research and implementation activities, whilst evaluating alternative strategies to overcome the existing barriers and to improve strategies for their control and elimination.
Innovation, Discovery & Development – LSTM is unique in spanning the translational pipeline from discovery to implementation.
Resistance Research & Management - LSTM was among the first institutions in the world to recognise the importance understanding the phenomenon of drug resistance. The factors driving the emergence of resistance are complex and multifactorial, and LSTM has developed a multidisciplinary approach involving the entire translational continuum.
Lung Health & Tuberculosis - LSTM’s research covers the full spectrum of the complex, often poverty driven, global problems around chronic lung diseases, respiratory infection (e.g. Covid-19) and Tuberculosis (TB).
Malaria & other Vector Borne Diseases - LSTM hosts one of the largest groups of Vector Biologists in the world. Emerging vector borne diseases, such as Zika and Dengue, threaten the status quo. LSTM has technical expertise, strong collaborations with research partners and product development partnerships with industry.
HIV - The HIV research portfolio now spans studies on HIV-prevention to comprehensive, integrated care for people living with HIV, self-testing and management of late-stage HIV-infection.
Health Policy & Health Systems Research - To improve prevention and treatment of many diseases, new products and interventions require knowledge of their effective implementation and an understanding of their impact through constant monitoring and evaluation. Our work resonates strongly with institutions; governments and their ministries; funding bodies and partner organisations across the globe.
Childbirth, Women’s and Newborn Health - Maternal, neonatal and paediatric conditions continue to pose major global health risks. Complications around pregnancy and childbirth; and infection still pose significant challenges despite progress made over the past years.
For further information, please send queries to kef@lstmed.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) was founded in November 1898 by Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, who through trade routes with Africa saw admissions to hospital with “Tropical” diseases. His £350 donation set up LSTM and successive regeneration and investment in facilities in the 50’s, 70’s and 00’s saw LSTM gain new research and teaching space. LSTM still has strong connections with the people and industry of Liverpool and the global research and teaching communities. Liverpool, as a maritime city, celebrates its diversity and the influence LSTM had on the people that contribute to its long history. Our place in the city has been a constant - through war, famine, pandemic, poverty, disease and through more progressive times.
Aspect 1: Strategy
LSTM has been at the heart of Liverpool’s knowledge economy for nearly 125 years, built on a rich history of international maritime trade and world-leading innovation and achievement in science and industry. Sited within Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter (KQ), enabling co-location with organisations at the forefront of global innovation, LSTM has developed an international reputation in Infection & Disease research, tropical medicine and global health supported by the Liverpool City Region (LCR) & LEP Growth Strategy. Regionally LCR is one of Europe’s largest Health and Life Science clusters with 20% of the LCR workforce contributing £4,100,000,000 to GVA, providing jobs for 20% of the region. LSTM also has good links to Cheshire & Warrington’s Sci-Tech Daresbury, one of two Enterprise Zones in the City Region and one of only two national Big Science campuses - with wider regional links also in place to Alderley Park. LSTM benefits from accessing over 150 companies in this Life Sciences / Biopharmaceutical cluster, which supports between 6,000 and10,000 jobs and contributes over £400,000,000 to the City Region economy. Nationally, LSTM has over 180 UK-based organisations in partnership supporting the delivery of our research activity.
This diverse portfolio of collaborations provides a rich UK and international landscape of research collaboration and industrial activity. Major LSTM overseas activities include the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome (MLW) Programme, LSTM Kenya, CeSHHAR Zimbabwe, LSTM Tanzania with other NGO’s in DRC, Nigeria, Uganda and Sierra Leone. The strong functional links between LSTM and colleagues in endemic-countries allow the smooth translation of research from bench-to-application. Conversely, the linkages also allow the seeding of new impact-directed research questions from our intervention programmes into our laboratories. Finally, the regeneration through research undertaken in-country activity promotes local economy, enhances UK-country relations and drives up further collaborative opportunity.
LSTM has 3 major strategic objectives within its 2017-2023 strategic plan. First to strengthen the translational impact of activities, second to expand the teaching portfolio and third to plan for growth. These 3 goals expand further into 10 actions that have local, regional and global impact measurements, aiming to:
Expand significantly our teaching portfolio in line with market demand
Identify, attract, retain and develop internationally competitive leaders in translational research
Align our research portfolio with global infection priorities
Ensure that our research focus covers the T1-T4 translational continuum
Ensure that our learning and teaching developments and research activities are aligned and integrated
Accelerate transition of research outputs into health impact
Enable genuine interdisciplinary activity
Enable effective global partnerships with multiple stakeholders in teaching and research
Consolidate and enhance our relationships with major funders
Provide the environment that supports the above
These actions contribute directly to the 3 pillars of LCR/LEP priority and nationally to the UK.GOV Industrial Strategy. Firstly, on productivity: to sustain economic growth by maximising the potential of our sector and to focus on starting and growing more successful businesses by promoting innovations and entrepreneurial activity. Secondly, through people: by improving and increasing skills, developing existing talent and attracting new talent for sustainable growth. Finally, on place: to improve infrastructure, and to protect and enhance cultural and environmental assets. This will improve quality of opportunities for residents and attract and retain investors, skilled workers and visitors who will contribute to growth.
Through our established KQ partnerships, such as the UoL, Liverpool Health Partners, Liverpool JMU, The Liverpool Universities Foundation NHS Trust, City Council, Liverpool Vision and The Hope Street Community Interest Company we have embedded a strong regional response to the knowledge economy within the LCR. LSTM now hosts the largest concentration of medical entomologists in the UK and is one of the world’s most important centres in the fight against malaria and other insect-borne diseases.
Research at the newly built Centre for Infectious Diseases Research is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who have invested more than £500,000,000 into the school. LSTM and UoL joined forces to create a joint enterprise Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research (CEIDR). Translating expertise from across 2 world-leading institutions, CEIDR has been created to develop innovative healthcare and medical technologies to improve healthcare at global and local levels. Supporting this, CEIDR Innovations acts as the entry point for industry into Liverpool's broad infectious disease expertise base.
Aspect 2: Activity
Over the past two decades Liverpool City Region (LCR) has undergone an economic renaissance, with a diversifying economy of innovation, unlocking future economic growth. The LCR has a strong network of scientific and knowledge assets and the strategic value of this is reflected within the city and region wide partnerships.
The LCR, Cheshire and Warrington have the largest concentration of infectious diseases research in the UK. The critical importance of the sector is demonstrated by the speed and efficiency by which the region has focused and mobilised their resources to address the COVID-19 crisis with active research programmes in diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Targeted research funding aligns the best regional science platforms and connects them to a strong and innovative industrial base to deliver new products, which will prevent transmission of infectious diseases agents such as viruses, bacteria and parasites.
Throughout the COVID-19 response, investment in diagnostic technologies at LSTM, initiated in response to the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis, have been rapidly adapted to provide validated diagnostics to meet the needs of the COVID-19 outbreak. It has allowed LSTM and Liverpool to become a test bed for new diagnostic technology development and evaluation trials for COVID-19. To this end LSTM has been central to the validation of lab based COVID-19 anti-body tests and rapid diagnostic tests with multiple commercial and academic partners. With regards to treatment, the concentration of just over 25 ‘category-3’ containment facilities at LSTM and the UoL, essential for the controlled handling of COVID-19, has supported studies into novel small molecule therapeutic interventions with potential for use in man. This has brought together a Liverpool consortium of some 40 scientists who have established a COVID-19 pre-clinical pipeline to identify, prioritise and validate pre-clinical candidates suitable for clinical Phase I and Phase II studies to be undertaken in partnership with LHP. The application of and global partnership opportunities presented by this research have been staggering.
LSTM have a critical role in establishing the link in the infection innovation ecosystem between research, industry and manufacturing to overcome those roadblocks that are in the way of successful product development. Through collaboration between research and industry, we can bring together the best scientific expertise, latest technology and industrial capabilities to develop innovation that will help to protect people for years to come. To be effective and drive LCR economic growth, the ecosystem must extend from assessment of market need, product concept to meet the need, through early stage discovery to generation of new products with relevance to global markets that can be accessed.
To achieve this activity, in June 2020, an LSTM led consortium received £18,600,000 from the UKRI Strength in Places Fund, recognising LSTM, LCR and North West England’s existing world-class expertise, for a 5-year project to deliver integrated therapeutic solutions for human infections. This funding award recognised LCR’s and LSTM’s world-class expertise in infectious diseases. Alongside private sector investment, it supports a five-year project to create eight specialist research platforms for infectious diseases therapeutics aiming to fast-track the discovery, development, evaluation and impact assessment of potential new products and treatments. The consortium, which is led by LSTM, includes the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Unilever UK, UoL, Evotec Ltd and the AMR Centre, based at Alderley Park, Cheshire. LSTM also received a grant of £3,300,000 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to improve product development in the formulation of infectious diseases therapeutics. The grant, which was part of the overall ERDF allocation to LCR, in addition to the £90,000,000 guaranteed leveraged funding that the LSTM-led consortium has managed to assemble in response to the £18,600,000 Strength in Places grant from UKRI. The grant comes via the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, who are working closely with the LCR combined authority to ensure ERDF grant applications are aligned to LCR priorities. Delivering a new approach to public R&D investment aims to boost local economic growth by building on world-class research and innovation capacity. There is great potential for high-quality jobs and economic value for LCR and beyond which interfaces directly with the LCR Single Investment Fund (SIF) award to LSTM/CEIDR-Innovations of £3,000,000 to support job outcomes, pump prime activity and industrial collaborations in the region.
Aspect 3: Results
LSTM have contributed nearly 125 years of investment into city, regional and international regeneration through infrastructure, economy and employment opportunities.
Most recently, LSTM’s joint development of the Liverpool Life Sciences Accelerator (LLSA) building on a former carpark is now central to life sciences business incubation and industrial partnership activity. The £25,000,000 development, opened in 2018 in a partnership with the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has CEIDR-Innovations acting as entry point for industry into Liverpool's broad infectious diseases expertise base. This tenant alone has successfully driven outcomes in the last 3 years through accelerating solutions for existing and emerging infections. Awards have been made in several new collaborative translational projects through its pump rime funding initiative, securing contracts include long-term industry collaborations with large and small organisation collaborations. Of the contracts that have been completed, ten are in part or whole related to COVID-19, reflecting the rapid response capacity of the city. CEIDR-I engaged 8 early stage COVID-19 related projects combined with additional funds from the UoL. A pipeline of 25 potential collaborations are now at stages from early, active discussions through to proposal and negotiation of collaborative relationships. Of these, there are 7 that are COVID-19 related and 18 in other infectious disease areas. CEIDR-I’s ability to respond rapidly was demonstrated through the partnership with the HPRU EZI COVID-19 programme, which allowed LSTM, UoL and the NHS, represented by Liverpool Health Partners, to unite through Liverpool STOP COVID to redirect many of Liverpool's research efforts towards COVID-19. Research programmes are designed to have immediate benefits for public health. The efforts of over 150 researchers, underpinned by equipment and laboratory space across the LCR have made this work possible. Liverpool has a successful track record in respiratory vaccinology and disease prevention. In response to COVID-19, LSTM, with funding from industry, is executing two trials of those potentially infected, one focusing on immunology in bloods and nasal mucosa and bacterial colonisation associated with clinical outcomes and one which takes samples from healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients to assess changes in biomarkers during exposure to or development of infection. LSTM also coordinates the Liverpool node of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine human trial stage.
Also, with a home in the LLSA, the Hemingway team as recipients of the LSTM UKRI Strength in Places programme will engage up to 300 SMEs and coherently network a minimum of 60 regional based Small & Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) with the infection-based research and development at LSTM, UoL Surface Chemistry group and the Unilever microbiology laboratory at the Materials Innovation Facility in a format that will help to drive productivity of the SME sector, and directly increase their potential to access global markets for the resulting products. This will undoubtedly draw further co-location and drive further partnership and innovation through wider impact across the UK.
Globally, regeneration activities are critical, and LSTM has been working to support the growth of medical science innovation and training at Malawi Liverpool Wellcome (MLW) in Blantyre, Malawi. Malawi has approximately 350 clinical doctors to treat a population of 18,000,000 people and developing innovation hubs, expanding training and laboratory space and supporting the next generation of scientists are key objectives of this partnership in Africa. LSTM is supporting the development of the Clinical Research and Training Open Resource (CREATOR) facility at MLW. It will promote clinical and research excellence and collaboration focussed on catalysing new ideas, better health outcomes and improved clinical care for the people of Malawi and the wider sub-Saharan African region. The project has costs of £10,000,000.
For further information, please send queries to kef@lstmed.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
LSTM is committed to engaging the public about its world-class research, locally, nationally and internationally, to promote awareness of global health issues and enhance the significance and impact of LSTM’s research with target audiences and to inspire the next generation of scientists.
Our main aim with public engagement (PE) is to foster trust, build capacity, and empower communities with LSTM’s latest research developments, innovation and interventions. Furthermore, we aim to listen and discuss the challenges faced by communities within resource-poor settings to set the agenda for our research.
PE brings many benefits; ensuring accountability and transparency of our research, generating trust with the communities in which we work and allowing us to be aligned and responsive to our beneficiaries.
Aspect 1: Strategy
LSTM’s Strategic Plan 2017-2023 and approach to Public and Community Engagement (PCE) is a component objective within the Knowledge Exchange (KE) and Innovation strategy. LSTM launched its first Public Engagement Strategy in 2017 with clear aims, objectives and a commitment to embedding the NCCPE’s EDGE tool. Our PE Manager was pivotal in developing the organisational approach to PCE and its implementation. The strategy itself was crafted with consultation across the organisation, engaging with staff, research committee, education through focus events. This was supplemented by using evidence from PCE from research activity conducted with the community of Liverpool, regionally, nationally and internationally.
LSTM demonstrates that its PCE strategy supports organisational strategic objectives through clear referencing and strong alignment between other KE activities contributing to overarching institutional goals. LSTM terms these “Enabling Strategies” and they sit under the 3 strategic goals to further strengthen and expand LSTM’s translational research approach and teaching. Sitting within the Directorate of Communications, PCE enables the synergies required between LSTM researchers, the global public and charitable purpose. Having access to enthusiastic and cultural expertise across LSTM through strong connections to research activity is also crucial to delivering strong outputs and impacts. Governance and oversight is provided by LSTM’s Research Committee, where the terms of reference include objectives promoting and monitoring PCE ensuring delivery of the highest quality outputs and impact. Senior Academics promote PCE and signpost KE co-development opportunities during grant application using peer assessment ahead of any formal submission. This ensures that Researcher Development Frameworks (RDF) are in place to develop researcher competency.
External Funding/Grants - LSTM are beneficiaries of a successful Wellcome Trust ISSF grant, which revitalised PCE at LSTM (£330,000). A further £625,000 has been awarded to LSTM for dedicated calls concerning engagement driven activity. Through an MRC P2D grant, LSTM also supports PCE innovation engagement through the HiVE project. The virtual incubator and engagement platform promote global health innovation through engaging people across borders, sectors and disciplines. Further applications to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (circa £350,000) also support social history PCE. LSTM’s UKRI Enhancing place-based partnerships award for PCE within Liverpool was also successful.
Facilities and Services - LSTM operates facilities such as the Well-Travelled Clinics, with public walk in services offering pre and post travel health advice/service and vaccinations. Known affectionately as the “TropShop”, the long history of LSTM and Liverpool's association with treating travel acquired infectious disease is still supported 123 years later within the city. Diagnostic laboratories support NHS referrals for anyone who requires the service and most recently our work in Covid-19 diagnostics and the Oxford/Jenner vaccine study has further benefitted the Liverpool City region response. Regular tours of the facilities engage the public in the wealth of science specialisms at LSTM, from observing a snake venom extraction in the Centre for Snake Bite Research to delving into the archives of health pioneers.
Aspect 2: Support
LSTM sets out clearly in its support strategy for global PCE objectives, including:
Fostering the importance of PCE within LSTM and providing mentorship for PE activities creating a supportive and stimulating environment.
Highlighting the impact of PCE activities on research and community groups and treating the public as an integral part of our impact strategy (REF2021).
Creating an environment where creativity and innovation flourish, where staff and students are immersed in the culture of PCE early on in their careers and, consequently, increasing staff and student numbers participating in PCE.
Working towards the signing of the NCCPE’s Manifesto for PE and, registering for the NCCPE’s Engage Watermark.
The most active route is by access from programmes to in-house PCE expertise. LSTM is incredibly successful at delivering quality research and has embedded PCE throughout its core activities. This engagement model provides oversight of PCE activity and where internal capacity is supplemented, the PCE Manager steers projects ensuring consistency.
PCE co-production across partnerships has developed in recent years. Partnerships with the UoM on their 4-day Blue Dot festival to the Royal Society Summer Exhibitions provides great network and PCE cultivation opportunities for both staff and students as well as public interaction. Globally, PCE continues to be immersed across the organisation with strong links across multi-disciplinary teams with PCE engagement discussion.
Training in PCE is ad hoc but successful and PCE champions support projects through peer engagement activity. NCCPE delivered an outline PCE workshop to LSTM students, PDRA’s and PI’s with great success. Engagement continues to be strong between the PE Manager and the student body, early career researchers and the wider academic community.
There is strong evidence of activity celebrating and supporting student PCE through the all about STEM programme. LSTM currently has 40 STEM ambassadors who demonstrate the real-world application of STEM subjects and are inspiring role models for young people of all backgrounds.
Embedding the Vitae RDF is planned to further professionalise the access to structured training activities. Finally, the planned introduction of an MSc module in Science Communications will further enhance PCE training.
Where the public can get involved with LSTM they do, and examples of successful engagement is evident through the lay membership of the Research Ethics Committee.
Aspect 3: Activity
LSTM’s objective is to create a diverse programme of activity to stimulate mutual understanding and foster trust within UK/Global communities about Research. LSTM’s website, YouTube, Twitter provide access points to engage with LSTM. This strategy has been particularly successful during the Covid-19 pandemic where Radio and TV exposure has provided staff a platform for science communicaiton.
PCE activity is structured to meet the outcomes of research and projects are engaged with discussion on how and when this is best undertaken. Parallel activity is driven by strategic partnerships (LFC/EFC Foundations), community consultation (TEDxLSTM) and involve a network of engagement through activities at festivals, local network PE themes (community space, museums, schools), or by enabling LSTM staff/student collaboration with specialists from different organisations. Seminar and lecture engagement is prominent from staff and students and Student Blogging provides a peer platform for experience driven communication by PGT/R students.
PCE with Research
Health-Goals Malawi’ - a 3 year project using football as a convenor to engage adolescents and young males aged between 14 and 24 with HIV self-testing. The project aims to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STD’s in Malawi, by raising awareness of support services and educating young people about risk. The project in partnership with LFC-Foundation, supports community leaders and coaches to engage with local youth, who are predominantly hard to reach, and the least likely to access health education and self-testing services.
LSTM’s longest research engagement collaboration, some 70 years with ex-Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) led to world-class research into tropical medicine and the effects of captivity. Captive Memories represents a distillation of the range of FEPOW historical research undertaken at LSTM in partnership with the Imperial War Museum and local schools.
#SWABANDSEND - Is one of the UK’s finest examples of citizen science and an LSTM project with great success globally, it invites and engages the public in the race to find new antibiotics through accessible science. Crowd funded through the purchase of swabs it has engaged thousands over the last 3 years to return swabs that are cultured and tested for resistance against bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
“Galkoff's and the Secret Life of Pembroke Place” was a £2,000,000 heritage lottery funded project in partnership with the National Museums Liverpool to preserve, record and display the heritage of two important sites on the LSTM campus, Galkoff’s butchers' shop and the remnants of the last remaining example of court housing left in Liverpool, at Pembroke Place. 558 participants ranging from 3 to 93 years of age have engaged with the project, including over 125 members of Liverpool’s Jewish community. The exhibition can be viewed in the People’s Republic Gallery of the Museum of Liverpool.
Monitoring and Evaluation - PCE output and impact is well evidenced through quality driven research design as highlighted within the REF2014 performance (6th on impact). Where project M&E of research activity is recorded within ResearchFish, there is strong evidence of M&E to influence future design and practice.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Framework of Evaluation - Evidence of PCE impact, which goes beyond the dissemination of research activity and the numbers of people engaged, is a designed activity. This output evidence is reviewed by the PE Manager at LSTM and through feedback to those undertaking PCE via evaluation briefings and practice sessions. LSTM identify that in effective evaluation listening and critical reflection helps inform good future research design. Evaluation is conducted by the individuals undertaking PCE activities to evidence of how the activity progressed as well as capturing audience feedback. LSTM assess the impact of the PE activities by collating evidence to demonstrate a potential change in target audience behaviour or learning. Where appropriate, LSTM also assess impact in international communities using focus groups and workshops within communities (for example with faith healers, clinicians, health support workers and other representatives) and this will occur before, during and following engagement. Community statements are used to gather/evidence these viewpoints.
LSTM have:
Embedded a framework to support, manage, monitor and assess the success of public facing projects and collate feedback of those staff and students undertaking activities.
Developed a PE reporting mechanism to monitor levels of activity.
Recorded formative and summative assessments of public engagement activities.
The PE Manager also oversees an annual evaluation of LSTM’s PCE activities by utilising the NCCPE’s EDGE Tool, which provides strategic insights into organisational performance.
Outcomes - Where KPI’s on PCE evaluation are available, such as through UKRI’s ResearchFish platform, there is strong evidence to show that at a project level that outcomes, outputs and impacts are met. Records of nearly 500 outputs and 257 unique engagement activities in the reporting period illustrate where LSTM record this evidence. Supplementing this evidence base is a challenge for LSTM and the remaining research programmes will provide outcome driven activity through a broad range of qualitative and quantitative sources. Distilling this at a project level is under the ownership of the project team and if there is good engagement with the PCE Manager or an equivalently skilled collaborator early on, there will be a strong presentation of data evidence to support outcome assessment.
The application of this evaluation process to inform future design of effective and valuable PCE is a critical aspect to the loop of good PCE. LSTM use a wealth of design experience and community driven expertise to ensure this is in place.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
LSTM’s charitable purpose is for public benefit and it fulfils these responsibilities through having due regard for the CC's Public Benefit guidance, publishing an Annual Report to communicate this and demonstrating the benefits that LSTM brings from public funding. The primary benefits are advancement of:
Education and Research
Health
Saving lives
Engagement of the public
The AGM brings together staff, Board of Trustees, partners, civic representatives and the wider public in the celebration of LSTMs achievements and provides insight into ongoing engagement within the region, national and global communities.
There are good examples where responding to needs of community, e.g. during covid-19, has improved the impact of science communication to the broader community. This pull and demand is driven by a need now for reassuring communication. Nationally, feedback from major media outlets has driven the “Follow the Science” narrative, and the public have turned to LSTM for reassurance. This has enabled LSTM to use the platform to the public through media, industry and promote our work in diagnostics, drug discovery and the trial of the Covid-19 Oxford/Jenner vaccine trial undertaken by LSTM.
The LSTM internal reviews of their PCE strategy and implementation plan against the NCCPE EDGE tool is timed ahead of the production of the annual report. There is good evidence of where successful PCE strategies have improved engagement, but it recognises that capacity has limited aspiration at times. LSTM also recognises that there is desire to gather further evidence from staff and community surveys to support the objectives of the PCE strategy and to enhance and deliver its implementation with a wider team.
For further information, please send queries to kef@lstmed.ac.uk