On the 9th and 10th June 2015, the CLAHRC WM held its second annual Scientific Advisory Group meeting in Birmingham. Attendees agreed that the event was a great success, with the ‘speed dating’ in particular, deemed a hit for both Advisors and Researchers!

The purpose of the Scientific Advisory Group is to provide scientific advice on the research planned within the programme and to contribute to building capacity through the development of ideas around the epistemology of science.

Day 1 started energetically, with spirited discussion generated by Prof Richard Lilford and Dr Sam Watson’s presentation on modelling causal pathways in health services, and subsequent critique from Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite (University of New South Wales), who argued that health services are so complex that they cannot be measured by quantitative means. This was followed by the first of our ‘speed dating’ sessions, where the four service themes posed research questions and issues to each of our four panels of experts on the following topics: Implementation and Study Design; Modelling, Mathematics and Statistics; Study Design and Economics; and Implementation Science.

After lunch, Dr Karla Hemming and Mr Alan Girling presented their world-leading research on the stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial study design, which was then critiqued by Prof Jon Nicholl (University of Sheffield). Prof Max Birchwood then gave an overview of the research done by the Mental Health in Young People Theme (2), which led to the re-commissioning of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Birmingham.

The inaugural Matched Funders Forum was embedded in Day 1, which provided an opportunity for Chief Executives of Trusts that have provided matched funding to interact with our stellar international faculty, and contribute to the strategic development of the CLAHRC WM programme. Talks from the CLAHRC WM Director, Prof Richard Lilford, and Chair of the SAG, Prof Jeremy Grimshaw (University of Ottawa), sparked some interesting debate about the role of the CLAHRC and how it can deliver on the objectives set out in the NIHR bid.

Discussions continued onwards into the SAG dinner, which featured a witty and thought-provoking after dinner speech from Mike Cooke, himself a former CEO; as well as a news-blog related quiz, rather embarrassingly won by me!

Day 2 of the SAG event started with a roundup of Day 1’s key messages given by Prof Alan Cohen of the University of Boston. Unfortunately, the next speaker, Dr Gill Combes, was taken ill, and Dr Celia Taylor stepped in at the last minute to give an overview of their multi-morbidity research, alongside PPI Advisor Magdalena Skrybant who kindly gave a very relatable and eye-opening insight into her experiences as a service user with multiple morbidities.

More speed dating sessions ensued, followed by talks from Dr Yen-Fu Chen on publication bias in service delivery research; and Prof Aileen Clarke and Dr Sian Taylor-Phillips on their ‘Where’s WALY?’ work, which generated so much lively discussion among the Scientific Advisors that we almost overshot our finish time! The conclusion of the event was a short round-up of the event from Chair Jeremy Grimshaw, who commended the CLAHRC WM for the outstanding research they are conducting and wished us well for our future work.

-- Hannah Dodd, CLAHRC WM Programme Officer