Annual Report 2024
Activities
Since the last report in February 2024, our SIG has had four online meetings as planned, each providing a forum for researchers from different backgrounds and institutions to meet and discuss their research, as well as make valuable contacts. We also forged links with the Women’s Health SIG.
Thursday 18th April 2024 We summarized the strategic plan at this meeting. We also created a new channel of communication using MS Teams and used the sample platform for online meetings. We also discussed a patient/public voice in sexual health research and how we could include them in future meetings.
We agreed some topics and plans for the future meetings for the rest of the year. We experimented with having meetings at different parts of the day and different days of the week to facilitate attendance of clinicians.
Wednesday 3rd July 2024 SAPC ASM pre-conference meeting The members were presented with the details of the strategic plan for the SIG going forward. Dr Rebecca Mawson also presented her work on research priority setting and exploration with women living with HIV in Sheffield.
Monday 23rd September Two topics were presented and discussed at this meeting. Dr Richard Ma discussed his experiences of involving the public in his PhD research. Ms Alisha Newman – SRA / Patient and Public Involvement lead at University of Bristol presented some guiding principles and useful resources on working with PPI. Dr Lisa Shah from Warwick University presented her work on imposter participants in research which generated lots of discussion.
Wednesday 22nd January 2025 The topic for this meeting was “Failures and Rejections”. Dr Richard Ma presented his experiences of grant rejections. This resonated with many of the participants as we shared stories of rejections and other failed grant applications and how difficult it was for some academics. There were some useful learning and reflections for support. Dr Rebecca Mawson introduced her students doing intercalated BScs on topics such as contraception needs in neurodivergent, transmasc and non-binary individuals assigned female at birth.
Future Plans
We will use the SAPC ASM pre-conference meeting to plan the next few SIG meetings and topics. We are also planning a social the Monday evening before the conference.
Evidence of impact of the SIG
The SIG has provided useful forum for early career researchers to share information, foster collaborations and offer support. Several members of the SIG have been involved in collaborative projects and grant applications.
Outcomes from SIG meeting at last SAPC ASM
We discussed PPI as a topic and this was presented at the September meeting. Some early work on research priority setting with women living with HIV by Dr Rebecca Mawson in Sheffield has been developed further by Dr Richard Ma in Bristol who has been awarded a small grant to plan a workshop locally.
How affiliation with SAPC has helped the SIG
SAPC has facilitated the development of this SIG by providing a space and forum for interested researchers. It has been gathering momentum in the last 12 months and we hope this may continue