News and events

ISMRM2023 Toronto report
Dr Samira Bouyagoub from CISC has recently attended the annual conference of ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) in Toronto Canada that meet to promote education, communication, research, development, applications, and the availability of information on magnetic resonance in medicine and biology. ISMRM is always a great opportunity to present and discover the latest research in the field of MRI. This year was a particularly important edition of the conference with the launch of the ISMRM African chapter that aims to promote MRI in Africa, increase membership & presence of African MR researchers at ISMRM, support continuing MRI education in Africa, and encourage collaborative research among the diverse multi-lingual research population in Africa. Dr Bouyagoub has a pivotal role within the inaugural committee of the chapter and attended a number of meetings in Toronto to implement a strategy to nurture collaborations with researchers in Africa and African diaspora worldwide working on MRI, particularly on the emerging low Field MRI. Dr Bouyagoub said, “As a proud African, this is a very dear initiative for me as it strengthens the links between the subject I love and the continent I love. I am looking forward to an exciting future of research in MRI and I take my role within the chapter very seriously." One of the first tasks for the inaugural committee of the ISMRM Africa chapter is to finalise the details of the first ever Africa Chapter conference on 25-27 September 2023 in Accra, Ghana. For those interested to attend in person or virtually, please contact Samira on s.bouyagoub@bsms.ac.uk.
New podcast: Dr Deborah Ikhile
BSMS researcher Dr Deborah Ikhile was recently interviewed by AudioMedica.com, an Audio Journal of Oncology. Her interview was part of the global cancer inequalities series and she spoke about her research on access to breast cancer detection in Black African women. Her research and interview highlight the significance of promoting culturally appropriate breast health education at individual, community and health system levels.
Listen to the podcast here >
BSMS hosts career development event
On Wednesday 19 April, Dr Deeptima Massey, BSMS Research Manager, and Dr Liz Ford, Early Career Researcher (ECR) Lead, hosted a career development event focused on applying for fellowships. Fellowships are especially important for early career researchers as they allow research staff without an open-ended contract to be both lead applicant on the grant and have their full salary paid. Usually, fellowships will also allow the applicant to start to build their research team or ‘lab’ and their research reputation. The event featured eight speakers including Prof Sarah Newbury, who talked about her experience of being on a fellowship funding panel; Nicky Perry from the Health Research Partnership; Prof Jorg Huber from the NIHR Research Design Service; and four current fellowship holders, including BSMS colleagues Drs Simon Mitchell and Jimena Berni. Each talk gave a different insight into how to approach writing a fellowship application for success, as well as how to prepare for interview stage. Deeptima and Liz are happy to spend time with any individual looking to write an application for a fellowship, and wider support is available throughout the school and the partner universities.

A social itch: an evening of film and social science exploring a neglected infectious disease
On 8 November, researchers from BSMS ran a general public film screening and Q&A at the Towner Art Gallery Cinema in Eastbourne, called The Social Itch. The event, led by Gem Aellah from Global Health and Infection at BSMS, was funded by small grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science. It explored how film and social science can be used to better understand the multi-layered meanings of disease and disease outbreaks.
Read the full story here >