Partner events: Special one-off events
Driving Innovation Through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (and beyond)
Tuesday 20 January 2026, 12-1pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building (and on Teams)
Facilitators: Nick Bull and Archie Kubba.
Join us for an introduction to the Innovation and Business Partnerships team at the University of Sussex. We’ll explore how Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) connect businesses with academic expertise to deliver real-world impact. Alongside KTPs, discover other ways we can help from fostering industry collaborations and securing funding, to supporting research commercialisation and innovation projects.
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Dedicated Writing Day for BSMS researchers
Friday 23 January 2026, 9am-4pm, Meeting Room in MRB
If you are working on a paper, a fellowship or a grant proposal, a report, an impact narrative, or any other writing project and need a distraction-free time and space then come along to the writing day. These sessions aim to provide you with a supportive and quiet environment to make significant progress on your deferred projects. Refreshments including lunch available. Spaces are limit. To register please email t.jones@bsms.ac.uk
Supporting Research & Innovation across Kent, Surrey & Sussex
Wednesday 28 January, 2-3pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building and hybrid
Facilitator: Dr Claire Rosten, Translational Research & Implementation Lead, Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex
The Heath Innovation Network's remit is to spread innovation at pace and scale, improving health and generating economic growth. We transform lives through innovation by supporting health and social care teams to find, test and implement new solutions. In this session, I will cover how Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex supports research and innovation activities across the South East. I'd be interested in discussing how we may be able to support staff at BSMS by providing expertise to clinical and academic entrepreneurs developing new innovations they wish to deploy within the health and care systems; with the design of translational research and implementation projects & grant applications to drive research into practice, and for wider collaborations between industry, academia, local communities, and health and social care providers.
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Ethnography: Discovery of the Ordinary
Thursday 29 January, 2-3:30pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building
Facilitator: Professor Shahaduz Zaman
Zaman is Professor of Medical Anthropology and Global Health at BSMS. This talk examines the foundational principles and methodological approaches of ethnography, highlighting how close engagement with everyday life reveals the social, moral, and institutional structures that shape human experience. It will discuss how ethnography’s immersive, relational, and reflexive methods allow researchers to uncover meanings that are often hidden in plain sight. Drawing on examples from global health and beyond, the talk explores how the ethnographic lens transforms the ordinary into analytical insight, challenging disciplinary assumptions, deepening contextual understanding, and expanding what counts as legitimate knowledge in research, policy, and practice across diverse social and cultural settings.
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Special Impact Seminar: The Zombie Effect: A Re-Analysis of Three Network Meta-Analyses of Antidepressants for Depression in Children and Adolescents
Monday 2 February 2-3:30pm (via Teams)
Speakers: Martin Plöderl, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria and Richard Lyus, Cambridge Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK
What is the evidence for the effectiveness of the most commonly used - and the only licensed - medication for depression in children and adolescents? The speakers will discuss their examination of the major meta-analyses that address this question and shows why clinical guidelines may need to be updated to remove medication from the recommended interventions. Session leader: Dr Arianne Shahvisi.
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Beyond Stereotypes: Building knowledge about Neurodivergent experience in the workplace.
Friday 6 February 2026, 10-11:30am, Meeting Room, Medical Research Building and via Teams (Hybrid)
Facilitators: Seb Shaw, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Education, Gemma Williams, Honorary Visiting Lecturer and Tyler Jones, BSMS Research Coordinator
This session is a BSMS All-inclusive staff workshop to raise awareness of the experience of neurodivergent colleagues in the workplace. It will focus on the difficulties neurodivergent individuals face day-to-day, the best practices that account for the way neurodivergent brain works, and how together we can create a better, more supportive environment where everyone can thrive equally from researchers and academics to professional services staff members. If you are neurodivergent, or know someone who is, or just curious and would like to know more about this interesting condition and how it may affect people you work with, come along to this friendly, interactive environment where everyone is welcome and questions are encouraged.
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Becoming an Independent Researcher: Three useful perspectives
Wednesday 4 March, 3-4:30pm Meeting room, Medical Research Building
Facilitators: Professor Nigel Leigh, Professor Mel Newport and Professor Chris Pepper
The facilitators will share their insights into becoming an “independent” researcher based on their own experiences. This session is particularly useful for Early to Mid Career Researchers, final year PhDs, MDs and Academic Clinical Fellows. The key focus will be on discussing leadership skills, navigating academic expectations, building a research niche, securing funding, managing collaborations, and developing confidence in your own research identity.
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Advancing Dementia Care: Research Priorities and Strategic Vision at Dementia UK
Thursday 5 March, 2-4pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building
Facilitator: Alison Ward, Deputy Director Research, Evidence, Impact at Dementia UK
This presentation explores the work of Dementia UK, a charity dedicated to supporting families and people living with dementia through its specialist Admiral Nurses. The charity’s research priorities focus on three key areas: young onset dementia, particularly the impact on children whose parent has a diagnosis; the challenges faced by people living alone or those caring from a distance; and the complexities of living with multiple health conditions alongside dementia. These areas reflect growing needs in dementia care and aim to inform more responsive, person-centred support. Dementia UK is committed to expanding its reach, influencing policy, and investing in research that improves outcomes for families. Looking ahead, the charity’s vision is to ensure that no one faces dementia alone, with care that is accessible, equitable, and informed by lived experience. This talk highlights current projects, future goals, and the importance of continued collaboration in shaping dementia care. Alison will showcase a card game, Storytelling Connects, which has been codeveloped with Simon Williams, Associate Professor in English Language at University of Sussex. This will be a practical demonstration of the game and how it can support communication and spark the imagination for those who are living with dementia and other cognitive conditions.
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Careers outside academia
Wednesday 15 April, 2-3:30pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building
More details to follow.
Impact Elevator Pitch workshop
Thursday 16 April, 2:30-4pm, Meeting room, Medical Research Building
Facilitator: Deeptima Massey
The workshop offers an opportunity to deliver a 3-minute “elevator pitch” on your research and to learn how other researchers are making impact a priority. Participants will spend dedicated time refining their impact ambitions through peer discussion, identifying key audiences, routes to impact, and practical next steps. Researchers who have attended previously are welcome to return and share how their impact goals and activities have developed over the past 12 months.
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Explore our partner-run events through the webpages listed below. These events are open to health and care academics across Sussex. Please see read the specific event details for further information and guidance on registering.
Click to University Hospital Sussex NHS Foundation Trust Events >
Click to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Events >
Click to ARC KSS Events >