Our first Sandpit event will focus on adding value to existing Long COVID data through statistical and mechanistic modelling to develop new project ideas with potential for real impact for Long COVID patients. BIOREME will award up to £10,000 to support new collaborations arising from this sandpit.
The deadline for Expression of Interest has now passed, but if you are interested in attending please e-mail us.
Dates: 13 - 14 September 2022
Location: The Monica Partridge Building, University Park Campus, The University of Nottingham, UK (in-person event with option to join remotely)
Registration fee: £25 with optional dinner and accommodation at additional cost
Confirmed invited speakers
Prof Chris Brightling, University of Leicester, Lead of PHOSPC trial
Prof Jim Wild, University of Sheffield, EXPLAIN project
Dr Mark Faghy, University of Derby, COMMIT study
Dr Binita Kane, Manchester University Foundation Trust, Consultant Respiratory Physician and Long Covid Kids Champion
Prof Danny Altmann, Imperial College London, WILCO Long COVID study
Prof Resia Pretorious, Stellenbosch University, Professor of Physiological Sciences
Dr Philip Quinlan, Director of Health Informatics, University of Nottingham
Patient Advocates
Who is it for?
We aim to bring together a diverse range of expertise to explore these challenges including researchers, clinicians, industry and charity representatives. We welcome experts from areas including but not limited to mathematics, data science, imaging, biological sciences, and engineering.
Starter Challenges
We have outlined three key challenges that we aim to address using the diverse range of expertise this event will attract. We anticipate these will evolve as discussions and ideas develop during the sandpit.
Can we demonstrate, through combination of quantitative and qualitative data how important the problem is? Can this raise awareness and provide evidence to funders and policy makers?
How can data from the different trials and studies be combined to draw correlations; can this generate new hypotheses?
Can data from the different trials and studies be combined to inform new mechanistic models to provide insight into causes and test hypotheses that arise from data analysis?
Impact
Our key goals for this sandpit are
To identify key research challenges for Long COVID that can be addressed using the data presented and the expertise of the participants.
To spark new interdisciplinary collaborations that will propose solutions to these challenges
To fund follow-up activities (e.g. workshops or meetings) that will enable these collaborations to develop competitive grant proposals
To publish a statement piece in an academic journal to outline the challenges and proposed solutions developed in the sandpit.
Publication of Outcomes
A medical writer is attending the event to summarise the presentations and discussion sessions into a meeting report. Subsequently, this will be developed into a peer-reviewed academic publication taking into consideration the wider literature in this area. This piece will highlight opportunities for data-driven approaches, including biophysical modelling, to add real value to Long COVID research and discuss what further experimental evidence is needed. This piece will provide expert and patient-informed justification to strengthen future funding applications in this area.
Seed funding details
The £10,000 seed funding will support further activities for successful projects to mature into competitive grant applications. This may include e.g. a grant-development workshop focussed on the particular problem identified, or the collection of pilot data to support a grant proposal. Note that funding will be awarded at 80% FEC and so the award is conditional on agreement between the awarded institution(s) and BIOREME, which will need to be reached after the event. Note that the final funding awarded to successful proposals will be expected to fall within 10% of the original cost proposed at the sandpit and need not use all of the funding available. Depending on the costings proposed at the sandpit, it may be that more than one proposal can be funded. The BIOREME team will facilitate onward activities that develop from this funding.
Potential funding calls
Regardless of which proposal(s) is(are) awarded funding on the day, we encourage all new collaborations formed to consider ways they can develop their proposals into competitive grant applications. The BIOREME Team will be happy to provide a Letter of Support for proposals arising from the sandpit and to facilitate with reviewing the application prior to submission, given sufficient notice. In particular, we highlight the following funding calls that participants may be interested in:
UKRI:MRC - Build on existing COVID-19 infrastructure, partnerships and resources Closing dates Round 2: 11 Jan 2023, Round 3: 10 May 2023
NIH: NIH Long COVID Computational Challenge (L3C): AI/ML models to predict susceptibility and likelihood of developing PASC/Long COVID. Closing date: 15 Dec 2022
How can I sign up?
The deadline for the Expression of Interest form has now passed, however there are still a small number of places available. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail us at contact@bioreme.net.