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            <link>/ace/blog/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-reflections/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Reflections]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Following the horrific attack at Brown University in December 2025 our colleague Kristin, who joined us from Brown, shared her incredibly moving reflections with us at an all-staff meeting. With her permission, we are sharing those same reflections here to a wider audience.
EDI is about dignity, safety, and&mdash;ideally&mdash;feeling loved, across the many ways we experience and express our humanity in our communities: at work, in our cities, and in our homes. I haven&rsquo;t lived in the city I was born in for 25 years. Like many of us, I first moved for school and then for work. As adult,&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/the-edinburgh-clinical-trial-management-course-2024/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[The Edinburgh Clinical Trial Management Course - 2024]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 10 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Members of the CHaRT and ACE teams collaborate with the University of Edinburgh to deliver the Edinburgh Clinical Trial Management. The 2024 course was in November. Four of our CHaRT colleagues and one of our PhD students attended the course as delegates. Some reflections from them on the course below.
Azar Alexander-Sefre, PhD ResearcherI attended the Edinburgh Clinical Trial Management Course as I&rsquo;m considering trial management after my PhD, and it was incredibly insightful. The sessions were engaging, especially the workshops that allowed me to apply what I learned. My key takeaway was the pivotal role of the clinical trial&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/ace-team-members-reflect-on-attending-ictmc-2024-conference-in-edinburgh/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[ACE team members reflect on attending ICTMC 2024 Conference in Edinburgh]]></title>
            <pubDate>Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Last month saw many of our ACE team attend the International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference 2024 in Edinburgh. We had a great spread of presentations across the 4 days featuring nine oral presentations, 16 posters, and contributions to workshops and spotlight sessions. Our contributions spanned a range of topics and included input form our trial managers, statisticians, programmers, research fellows, PhD students, and beyond. Some of their highlights are shared below.
Rumana Newlands - Research FellowThis was the BEST ICTMC I have attended so far. The location and venue were perfect for enjoying a wide range of talks from different&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/my-2023-summer-internship-at-hsru/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[My 2023 Summer Internship at HSRU]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Hi, I am Emilia Piltonen and this is my experience of working as an intern during summer 2023 at HSRU. I was a part of the &lsquo;Designing Greener Trials&rsquo; research team for two months working side by side with Professor Katie Gillies and Dr Beatriz Goulao. I want to take the opportunity to thank both Katie, Beatriz and others working at HSRU for their kindness and assistance during the internship. As this was my first internship and working within this department, I had little knowledge of how things were operated, but through guidance and a welcoming spirit, the workplace felt&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/what-its-like-to-be-involved-in-implementation-research-a-personal-testimony/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[What it's like to be involved in implementation research: a personal testimony]]></title>
            <pubDate>Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[During the pandemic, healthcare organisations have embraced remote patient-to-provider communication methods, including asynchronous consultations. An outpatient asynchronous consultation allows a patient to communicate online with a hospital's nurse or doctor without being available at the same time. HSRU researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from NHS Grampian and public partners, undertook a study focused on the staff, patient experiences, and the public's readiness for these outpatient consultations in Grampian. Mike Melvin from&nbsp;ACVO, a public contributor and co-investigator, shares his personal journey of involvement in this project.
&ldquo;It was fantastic to be part of the ACORN research team which considered asynchronous consultations&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/reflections-on-the-hsruk-conference-perspectives-of-a-public-contributor/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Reflections on the HSRUK Conference: Perspectives of a Public Contributor]]></title>
            <pubDate>Fri, 07 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[By: Peter Flockhart (public contributor from HSRU Public Involvement Partnership group) &amp; Dr Magda Rzewuska D&iacute;az (Advanced Research Fellow, HSRU Patient and Public Involvement Lead)
The bustling and culturally rich city of Birmingham served as the perfect setting for this year's HSRUK conference, providing an ideal backdrop for the range of inclusivity-focused research topics covered. From exploring the transformative power of public involvement in research to delving into the world of digital health services, not to mention the crucial discussions on addressing disparities and understanding underrepresented groups, it was an exhilarating rollercoaster of knowledge and thought-provoking discussions. What made this&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/innovation-at-the-end-of-life-centre-for-death-and-society-annual-conference/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Innovation at the End of Life: Centre for Death and Society Annual Conference]]></title>
            <pubDate>Tue, 09 May 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[While the Care in Funerals project formally wound down a little while ago, its rich dataset still holds plenty of potential for further analysis, thinking and writing.
Jennie Riley, Vikki Entwistle and Arnar Arnason took the 2023 meeting of the Centre for Death and Society annual conference as an opportunity to begin teasing out some of the complexities surrounding funeral personalisation, choice and planning. Jennie Riley presented these during a panel session, joined by Vikki for the Q&amp;A session following the 15 minute paper.
You can view our slides and accompanying presentation script via this PDF.
Our article exploring &lsquo;hybrid&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/summary-of-project-findings-now-available/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Summary of project findings now available]]></title>
            <pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Last week we shared this summary of project findings with people who had participated in the Care In Funerals project. We are now pleased to share them more widely.
Academic papers and the Care in Funerals online casebook resource are in progress and will be available soon.
Care in Funerals project summary
&nbsp;
Please click here to take you back to the Care in Funerals website. 
Please note, all comments will be moderated so may not appear immediately. If you wish to remain anonymous in your comment please put down initials or solely a first name.
&nbsp;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/ictmc-2022-reflections/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[ICTMC 2022 Reflections]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Its been one month since a number of our staff attend their first in person conference since 2019, ICTMC 2022 in Harrogate, and what a great conference to come back to. A number of our staff (and our new MRC Doctoral Training Programme in Trials methods PhD students) share their highlights below.
Azar Alexander-Sefre - PhD Student (1st Year)I attended ICTMC in the first week of starting my PhD, after only ever having spoken with my supervisors a few times and without any real expectations of the conference itself. During the first session I attended, I was immediately put at&#8230;]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Death and Culture IV - Presenting our findings on caring for dead bodies]]></title>
            <pubDate>Thu, 06 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[On 9th September 2022, Jennifer Riley's pre-recorded presentation was shown at the fourth &lsquo;Death and Culture&rsquo; conference, this year hosted at York St John University.
Our paper was entitled Conceptualising Care for the Corpse: the pandemic as a lens for examining values and practices related to care for the deceased body. We used some of the rich interview data gathered for the project to illustrate what care for, and interaction with, the deceased body looked like during the pandemic in the UK &ndash; both how these were disrupted, and how individuals and organisations responded and adapted.
Drawing on our participants&rsquo;&#8230;]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Reflections on HSRUK 2022]]></title>
            <pubDate>Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Three members of HSRU staff were able to attend their first face-to-face conference since the pandemic, the Health Services Research UK conference in Sheffield July 5-7. Here they share some reflections.
Heidi (Research Fellow with particular interest in trial methodology, health inequalities, and inclusive research)
HSRUK 2022 was my first experience of this conference, and my first conference experience since before the pandemic hit. I decided to get the train there so I could make the most of keeping on top of my to do list whilst travelling and arrived in Sheffield for day 2 of the conference. I met&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/tolerating-bad-health-research-the-continuing-scandal/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Tolerating bad health research: the continuing scandal]]></title>
            <pubDate>Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[My mum has used the same potato peeler for 57 years. Okay my dad has replaced the wooden handle but the blade is the blade of a peeler bought in preparation for their wedding and life together. I know, flashy. My parents are practical people. Other potato peelers have appeared, only to be quickly exiled to the back of that drawer of random kitchen implements that we all have. Potato peelers are not created equal.
And so it is with randomised trials. To think they are all as good as one another would be careless. While some trials are very&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/institutions-and-death-the-care-in-funerals-panel-presentation-at-the-centre-for-death-and-society-annual-conference/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Institutions and Death: The Care in Funerals Panel Presentation at the Centre for Death and Society Annual Conference]]></title>
            <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[On 9th and 10th June 2022, several members of the Care in Funerals research team had the pleasure of attending the annual conference of the University of Bath&rsquo;s Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), hosted online. The theme this year was &lsquo;Institutions and Death&rsquo;.
In addition to an interactive session in which we introduced and demonstrated the project&rsquo;s ethics casebook, we also hosted a panel presentation &ndash; four short papers, each focussing on an &lsquo;institution,&rsquo; illuminating something of the role these institutions played in death care during the pandemic. After Abi Pattenden&rsquo;s introduction to the project, we opened with Arnar&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/handle-with-care-attending-to-the-dead-body-during-the-covid19-pandemic/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Handle with care: attending to the dead body during the Covid-19 pandemic]]></title>
            <pubDate>Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The Care in Funerals project is investigating what can be learned from disruptions to UK funeral provision during the COVID-19 pandemic, and from how people adapted to those disruptions. In this blog post, Jennie Riley and Vikki Entwistle focus on practices involving the dead body.
Dead human bodies have multiple meanings. Any particular body might be - all at once, and to several different people or to the same person - a beloved relative, a vessel for a soul embarking on its next stage of life, a source of forensic evidence, an object which is rapidly decaying, and more. These&#8230;]]></description>
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            <link>/ace/blog/remote-and-rural-healthcare-in-rural-grampian-experiences-differences-and-changes-to-medical-care/</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[Remote and rural healthcare in rural Grampian: experiences, differences and changes to medical care]]></title>
            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Providing healthcare for people in remote and rural areas is a priority for The Scottish Government. The COVID-19 pandemic meant lots of changes were made in the way healthcare appointments were provided. We want to explore the public&rsquo;s perspectives on accessing and receiving healthcare in rural areas across Grampian during the pandemic and how these are changing the experience of rural and remote healthcare.
We will be exploring topics such as eHealth technologies, access to face-to-face appointments and ongoing care, to better understand the experiences, differences and changes to medical care for people living in rural areas of Scotland.
We&#8230;]]></description>
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