Held at The Studio in Birmingham, the UKTMN conference provided a dynamic platform for trial management professionals to come together to engage in learning, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. Through interactive sessions, thought-provoking presentations, and engaging panel discussions, attendees gained access to best practices in trial management, delved into the latest advancements in the field, and exchanged experiences and knowledge with fellow professionals.
Senior Trial Manager Jared Robinson said: ‘The UKTMN conference was a great opportunity to listen to presentations on a wide range of trial management issues, join in with discussion groups on platform trials, regulatory updates and inclusivity, and network with other Trial Managers from around the UK. TMs from the CTU also displayed posters on key trial management achievements for trials, including ALABAMA and PRINCIPLE .’
Senior Trial Manager Lucy Cureton spoke on the 'Platform Trials' panel in the afternoon. She said ' I felt fortunate (and worried!) when the UK TMN asked me to be a part of a discussion panel at their annual conference. I was asked to sit alongside Lucy Fletcher from NDPH and Francesca Schiavone at UCL, and take questions from the audience about platform trials. Initially, I was worried that no one would have any questions for us, but Francesca’s excellent talk on adaptive platform trials earlier in the day must have got people’s minds working - we had so many questions and comments that it was a struggle to fit them all in! The questions and resulting discussions were lively, challenging and intelligent; I learnt a lot from my panel members as well as the trial managers in the audience. The UK TMN conferences are excellent networking opportunities and it’s always great to see what new thoughts and ideas are conceived when trial managers are brought together in one place.'
The Clinical Trials Unit was well represented in the poster room. Charlotte Latimer-Bell and Ellie Newbery presented a poster on ‘The diverse recruitment pathways in the PRINCIPLE Trial; How a large-scale COVID-19 study used alternative site models and centralised recruitment to diversify participant recruitment methods.’ Click here to access an interactive map of greenlit sites for the PRINCIPLE trial .
Charlotte enjoyed the conference, saying : ‘It was great to attend the first UKTMN conference since 2019! I appreciated the insightful presentations and posters about the changes in trial management since the pandemic, and the day provided a nice opportunity to network with other research units.’
Jared Robinson, Mona Koshkouei and Micheal McKenna also presented a poster on the PRINCIPLE trial, titled ‘The PRINCIPLE Trial; A case study of how IMP for a large-scale de-centralised platform trial can be fully managed from an academic CTU’.
Trial Manager Kelsey Armitage presented a poster on the ALABAMA trial titled ‘Adaptations required to manage the challenges of recruiting in primary care.’
Kelsey said: ' I thoroughly enjoyed attending the UKTMN conference. The presentation on the use of platform and adaptive trials and how these have progressed and increased in popularity was particularly insightful. The presentations focused on innovative trial designs and the ideas presented will certainly be food for thought when setting up future studies.'
The UKTMN empowers trial management professionals to achieve excellence in clinical trials through active learning and the sharing of knowledge. The network has been hosted by the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham since July 2018, with funding provided by the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford.