Welcome to the Institute of Metabolism & Systems Research (IMSR). The IMSR research portfolio ranges from fundamental discovery science right the way through to translational activity, where research findings are put into clinical practice.
IMSR researcher, Olivia Grech
A unique aspect of the IMSR is our progressive philosophy towards public and patient engagement and involvement. We value these activities and we continue to embed them in our work. We do this because we believe IMSR research is highly relevant to society and that meaningful involvement can improve the quality and impact of research itself – through ensuring it responds to the priorities, concerns and desires of those the research ultimately hopes to benefit.
The IMSR Public Engagement and Involvement Strategy has been drafted in consultation with our research community as well as with feedback from public and patient voices. We encourage you to read this on our ‘We Are IMSR’ blog. Whilst we engage broadly with many different public groups, our strategy has a strong focus on engagement and involvement with:
- Patients or ‘Lived Experience’ groups
- Young People
- Charities & Organizations that support patients and/or young people’s STEM education
Public engagement training
We Are IMSR features information about upcoming public engagement events and opportunities within the IMSR. Explore the site to discover existing projects, such as our artist-in-residence programme as well as patient involvement initiatives. You can also hear from researchers in the IMSR who are especially passionate about their engagement and involvement work. We endeavour to keep this blog up to date and to make improvements based on evaluation and feedback received.
SMQB Artist-in-Residence: Artist, Vicky Roden
IMSR plays host to an annual We Are IMSR open day and we look forward to hopefully welcoming you to one of these future events.
A big thank you must also go to IMSR’s research funders and charity partners for their support not just across our research programmes, but also through their ongoing commitment to public and patient engagement and involvement. From lab tours, talks and workshops through to scientist-artist collaborations and community projects, we look forward to continuing to work with funders, learned societies and charities on meaningful initiatives going forwards.
Acknowledgement
IMSR is very grateful to the Society for Endocrinology for their generous support of our public engagement activities, including a recent grant awarded to Dr Caroline Gillett. Working together with IMSR’s Community Action Team, the funding will be used to engage children and their families with hormone-related science this summer. We are excited to develop this programme of age-appropriate activities and we will be sharing updates on our blog. We thank the Society for Endocrinology for being a key ally in IMSR’s public engagement mission to engage and inspire the ‘next generation’ of diverse scientists with the fascinating and enduring discipline of endocrinology. Find out more here.
Finally, the University of Birmingham is a proud recipient of the NCCPE Silver Engage Watermark (awarded in 2018) which shows a high-level of commitment to this agenda from University leadership:
Professor Sir David Eastwood
Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham
“Innovation and engagement are at the heart of everything we do in Birmingham. We are committed to engaging with a wide variety of publics to improve the design and delivery of research and learning, exciting people about knowledge and discovery, and ensuring that our work makes an impact. We are enormously proud to have been awarded a Silver Engage Watermark and see it as a great opportunity to further develop our commitment and excellence in public engagement.”
In the meantime, explore the blog, look out for regular online events and feel free to get in touch for a chat. Don’t forget you can also connect with IMSR on social media:
Facebook: facebook.com/IMSRUoB | Twitter: @IMSR_UoB #WeAreIMSR | Instagram: @IMSR_UoB