Creating connections in the North West

A morning of presentations, workshops and discussion surrounding industry-academia collaborations, with a particular focus on partnerships in the North West. This is open to the Royal Society Industry College network, which consists of current and former award holders of the Royal Society Industry Fellowship, short Industry Fellowship and Entrepreneur in Residence schemes. All three schemes were established by the Society to help facilitate research translation and strengthen the links between industry and academia.

This session, the first regional members meeting, will provide a space for members to speak, share ideas, and discuss potential future partnerships and projects for the UK Young Academy. It will also allow opportunity for members to discuss what they wish to achieve from future regional meetings and possible regular agenda items that can be trailed at upcoming meetings.

Liverpool is a city at the leading edge of innovative public health responses, and with a rich history of tackling emerging infections. During COVID-19 the city of Liverpool’s civic leadership, academic institutions and health infrastructure combined powerfully to develop a city-wide public health research response, which has thus able to address the controversial role of mass testing, and determine how to safely reintroduce large public events. The collaboration led to the most agile public health response seen across the nation. Liverpool also led the national study of hospitalised Covid-19 patients, which provided vital information to SAGE.

As we look to the future, Liverpool and the region will be central to accelerate the response to current and future emerging infection threats, unifying intelligence and generating scientific excellence with societal impact for all. Liverpool has a unique ecosystem, including the University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Infections Innovation Consortium (iiCON) and The Pandemic Institute, bringing academic, civic, health and industrial partners together, including major vaccine manufacturers.

This will also be critical in providing comprehensive end-to-end capability across the pandemic lifecycle, a game changer that will allow the world to respond at pace in the race to prepare for the next pandemic.

This is a joint session with the Academy of Medical Sciences and The Pandemic Institute.

How does the UK sustain and build a thriving innovation ecosystem?

Science and technology will be essential in delivering the advances that underpin the future prosperity of society. The UK has a strong base of world-leading research. Yet structural challenges remain unresolved, and a stop-start policy environment creates unnecessary uncertainty that is unhelpful to innovators, researchers and investors alike. In particular, a “valley of death” of funding remains for companies at the stage of post-discovery but pre-commercial research and testing. This session will seek to identify and address what the most significant structural challenges are, how they are successfully navigated, and how they can be resolved in the future.

This session will inform the development and messaging of the Royal Society Society’s Science 2040 programme, which seeks to articulate a long term vision for the future of the UK science system as a whole.

The Royal Society's career development programme for our funded researchers focuses on advancing careers and nurturing future research leaders.

We invite our award holders and Fellows of the Royal Society to join us in exploring the skills essential for early career researchers to establish leadership and independence. The discussion will also seek to examine the skills required to establish and foster successful collaborations that drive innovation, maximise research outcomes and respond to societal needs.

This session is invitation only. To request an invite, please get in touch with the Engagement team.

Open science initiatives are becoming increasingly part of in the scientific landscape, with proponents noting they increase the pace of discoveries, reduce duplicated effort and more effectively communicate cutting edge research to the wider public. As the movement develops, what questions and considerations are emerging for researchers? This workshop from the Royal Society journals team will bring together members of the scientific community to spark discussion on the value of open science, what it means to researchers, and what hurdles we have yet to overcome. The interactive session will explore how the open science movement is impacting scientific outputs, provide an opportunity to hear from other researchers and enable you contribute your thoughts to the conversation.

In this session, members of the UKYA and invited industry representatives will engage in roundtable discussions to cultivate working relationships, facilitate collaborations, and explore learning and development opportunities.

For UKYA members, this session is an opportunity to forge connections and shape future initiatives with industry partners, which is a core part of the remit and mission of the UKYA. Members will explore how the Young Academy can work with industry representatives in its activities and work programmes and ensure that the views and experiences of early-career industry professionals are represented in its membership.

Industry professionals will meet some of the UKYA’s exceptional members, a diverse group of early-career professionals, including researchers, innovators, clinicians, and entrepreneurs. Each of our members have made significant contributions to their field and share interest in advancing interdisciplinary work. The session will not only facilitate the exchange of knowledge and explore the experiences of early-career individuals who are passionate about tackling the societal and global challenges of today but will serve as a unique opportunity to network and foster relationships beyond the event.