A glorious afternoon took place on 2 November bringing people together face-to-face for the first time since 2019 as the Trust hosted its 19th annual Research and Innovation half-day conference. Taking place in Charterhouse Square, a new venue for the event, attendees were able to hear about 14 studies underway in the Trust ranging from epidemiological studies to clinical trials and qualitative work. It attracted over 100 people with 300 more watching the livestream.

The first half of the event was chaired by Steve Gillard, Professor of Mental Health, at the School of Health Sciences, at City University of London. While Claudia Cooper, Professor of Psychological Medicine and Lead of the Centre of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Queen Mary, University of London as well as an honorary consultant psychiatrist at ELFT, chaired the second half.

For those unable to travel to London in person were able to engage meaningfully with the speakers by posing questions via mentimeter.  But for those attending in person, there was the opportunity during the break to network with representatives of our research partners including the local North Thames NIHR Clinical Research Network and Applied Research Collaboration UCL Partners, Research Design Service London, Noclor Research Support Service, and ELFT’s own R&I team. 

The noise levels during the break reflected how long people had waited to meet and how much they had to say to each other!