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Information about the IDRN

Infections are an important and growing concern for many clinical specialties across the NHS. High quality infectious disease research often requires effective multidisciplinary collaborations involving clinicians in several centres, laboratory scientists, epidemiologists, economists, mathematical modellers and others. The Infectious Disease Research Network (IDRN) aims to promote such collaborations, provide multidisciplinary training opportunities, and act as a forum for encouraging high quality infectious disease research.

The IDRN was established in 2002, and is funded by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development (NCCRCD), with an overall aim to improve the quality, quantity and relevance of infectious disease research in the UK. One of the key successes of the network has been the participation in our activities of hundreds of researchers from the medical schools, the NHS, Health Protection Agency, Medical Research Council, UK Clinical Research Collaboration, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and many other institutions.

As a result of the success of the pilot Network within London, the IDRN has awarded continued funding for a further three years from April 2006, and is now actively working with researchers across the country.

The IDRN sends out a regular monthly email, with the latest funding and training bulletins, and news of ID-related events. We send mailshots in between the monthly communication, citing specific funding or training opportunities (members receive approx one email a week).

Researchers Database

The researchers’ database is a tool researchers can use to link up with colleagues in collaborative work. Researchers can use the database to:

Whether looking for research design methodologists, specialist facilities or simply a speaker for your event, this on-line database of researchers can help.

It is searchable by three categories of disease area. These are: -

General infection groupings, e.g. airborne disease, gram positive organisms, zoonoses
Specific disease/infection, e.g. hepatitis B, measles, rhinovirus
Cross-cutting themes, e.g. antibacterial resistance, infections in pregnancy, travel medicine
The database can also be searched by a non disease-specific area of expertise, such as epidemiology, drug abuse, mathematical modelling, and also by geographical location.

There is also a free text facility to search for specific names, job title and institution. As of May 2008, there are over 1200 researchers registered on the database.

Funding bulletins

The IDRN has put together a bulletin that identifies sources of funding for infectious disease research. This is updated and emailed out to members on a monthly basis. The content includes:

• Grants that are availabe to support your research
• Fellowships and scholarships
• Meeting prizes
• Travel grants

As our searches identify a wide range of opportunities a major part of the workload is classifying these into subject areas so that members can rapidly identify those that are relevant to their interests without needing to read the whole bulletin. A “What’s new?” section is also included, to allow readers to quickly see what funding sources have been added to the bulletin this month. The bulletin has hyperlinks to different subject areas and to more detailed information on the internet.

Funding calls that are considered to be of particular importance will also be communicated to members outside of the regular monthly updates.

http://www.idrn.org/bulletins.php

Training bulletins

This bulletin identifies available training opportunities. Content includes:

• Short courses, on subjects such as clinical trials, governance, statistics as well as infection-specific short course
• Postgradute study, in infection-related subjects
• Upcoming conferences and workshops

As our searches identify a wide range of opportunities a major part of the workload is classifying these into subject areas so that members can rapidly identify those that are relevant to their interests without needing to read the whole bulletin. The bulletin has hyperlinks to different subject areas and to more detailed information on the internet.

Training calls that are considered to be of particular importance will also be communicated to members outside of the regular monthly updates.

http://www.idrn.org/bulletins.php

IDRN events

The IDRN has hosted a variety of events, including multi-disciplinary research strategy workshops, and training events on current research issues.

Workshops have been held in topic areas including tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, bioterrorism, prison health, hepatitis, sexual health, food -borne infection, and Acinetobacter & ESBL-producing organisms

We have also run training courses on the EU Clinical Trials Directive, and Methods in Molecular Microbiology. A training event on the Human Tissue Act is planned for March 2007.

Protocol development groups

Protocol development groups (PDGs) can arise from research strategy workshops or are formed in response to funding calls or at the request of researchers. The IDRN provides administrative and academic support to protocol development groups and aims to ensure that the groups include appropriate multidisciplinary involvement. Protocol development groups provide an opportunity to explore potential research projects in more detail than is possible during research strategy days. Please contact us if you would like us to convene a group on your behalf.

Background work undertaken by the IDRN to support protocol development groups can include:- literature reviews to ensure the work is not duplicating existing work and to inform study design, conducting power calculations to assess the feasibility of projects, obtaining information on the likely numbers of patients available or conducting analyses of existing data that could inform the project.

Advertising jobs

The IDRN has set up a jobs page that lists current employment opportunities related to infectious disease research. This includes jobs such as research assistants, associates or fellows, project managers, and lecturers. The page is regularly updated. Vacancies are arranged in order of closing date, and there are links within the listing for further information about that post.

See http://www.idrn.org/jobs.php for vacancies currently being advertised.

Research Mapping Exercise

On an annual basis we will conduct detailed searches of the National Research Register to identify infectious disease research projects that have been initiated. The information on the National Research Register is open-access and free to reproduce. We will produce listings of research being undertaken in different subject areas and in different regions. These listings will allow us to identify potential new members and complement the researchers’ database by allowing researchers to identify collaborators in their region/subject area (see http://www.idrn.org/mappingexercise.php for further information).

Work already completed includes analyses of the NRR for projects initiated between January 2001 and June 2004.

Security & Data Protection

The IDRN and Intendance, the website hosting company, ensures the security of the data held, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Researchers in the database specify to whom they would permit access to their record (there are different levels of privacy that you can apply to your personal details). Access is provided accordingly.

Registrants to the database are also expected to treat the data that they access in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The complete Data Protection Act is available at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm (this link will open up in a new window)

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