Seminar Series

We host a regular seminar series, providing the opportunity to hear from members of our BRC community across our five research themes, with representation across a variety of career stages, ranging from our Senior Investigator Fellows to PhD students.

We hold regular seminars for colleagues across our partnership and additionally for patients and the public, keeping people at the heart of our research.

Format

One hour seminars, followed by a networking lunch for those attending in-person, are delivered in a hybrid format to help ensure equity of access. We would encourage in-person attendance where possible to make the most of the networking opportunity.

The in-person location will rotate between Streatham (LSI), St Lukes (South Cloisters) and the RILD for fairness across all research groups.

Find the details of upcoming seminars and book your free space below.

Upcoming Seminar

Join us for our next NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre Seminar where you’ll have the opportunity to hear from Dr Graham Boniface.

Date: Tuesday 14 January, 2025.

Time: 4.00-5.00pm (GMT), followed by refreshments and networking.

Location: The seminar will take place at St Luke’s Campus (room TBC). In-person attendance is encouraged to facilitate networking, but to ensure the event is accessible to all, a virtual link is also available.

Please note that a new Stagecoach line 4 University service is now in operation, providing free transport between campuses. Further details can be found here.

Email Dr Sophie Gould to register for this free event

Talk and speaker information

Speaker: Dr Graham Boniface

Exercise Dose and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Insights from My PhD Research.

This talk delves into the findings of Dr Graham Boniface’s PhD, which explores exercise dosing in rheumatoid arthritis through three studies. The first study, a systematic review, examined how exercise dose is developed in clinical trials. The second analysed data from the SARAH trial, the largest RCT for hand exercises in rheumatoid arthritis, linking dose to participant and therapist characteristics and clinical outcomes. The third used judgment analysis to uncover how therapists decide on exercise dosing for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Graham Boniface is a health services researcher at Healthcare Improvement Scotland. With a background as a physiotherapist and 20 years of experience in the NHS across England and Scotland, he brings a wealth of practical and research expertise. Graham has previously served as a research associate at the University of Oxford and recently completed his PhD at Brunel University London. His research focuses on rehabilitation in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), specifically advancing the understanding of exercise dose development and prescription in clinical practice.

Speaker: Professor Sallie Lamb

Strengthening And stretching for Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Hand (SARAH) trial

The SARAH (Strengthening And Stretching For Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Hand) trial addressed the lack of evidence around tailored hand exercises in providing additional improvements to control of disease activity and joint damage in people with rheumatoid arthritis of the hand, alongside disease-modifying biological agents and other drug regimens. The trial, which took place over a 12 month period, was able to show that a tailored hand exercise programme is a worthwhile, low-cost intervention alongside various drug regimens.

Sallie Lamb is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, at the University of Exeter. An internationally recognised scholar in ageing, disability, and rehabilitation, she is also an experienced methodologist in the area of clinical trials and high-quality evaluation of health care practice. Sallie is Director of the NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), she has a strong commitment to improving the lives of older people through excellent research that answers difficult questions and can inform policy making and commissioning.

Coming soon…

Date: Tuesday 21 January, 2025.

Time: 12.00-1.30pm (GMT), followed by refreshments and networking.

Location: RILD Building Lecture Theatre, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford)

Email Dr Sophie Gould to register for this free event

Speaker: Dr Marriane Hollyman on rehabilitation

Speaker: Dr Jean-Claude Njabou Katte on diabetes

Speaker: BRC PhD Student Marty Frith on Neurodegeneration

Full details of this seminar will be added in the coming weeks.

Seminar Schedule 2025

• 4th March
• 22nd April
• 3rd June
• 15th July
• 9th September
• 21st October
• 2nd December