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BASL has set up a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs), which are linked to the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network (CRN) topic areas.

The End of Life SIG has been active for one year, with an initial lead appointed by the BASL Committee. BASL is now seeking nominations for an elected Lead for this SIG.

Eligibility requirements:

• All nominees should be members of the End of Life SIG, as a BASL member or as an associate member of BASL through being a member of the SIG

• Each nominee should have a proposer and seconder, who should also be BASL members or associate members through the End of Life SIG

• The initial Lead can stand for election once

• Should a contested election be held, BASL / End of Life SIG members may vote in this

• The elected Lead will serve for two years, when there will be a further election.

Nomination process:

Please send nominations to the BASL Secretariat at Samantha@basl.org.uk by 17:00 on 22nd March 2019

If more than one candidate is nominated, the Secretariat will arrange for an election, in which all BASL / End of Life SIG members may vote

Should an election be required, candidates will need to submit a personal statement of up to 300 words

The successful candidate will be elected by a simple majority of those members voting

Any queries should be addressed to Samantha@basl.org.uk.

The role of the SIG Lead
A SIG is expected to meet at least once a year. The BASL secretariat provides administrative support for SIGs, which includes creating and maintaining SIG member databases, arranging meetings and associated materials, and arranging publicity.

The role of the SIG Lead includes:

• Chairing SIG meetings and co-ordinating actions to be pursued

• Helping to co-ordinate bids for funding for trials and other research, and linking with the NIHR and other funders

• Ensuring the SIG is recognised and supported within the Metabolic CRN topic area

• Reporting on SIG activities to BASL, in particular via liaison with BASL’s Research Subcommittee.

The 2019 ACCEA (Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards) round opens on Thursday 7th February 2019 and closes at 17:00 on Thursday 4th April 2019.

DEADLINE for applying for BASL support is 09:00 THURSDAY 7th MARCH 2019.

BASL will need to have completed the process of selecting those applicants who will receive our support well before the ACCEA deadline date.

If you wish to be considered for a national award in the 2019 round and you would like to seek BASL support, please complete and submit a copy of your ACCEA Application Form to BASL, along with any other supplementary CVQs; e.g. Research & Innovation (Form D), Teaching & Training (Form E), Medical Leadership & Managing a High Quality Service (Form F)

Applications should be sent to the BASL Secretariat to Judy Hawksworth at judy@basl.org.uk .

When submitting your application to BASL, please provide the name of an individual who has agreed to write your supporting citation. Please note: we will need to request a citation for every applicant even if the member is not successful in gaining BASL support, in order to meet the tight deadlines imposed by the ACCEA.

ACCEA regard the citations provided by BASL as important: they give added value to the process. The citation helps clarify information in the application and can put an individual's contribution into the wider context."
Eligibility

As in previous years BASL are able to support colleagues directly by nomination for national Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. As a specialist society, BASL cannot make nominations for Platinum awards; this must be done through the applicant’s University/Research Body and Universities UK. BASL can however provide a citation to support an application for a Platinum award.

How to apply for BASL support:

1. Send a copy of your completed ACCEA Application Form and other supplementary CVQs to the BASL Secretariat to judy@basl.org.uk by 09:00 on THURSDAY 7th March 2019. You must be a BASL member to request their support.

BASL also requires a short piece on your work with BASL and why you feel you should be supported by them. 

Please understand that in fairness to all applicants, late submissions will not be considered.

All applications are completed through the ACCEA on line system. The link to apply and downloadable copies of the application form and CVQ’s can be found on the ACCEA website and are intended to help those who wish to work on their application offline before completing them on the online system.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clinical-excellence-awards-2014-application-forms  

Full application guidance can be found on the ACCEA website, including the use of the Supplementary Forms;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clinical-excellence-awards-application-guidance 

2. When submitting your application to BASL, we ask that you provide the name and email address of an individual who has agreed to write your supporting citation upon sending your application. Please note: we will need to request a citation for every applicant even if the member is not successful in gaining BASL support, in order to meet the tight deadlines imposed by the ACCEA. 

3. Applications are scored independently by members of the BASL Committee.

4. If you are successful of BASL support then BASL will upload your citation to your application on the ACCEA website. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have completed your on line application to the ACCEA as per their instructions and regulations.

5. BASL will upload their supporting citations separately to their ranked lists. Individual scores are not submitted to the national panel but a ranked order for each award category is stated.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact judy@basl.org.uk . 

Two grants of up to £40,000 each are available for research studies on any topic within the spectrum of paediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.
These awards are envisaged as development grants for the collection of pilot or proof-of-concept data that will enable a high-quality competitive application to be made subsequently to a research council or other large funder, such as the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

The grant call is open to clinician and scientist investigators, including Academic Clinical Lecturers, based at a UK university or hospital. The principal applicant must have a contract of sufficient length to cover the duration of the research project. At the time of applying the principal applicant must have their salary guaranteed for the entire period of the research project. This award is not for a fellowship; the principal applicant must not be a fellow though co-applicants may be. Funding will be available only in the UK. Only the direct costs associated with the project will be funded. Overhead allocation or other indirect costs, and salary of applicants which are already covered by other funding, will not be allowed. Equipment or capital costs will not be funded either. The maximum duration of the projects should be 24 months.　

For further information and to apply: https://gutscharity.org.uk/research/grants-and-awards/guts-uk-bspghan-grants/

Deadline: 5pm 2nd April 2019. The awards will be announced in early June.

If you have any queries about these awards please contact: Alice Kington, Finance and Research Manager at Guts UK . Telephone: 020 7563 9994. E-mail: research@gutscharity.org.uk .

Applications are invited for a 3 year funded Clinical Research Fellow post for an individual to undertake a PhD in the field on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and regenerative medicine using state of the art techniques, working with Dr Michael Allison in the Liver Unit, Cambridge BRC, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and Professor Ludovic Vallier at the MRC Stem Cell Institute and Sanger Centre. Applicants are expected to be at the Speciality Registrar level with previous Hepatology experience. Participation in the on-call Hepatology rota is essential at a frequency to be discussed. The successful applicant will also have the opportunity to attend all the educational opportunities the Liver Transplant Unit, the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and the Campus offers.

For further information, please contact Dr Michael Allison - michael.allison@addenbrookes.nhs.uk .

Protecting and improving the nation’s health.

New, more effective treatments are available for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can improve outcomes and cure the infection in most people.

To ensure as many eligible people as possible are treated, Public Health England is supporting the NHS in contacting people – and informing their GPs – if they have been diagnosed with HCV in the past but may not have cleared their infection. These patients will be offered a test to determine whether or not they have the active infection and, if so, will then be assessed for treatment.

Some people may be aware of their diagnosis and have cleared the infection spontaneously (1 in 5 people do) or have been successfully treated. However, if anyone is unsure of their HCV status and thinks they may be at risk, they should contact their GP to arrange testing.

Read the PHE and NHSE press release here >  Download FINAL-4 HCV Monitoring Report Nov 18.pdf

For more information on HCV please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hepatitis-c/ 
You can find the new PHE treatment report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hepatitis-c-treatment-monitoring-in-england  
You can find assets for the reengagement exercise here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hepatitis-c-patient-re-engagement-exercise