Programme

Thursday 11 February 15.00 - 17.15

Session A  |  HRB Strategy 2021-2025: Health research – making an impact

This session introduced attendees to the new five-year HRB Strategy, taking an in-depth look at several key areas of focus over the next five years.

15.00 - 15.05

Opening and welcome: Dr Mairéad O Driscoll, Chief Executive, Health Research Board

15.05 - 15.30

Keynote: Dr Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, Director General of Strategic Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland

Data in the service of people´s health and wellbeing – case study Finland

15.30 - 16.00

Presentation: Dr Mairéad O Driscoll, Chief Executive, Health Research Board

HRB Strategy 2021-2025: general overview

16.00 - 16.10

Break

16.10 - 16.40

Presentations: The importance of engagement to advance the HRB strategic agenda

  • Dr Anne Cody, Investigator-led Grants, Research Careers and Enablers, Health Research Board

        Funding for researchers and teams – the plan so far

  • Dr Maura Hiney, Targeted Programmes, International Cooperation and Evaluation, Health Research Board

       Targeted initiatives to guide health and social care decision making

  • Dr Teresa Maguire, Director of Research Strategy and Funding, Health Research Board

        Advancing a strategic agenda for health research and data infrastructures

16.40 - 17.10

HRB Strategy discussion and Q&A

Moderator: Dr Muiris Houston, Medical Writer (Medical Independent, Irish Times), Occupational Medicine Specialist

17.10 - 17.15

Closing remarks: Dr Mairéad O Driscoll, Chief Executive, Health Research Board

Friday 12 February 9.00 - 11.15

Session B  |  Futureproofing health research

This session drew upon learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic to address various ways in which researchers can futureproof research projects and grants for unanticipated challenges or events. 

9.00 - 9.05

Opening and welcome back: Dr Mairéad O Driscoll, Chief Executive, Health Research Board

9.05 - 9.25

HRB Impact Award

Who won? And a chat about what they’ve done to deserve it

9.25 - 9.50

Keynote: Professor Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A journal of the plague year: reflections on health research in a pandemic

9.50 - 10.00

Break

10.00 - 10.20

Presentation: Dr Teresa Maguire, Director of Research Strategy and Funding, Health Research Board

COVID-19: reflections from a national funder’s perspective

10.20 - 10.40

Presentations: Adapting research during the pandemic – researcher solutions

  • Dr Sara Burke, Research Assistant Professor of Health Policy, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin

        'Living the LIFE' - shifting the focus from the regions to the COVID-19 health system response - co-
        producing evidence to inform Sláintecare’s implementation

  • Professor Fionnuala Breathnach, Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

        Overcoming the challenges of running a randomized drug trial in pregnancy during the Covid-19
        pandemic

10.40 - 11.10

COVID 19 panel discussion and Q&A

Moderator: Ian Brunswick, Head of strategic Academic Engagement, Science Gallery Dublin

11.10 - 11.15

Closing remarks: Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, Chief Executive, Health Research Board