Message from Organisers
Skin@Bath Network Symposium 2022
Welcome Message
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the members of the Organising Committees, we would like to welcome you to the “Third Skin@Bath Network Symposium” which will be held from 14th-16th December 2022 in the historical venue Guildhall (High Street, Bath, BA1 5AW) as a hybrid event, both in person and virtual attendance.
The purpose of the Skin@Bath network symposium is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for innovative projects in skin photoprotection as well as skin-related drug design, delivery, and therapy of chronic inflammatory skin disorders and skin cancer both at national and international levels.
We envision that networking through this symposium will attract unprecedented collaborations to apply for ground-breaking program grants and strategic global funding programs in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry to tackle the unmet needs of individuals/patients. This will translate research into the development and delivery of innovative approaches and therapies for skin photoprotection and skin-related disorders, respectively.
We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases, which provides administrative support and some sponsorship for the conference, as part of their work to bring clinicians and scientists together to progress rheumatology research, education, and patient engagement.
We are very pleased to also continue our partnership with China-UK Skin Consortium led this year by Prof.Kaiyong Cai the Dean of College of Bioengineering at Chongqing University on the topic of “Biomechanics and biomedical engineering” and in collaboration with Profs Li Yang, Mingzing Lei, and Julia Li Zhong.
The last two events in 2017 and 2019 attracted over 140 delegates in the form of invited speakers (45), invited chairs, company sponsors (Abbvie, Biofrontera, Blueside Photonics/ColorDyne LTD, Derm Eyes/Dermocular, i-On skincare, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, La Roche-Posay/L’Oreal, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB ), and delegates (Academics, Postdoctoral fellows, Postgraduate students, Undergraduate students, industrial delegates, Dermatologist and Rheumatic consultants and medical trainees). International speakers and delegates joined us from as far as China, the USA, Canada, Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, and Israel.
The excellent nature of the scientific program of previous events was recognised and accredited by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (12 Category 1 CPD credits, course code RCP 116003).
This year we have also applied for accreditation from the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom for 12 category 1 (external) CPD credit(s) under course code 140832.
As well as increasing collaboration across clinical specialties and disciplines in skin research, one of the main aims of the Network and symposia is to encourage young clinical and scientific investigators and trainees to take part and lead in skin research.
In keeping with this goal, we have introduced the lunchtime sessions, which will run as two concurrent 60 minutes sessions. The trainee session is aimed at clinical and scientific trainees as well as post-graduate professionals. This year the tutorials/talks will focus on carrying out research when in a clinical job; a dedicated talk on NIHR Clinical Research Network and how to support dermatology research and an example of research with impact by introducing a university of Bath spinout. In addition, these sessions will introduce several skin-related disorders and their screening tools and treatments.
We have also introduced a travel bursary to financially support the participation of young researchers and medical trainees either at the postgraduate or early stages of their careers.
Many of you will travel long distances to attend this meeting in the historic city of Bath. Some of you will visit Bath for the first time whereas others have been fortunate to visit the city before. Although we will have a very intense scientific program over the next two days, we have also been able to organise a reception dinner on the 12th which we trust will provide a relaxing networking opportunity at what is a particularly special time of the year in the run-up to the Festive period. We trust that during the meeting you will have plenty of opportunities not only to renew old friendships with long-term collaborators but also to establish new collaborations. We also hope that in the future we will be able to look back on this meeting in Bath as the second of a regular series of symposiums devoted to skin.
We wish you a fruitful and pleasant stay in Bath.
Best wishes, Charareh Pourzand and Caoimhe Fahy