We recently hosted our third annual in-person CARINA Network meeting at Conference Aston in Birmingham on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 July. We'd like to say a huge thank you to all the speakers, presenters and attendees who contributed to the success of the meeting. The CARINA Management Board brought together a varied programme that boasted a wide range of excellent speakers and facilitated great discussions between network members. We welcomed around 40 attendees over the course of the two days, and hope that those who came and took part in the meeting found it enjoyable and useful.
Day one
Following an introduction from CARINA Chair, Arne Akbar, we kicked off proceedings with some important breakout discussions, addressing cross-discipline collaboration in ageing research. Attendees shared their thoughts on how CARINA members are currently working with researchers outside the field of immune ageing, discussed the opportunities and benefits of working collaboratively with other specialists and considered the barriers that are preventing deeper collaboration, such as lack of diversity and bureaucracy.
After a short break, the meeting reconvened to welcome CARINA’s Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) representative, Debs Smith, for a panel session on public involvement within ageing research. It was a pleasure to hear from Debs about her years of experience in putting PPI at the heart of research, and about the recent PPI training that was delivered free to CARINA members. To close the first day of the meeting, we had spotlight talks from three CARINA members, who discussed their latest work in the field of immune ageing. There was a mix of research shared from both senior and early career researchers, and it was a great opportunity for attendees to hear about the breadth of research in this area.
Day two
The meeting’s momentum continued with an inspiring keynote speech from Professor Chris Buckley who spoke on ‘The implications of the Human Cell Atlas for research in immunity and ageing’. He discussed the impact and potential of the Human Cell Atlas, and how the Atlas is revolutionising research on the ageing immune system. This keynote was followed by more spotlight presentations from CARINA members which resulted in a morning filled with excellent immune ageing research and highly interesting discussions.
Next, we heard from Lynne Cox, Co-Director of the UK Ageing Network, followed by BSI CEO, Doug Brown. These talks contextualised the second breakout session, during which attendees explored the current momentum of CARINA and how this could be maintained going forward as the Network’s ’s funding comes to an end. Members considered who the CARINA Network should be engaging with in the future, how CARINA’s work could be sustained in the long term, and what connections CARINA members currently have that the Network could utilise.
Our huge thanks go to the funders of CARINA, BBSRC and MRC, for funding this meeting.
We want to hear from you!
Attendees should now have received an email containing a link to a feedback survey. Please do take the time to fill this out and tell us about your experiences at the meeting. It is only through hearing your thoughts that we can make future network meetings even more relevant and successful.