HRB Online Conference 2020 - Trust and truth in health research

Professor Declan Devane

Scientific Director, HRB-Trials Methodology Research Network, Director of Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Cochrane Ireland, Professor of Midwifery, NUI, Galway

Declan is the Director of Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Director of Cochrane Ireland. He holds the Chair in Midwifery and is Deputy Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway. He is also Scientific Director of the HRB-Trials Methodology Research Network, and Principal Investigator with the INFANT – Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research. Declan trained as a nurse and a midwife, meandered (with the help of opportunity, interest and luck) his way into trial methodology and evidence synthesis and his work now focusses on a blend across midwifery (and broader maternity care), randomised trials and how they are done and synthesising evidence.

Professor Edzard Ernst

Academic physician and researcher

Edzard Ernst is a retired academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was formerly Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the first such academic position in the world. Professor Ernst is/was founder/Editor-in-Chief of three medical journals (‘Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies’, ‘European Journal of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation’ and ‘Perfusion’). He has been a columnist for many publications (BMJ, GP, PJ, The Guardian, The Independent, The Spectator, etc.). His work has been awarded with 17 scientific awards (most recent: John Maddox Prize 2015 and Ockham Award 2017) and two Visiting Professorships (Canada and USA). He served on the ‘Medicines Commission’ of the British ‘Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’ (1994 – 2005).

Margaret McCartney

GP, author and broadcaster

Margaret McCartney is a GP in Glasgow, author and broadcaster. She is senior fellow for Evidence and Values at the RCGP, and an honorary fellow at the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford. She has a strong interest in evidence, professionalism, screening and risk. Margaret is the author of Living with Dying and The Patient Paradox, she is currently working on her third book. She has won prizes from the Medical Journalists’ Association and the European School of Oncology, as well as the Healthwatch award. She blogs and tweets as @mgtmccartney.

Dr David Moher

Clinical Epidemiologist

Dr. David Moher is a clinical epidemiologist, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, where he directs the Centre for Journalology. He is also an associate professor, school of epidemiology and public health, faculty of medicine, university of Ottawa. Dr. Moher is an associate director of the International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication, a METRICS affiliate, Stanford University, chairs the EQUATOR Network, and is a member of the REWARD Alliance executive. Dr. Moher spends his time trying help to improve publication science.

Dr Maura Hiney

Head of Post-Award and Evaluation at the Health Research Board Ireland

Dr Maura Hiney is currently Head of Post-Award and Evaluation at the Health Research Board Ireland, which manages and evaluates a funding portfolio of approximately €200M and develops appropriate policies for health research. Maura has a strong interest in research Integrity (RI) and has been influential in raising awareness of RI issues in Ireland and internationally since 2007. She was deeply involved in establishing a National RI Forum of key stakeholders and developing a national RI framework for broad adoption. Internationally, Maura is a board member of the European Network of RI Offices (ENRIO) and chaired the Science Europe Working Group on RI which developed key reports on this area. She was also a contributor to the European Competitiveness Council Conclusions on RI in 2015 on behalf of the Luxembourg Presidency. She is currently the Royal Irish Academy nominee on the All European Academies (ALLEA) Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics and chaired the drafting group of a revision of the European Code of Conduct on RI, which was launched by Commissioner Moedas in March 2017. She sits on the Policy Advisory Boards of the EU-funded ENTiRE and VIRT2UE projects, which conduct research on RI climate and training, and is a partner in the SOPs4RI project, which is developing a suite of SOPs for managing good research practices and plans.

Mark Little

Journalist, Broadcaster, Digital Entrepreneur and Storyful Founder

Digital media entrepreneur, author and former journalist and broadcaster Mark Little brings energy, gravitas and currency to the many events around the world where he speaks on topics ranging from innovations in technology to the disruption that social media can bring.

Mark’s wit, incisive thinking and broad worldview make him an agile, responsive chairman and a versatile keynote speaker and master of ceremonies who can command a room with ease.

Measured and pragmatic, yet with a rare ability to think on his feet, he understands the difference between information and knowledge in a technological age where data – and the challenges of analysing it – threaten to overwhelm us.

Dr Eileen Culloty

Post-doctoral researcher

Dr Eileen Culloty is a post-doctoral researcher at the Dublin City University Institute for Future Media and Journalism where she leads research on countering disinformation as part of the H2020 project Provenance (grant no. 825227). Specifically, she is investigating how to use information supports to challenge false beliefs and dissuade people from sharing disinformation. She has given invited presentations on this topic to the OECD High Level Risk Forum (2018) and UN International Organisation on Migration (2019).

Professor Anita Maguire

Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork

Professor Anita Maguire is currently Vice President for Research & Innovation at University College Cork. Following studies at UCC (BSc Chemistry 1985, PhD 1989), and postdoctoral research experience in Namur, Belgium then at the University of Exeter, UK, Anita returned to UCC in 1991 to establish an independent research team.

In 2004 Anita was appointed as the first holder of the Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCC. Anita leads a research team focusing on synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry, which interacts extensively with the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and internationally.

Her research interests include development of new synthetic methodology including the use of continuous flow, asymmetric synthesis including biocatalysis, and the design and synthesis of bioactive compounds.

She is actively engaged in national policy development in research and innovation, especially in relation to PhD education and the university – industry interface.  For example, she chaired the Advisory Science Council Task Force on The Role of PhDs in the Smart Economy, and she is the inaugural Chair of the National Forum on Research Integrity in Ireland established in 2015.

She was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2014 and Vice President of the Royal Irish Academy in 2019. She was an Adjunct Professor in the University of Bergen, 2011-2016.