CrickConnect and the British Heart Foundation are delighted to invite you to join us at an exclusive panel discussion:

The Research World Post COVID-19: Making up for lost time and funding, capitalising on increased public profile, interest and understanding.

The global pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives and society, causing previously unimaginable disruption. Its impact has been keenly felt in the biomedical research world, with researchers, institutes and funding organisations all having to adapt their plans and operations. Life-saving and changing research has been put on hold, fundraising activities have been stymied, and many institutes, the Crick included, have found themselves rapidly pivoting to face the greatest global healthcare challenge in a century. Amongst the many challenges have been opportunities, and the race to create a vaccine has led to unprecedented attention, support and funding focussed on the biomedical and healthcare research sectors.

With the UK's vaccine programme advancing and an end to the pandemic hopefully in sight, we look to the future and ask: What will the research world look like after COVID-19?

For this in-depth discussion, we have drawn an expert panel from across the Crick and BHF, and are excited to be joined by the BBC Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher, who will lead and moderate the conversation.

The panel includes:

• Prof. James Leiper - James was recently appointed as the BHF's new Associate Medical Director. As Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Glasgow and formerly MRC Programme Leader at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, James brings vast knowledge and experience of research organisations at the highest levels to the panel.
• Dr. Rashmi Priya - Rashmi joined the Crick as a Junior Group Leader in January 2021. She has a wealth of international experience, having completing her postdoctoral research with Didier Stainier at the Max Planck HLR in Germany, her PhD in Australia and her Masters in India. Her research is funded by the Early Career Group Leaders initiative, a funding partnership between the BHF and the Crick.
• Prof. Brigitta Stockinger - As Crick Associate Research Director, Gitta has had a distinguished career in biomedical research, including being made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013. Gitta contributed to the Crick's COVID research strategy in the early days of the pandemic.

Each of our panellists offer a different perspective on the pandemic and its impact on research, from helping to steer a major research funder through COVID-19 to moving country and opening a new lab in the middle of a lockdown.