Research Project Manager Ross Forsyth shares his highlights from this year’s British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Conference.
June seemed like a safe bet for a sunny conference trip. Hail stones and a fallen tree on the train line wasn’t what we pictured when we gladly accepted our slots at this year’s BCS Conference.
Regardless of the weather, the conference proved to be an excellent opportunity to share our work with the cardiovascular community.
Our first session, part of the BCS’s ‘Hot Topic’ series, focused on the ECG Open Challenge which took place at the end of 2024. The session featured an engaging and insightful presentation from Professor Michelle Williams, who gave a behind-the-scenes look at how the Challenge was designed and delivered. The highlight was announcing the winners – an exciting moment that celebrated not only the individuals but also the spirit of collaboration and innovation that drives the field forward.
The second session was a broader overview of the work happening at our Centre, chaired expertly by our Interim Director, Professor Steffen Petersen. This session was kicked off by our PPIE contributor Julian Meldrum, who gave a powerful overview of his journey from diagnosis to shaping projects that will impact the lives of others with cardiovascular conditions. Professor Reecha Sofat gave an example of this work, describing the enhancement of cohort data and the increased efficiency in data linkage being brought about by the UK Clinical Cohorts TRE (UK CliC).
Dr Tom Bolton then provided an overview of the work of our Health Data Scientist Team – highlighting the range of projects that the team have supported, and the wealth of resources generated for the benefit of the cardiovascular research community.
Finally, it was fantastic to hear from one of our ‘frequent flyers’, researcher Dr Ramesh Nadarajah, highlighting examples of how the BHF Data Science Centre has supported his important research.
The questions from the audience demonstrated a clear interest from the community on the work of the Centre, with one audience member explaining that working with the Centre has been:
A game changer for how I do research, both in terms of the speed of access to data and the quality of the support and resources that are available
A huge thank you to the team members who gave presentations and to the British Cardiovascular Society for hosting such a dynamic and thoughtful event.
We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation and, with a bit of luck, a sunnier June next year.
