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Research Conference 2025
Venue Information
The CNTW Research Conference 2025 will be held in the Montgomery Suite of the Stadium of Light, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, SR5 1SU.
On-site parking is available free of charge and conference attendees have been allocated the red and yellow car parks for use. The venue is within walking distance of both St Peters and Stadium of Light Metro stations.
Stadium of Light - Visitors Map
We are thrilled to invite you to the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) Research Conference 2025.
The conference will include a keynote speech by Ben Hetherington, who was treated at Walkergate Park after his bike collided with a car during a road bike race. Amazingly, he went on to be the first ever Paracycling National Champion at Thruxton Motor Circuit 3 years after his intensive rehabilitation, and he now has ambitions to compete in the Paralympics.
The rest of the day is packed full of interesting research being led by and conducted within CNTW, with lunch provided for attendees. A full agenda and speaker bios for all of our exciting talks is available to download now:
Conference agenda
Meet the speakers
We are delighted to announce this years sponsors:
Akrivia Health
Akrivia Health is a precision neuroscience data company. We are building the world’s largest multi-omic dataset focused solely on mental health. Our mission is to transform mental health and dementia research by unlocking the power of real world data, thus alleviating the burden of one of the world’s most pressing medical needs. Established in May 2019 as a spin out from the University of Oxford, Akrivia has a 15-year history in the NHS and academia that begun in 2009.
Visit www.akriviahealth.com.
Florence
Florence is the leading Site Orchestration platform, helping UK research sites streamline workflows, enhance compliance, and accelerate clinical trials. Trusted by 30,000+ teams globally, our site-first technology replaces paper-based processes with secure, digital solutions that improve efficiency and inspection readiness. With remote monitoring, automated workflows, and seamless sponsor collaboration, sites can reduce administrative burden and focus on advancing research. Fully compliant with MHRA and GDPR regulations, Florence ensures secure document management and real-time trial oversight. Join the UK’s top research sites in accelerating trials with Florence.
Learn more at www.florencehc.com.
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – North East and North Cumbria Regional Research Delivery Network (RRDN)
The NIHR Research Delivery Network consists of a coordinating centre and 12 regional teams, including the North East and North Cumbria Regional Research Delivery Network. We provide practical support to allow high quality research to happen across the NHS and wider care and community settings. We can work with you at all stages of your research journey, with services to help you set up and deliver your study efficiently. Our services also include dedicated support for the life sciences industry, and agile research delivery staff who can work from a variety of locations.
Website: rdn.nihr.ac.uk.
There will be an opportunity to engage with representatives from our sponsors (above) and other organisations at stalls hosted at the event. These include:
- XR Therapeutics (XRT)
XRT use Extended Reality combined with traditional cognitive behavioural therapy to tailor treatment to individual patients. - Clinical Effectiveness and Audit
Clinical Effectiveness and Audit are based across all the Care Groups working with staff across CNTW to facilitate activities around clinical audit, clinical effectiveness, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) implementation and service evaluation. - Research Delivery team
Our Research Delivery team help initiate and run research studies that have been adopted to the NIHR portfolio. This involves processes such as screening, informed consent, conducting research measures, data collection and often delivering talking-based therapeutic interventions. - Greg Elder – Sleep Research
Greg is a sleep researcher as well as the Associate Director of Northumbria Sleep Research. He uses a range of techniques to measure sleep, including overnight laboratory studies. - David Cousins – Imaging Research
David leads a research team dedicated to delineating and predicting the response to lithium in bipolar disorder. Within the Centre for In Vivo Imaging (CIVI), as Director of Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, David provides clinical leadership for the conduct of MRI studies. - Library and Knowledge Services
The Library and Knowledge Services team support staff and students across CNTW to access, share and use health information, knowledge, and evidence in all its formats. Their job is to save you time and make your work easier. - Applied Research Collaboration (ARC)
Our ARC for the North East and North Cumbria is a partnership that brings together six regional universities, health and social care providers, local authorities, the voluntary sector, community groups, members of the public and others. Their vision is to deliver ‘better, fairer health and care at all ages and in all places’. - Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (NENC)
Health Innovation NENC act as the trusted broker of cross-organisational activity, bringing together partners to work collaboratively with the aim of improving people’s health and supporting the economy. - NIHR Regional Research Delivery Network (RRDN)
See details in the sponsors section above. - AHP and Nursing
- Florence
See details in the sponsors section above. - SHINE
SHINE is CNTW’s registered charity, and it raises money to support service users with ‘little extras’ like therapeutic activities or items of comfort. - Newcastle Health Research Partnership
Newcastle Health Research Partnership is an Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) bringing together partners in health and care research, innovation, education and training. - Newcastle Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC)
The Newcastle Patient Safety Research Collaboration’s (PSRC) mission is to improve healthcare safety, particularly in areas where there are inequalities for those from disadvantaged communities. - Akrivia Health
See details in the sponsors section above. - Research Involvement Hub (Ri Hub)
CNTW’s Ri Hub prioritises PPI and provides expert training to people with lived experience to be conduits between researchers and lived experience experts. - The Lived Experience Academy
A new initiative aiming to reshape the research landscape by supporting people with lived experience to become leaders of research, rather than merely participants or advisors. With support from an NIHR Programme Development Grant (NIHR207098), the project team is exploring and documenting the barriers to, and opportunities for, inverting the traditional hierarchies of research as they relate to lived experience.
There will be poster presentations to view during break sessions and lunch, which give attendees an overview of all of the incredible work that goes on within CNTW and our partner organisations. Poster prizes will be awarded at the end of the conference by CNTW’s Executive Medical Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Dr Rajesh Nadkarni.
There will also be representatives from CNTW’s Research & Development, Research Delivery, and Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals Teams available at stalls to provide support and advice on any potential ideas for research projects.