AboutTheJob.

INSIGNEO Institute for in silico MedicineDepartment of Human MetabolismFaculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health

Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Multiscale Imaging

Pursue the extraordinary

AboutTheJob.

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Healthhttp://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/medicine-dentistry-health/

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health is one of the major UK centres for education and research in health and related subjects. With origins dating back to 1828, the Faculty has a long-standing tradition of excellence in clinical education and research.

Over 2,500 students study in the Faculty each year on over 40 different courses. In addition, over 200 students are registered on research degrees, supporting a Faculty research portfolio in excess of £30M.

Independent assessments of our teaching and research quality rate us as among the best in the UK.

With over 250 academic and clinical staff, and 250 research associates, the Faculty has the training and development of staff at the centre of its strategic priorities. A tailored training programme - Think Ahead - in line with the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is available to all researchers in the Faculty. This includes an induction process; workshops linked to working-based learning opportunities; employer lead career days; and tailored support in preparation for the end of a contract. A newly developed career mentoring scheme with academic, industrial and alternative careers' strands gives practical support for career development in your chosen destination. The portfolio of transferable skills and career development courses is continuously updated and tailored to the researcher and the employer needs and to fit with the strategic aims of the faculty. For more information on current opportunities seehttp://www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/medicine-dentistry-health/thinkahead or email Lucy Lee (L.Lee@sheffield.ac.uk).

The Department of Human Metabolism combines strong basic and clinical science groups to create a major focus on translational research. This is well illustrated by the integration of the Biomedical Research Unit for Bone within the department. The research strengths are in the fields of Musculoskeletal Research, Endocrinology,

About the Department

Overview

Diabetes and Reproductive Medicine with cross-cutting themes in Clinical Pharmacology.

Research activity is supported by state of the art molecular biology laboratories, dedicated clinical research facilities and access to the latest imaging technology including MR, NMR and PET scanning. The department has strong links with the Sheffield Institute for Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Imaging (SIMFANI). The main areas of musculoskeletal research are in osteoporosis, childhood bone disease, inflammatory arthritis, bone oncology, bone responses to endocrine and environmental stimuli, and the Mellanby Centre for Bone Research is located within the department. Reproductive research is in fertility, andrology and the department hosts one of the most successful Assisted Conception Units in the country, with facilities for human embryonic stem cell derivation. The Diabetes Group has a focus on hypoglycaemia, neuropathy and diabetic education. The Endocrinology Group has expertise in pituitary and autoimmune thyroid disease with research programmes directed at optimising endocrine replacement therapy. The Clinical Pharmacology Group has extensive expertise in pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling, human drug metabolism and pharmacogenetics.

Research activity is supported through a broad portfolio of research funding. This includes project and programme grant support from major UK funding organizations such as the Medical Research Council, NIHR, the Arthritis Research Council, Diabetes UK and Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Substantial support from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies has formed the basis for a significant knowledge transfer activity and the department supports four University spinout companies (Asterion, Diurnal, Medella, Health Care Solutions). A major emphasis of the department is in career development. This has been demonstrated by the success of members of the theme in attaining personal support through Fellowship schemes, which include NIHR, Arthritis Research Council Clinician Scientist and Clinical Research Fellowship awards.

For more information on the Department of Human Metabolism, please seehttp://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/humanmetabolism

Library FacilitiesThe University Clinical Library is housed on ‘C’ Floor of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. The Medical Library is in the main University Library which is within half a mile of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and offers excellent lending reference and national lending (Boston Spa) facilities.

As part of the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health’s Medical School redevelopment, the Health Sciences Library (HSL) at RHH was reconfigured and refurbished during 2012. More information can be found at www.shef.ac.uk/library/libnews/rhhrefurb

This position emerges from the close collaboration between the Mellanby Centre for Bone Research (MBC) within the Department of Human Metabolism and the INSIGNEO Institute for in silico Medicine initiated in the Department of Engineering, and in the frame of the EPSRC Frontier grant “Individualised multiscale simulation”. The post is aimed to develop and strengthen the links between the MBC and INSIGNEO, bridging between the bone’s response to osteotropic influences and bone imaging from a basic perspective to in silico modelling approaches.

The Mellanby Centre for Bone Research is one of the few truly translational groups in bone research internationally. The centre’s staff includes researchers in the most fundamental areas of molecular signalling, receptor biology, cell signalling, stem cell biology and ageing, through to clinical researchers involved in development and assessment of therapeutic measures and with links to the University’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), which assesses patient and economic impacts of medical treatments. We wish to appoint an individual who bridges the biological and engineering areas, and areas of interest/expertise particularly relevant to the post are the response of bone to mechanical loading and high resolution imaging of bone in different experimental models.

The MBC hosts the Bone Analysis Laboratory, a facility which provides its investigators with external collaborators with a full suite of contemporary approaches to the analysis of bone. See web pages www.shef.ac.uk/humanmetabolism and http://mellanbycentre.dept.shef.ac.uk/

The INSIGNEO Institute for in silico Medicine is an initiative between the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine, Dentistry & Health at The University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. INSIGNEO intends to realise the scientific ambition behind the Virtual Physiological Human, producing a transformational impact on healthcare. INSIGNEO performs cutting edge research in areas of fundamental and applied biomedical modelling, imaging and informatics. In particular, over the next five years it will focus on the Digital Patient, in silico Clinical Trials and Personal Health Forecasting. The Institute intends to achieve transformational impact on healthcare through multidisciplinary collaboration in

Job Role

strategic areas, which initially will include personalised treatments and independent, active and healthy ageing. The team of academics has an international and interdisciplinary profile and a strong commitment to clinical and industrial translation with impact in future healthcare. For more information on INSIGNEO please see: http://www.insigneo.org

Mechanical Engineering has been a major discipline in the University since its foundation in 1905. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (December 2008), the department came second in the country in the league table of Mechanical Engineering departments, and achieved an “Excellent” rating in the last Teaching Quality Assessment. The department currently has 42 members of academic staff who support the learning and development of an ever-growing undergraduate and postgraduate student body. The department is located in the Sir Frederick Mappin Building on the St George’s site, adjacent to the other engineering departments. For more information on the department please see: http://www.shef.ac.uk/mecheng/.

With the establishment of the INSIGNEO Institute, Sheffield is rapidly becoming a world reference centre in in silico medicine; the neuromusculoskeletal programme, developed in close collaboration with the Mellanby Centre, revolves around radically innovative approaches that combine imaging, sensing, and modelling to investigate themusculoskeletal system and its pathologies from a systemic, integrative, and multiscale perspective.

You will be expected to develop an independent research programme in musculoskeletal multiscale imaging technologies, ideally in both pre-clinical and clinical areas, finalised to the generation of individualised and multiscale models of the musculoskeletal system. You will support staff of the Bone Analysis laboratory in the development and application of imaging technologies such as MicroCT in research. An immediate priority will be to attract external funding in order to develop research of international standing and to publish this in the highest quality journals. Initially, you will be allocated a lighter than average teaching load (e.g. one 20 credit course), and few administrative duties to allow focus on establishing a research career and developing as ateacher.

The University's expectations of the qualities and responsibilities of its academic staff are captured by the concept of the Sheffield Academic. The role of the Sheffield Academic is underpinned by a number of core values and qualities that are essential to the scholarly pursuit and communication of knowledge in this University. Among them is the recognition that the pursuit of research excellence and the pursuit of

teaching excellence are closely linked. Please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/sheffieldacademic/statement.html for further information.

After an initial period, you will hold the full balance of responsibilities of a Sheffield Academic, which will include the whole range of teaching and related activities. You will also assist with the effective administration and life of the Department of Human Metabolism, of the INSIGNEO Institute, as well as contributing to the wider University community.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Contribute fully as teacher, researcher and leader, in fulfilment of the ideals of the‘Sheffield Academic’ (http://www.shef.ac.uk/hr/sheffieldacademic/statement.html).

Research Conduct personal research of international standing independently and

collaboratively, in line with the Faculty Research Strategy. This includes identifying literature and updatingown knowledge; assessing the validity of the relevant literature and its contribution to the development of own field.

Write up research work for publication and give presentations at conferences. Determine research objectives, and initiate and implement a programme of

research that may include managing time, materials, finance, equipment and people.

Identify appropriate sources of funding bodies and prepare research proposals to securefunding.

Be actively involved in supporting staff of the Bone Analysis laboratory and its users in theapplication of cutting edge imaging technologies, particularly microCT.

Develop a strong professional profile by, e.g., refereeing papers, editing journals, refereeing research grants, external examining, organising conferences, committee membership and involvement with professional bodies.

Job Description

Transfer the outcomes of research into industrial practice where appropriate. Manage or co-manage external research funding over period of grant(s). Delegate and monitor the work of research students and research staff. Line-manage research staff as appropriate, including planning and supporting their

development.

Teaching Design, deliver and assess high quality research-led teaching programmes. Engage with team teaching, including liaison with other academic staff and/or

postgraduate assistants, to ensure the course complements other provision. Provide personal and academic tutoring for small groups of students at all year

levels. Supervise undergraduate and postgraduate projects. Carry out course evaluation, including facilitating student feedback, reflecting on

ownteaching design and delivery, and implementing ideas for improving own performance.

Administration Contribute to the effective and efficient administration of the department. Participate in departmental and Faculty committees. Carry out administrative roles as delegated by the Head of Department and meet

therequired objectives.

Management and teamwork Manage own teaching, research and administrative activities. Carry out a pastoral role for students. If necessary refer students to the appropriate

authority for guidance. Oversee postgraduate students and act as a PhD supervisor. Provide academic leadership, as appropriate, and undertake line management and

staffdevelopment (e.g. of research teams).

Act as a responsible team member and develop productive working relationships withcolleagues.

Collaborate with colleagues to identify and respond to students' needs. Delegate and monitor the work of research students and research staff. Line-manage research staff as appropriate, including planning and supporting their

development.

Any other duties, commensurate with the grade of the post.

Applicants should provide evidence in their applications that they meet the following criteria. We will use a range of selection methods to measure candidates’ abilities in these areas including reviewing your on-line application, seeking references, inviting shortlisted candidates to interview and other forms of assessment action relevant to the post.

Criteria Essenti Desirable

Qualifications and experience 1. A good first degree in engineering, physics, mathematics, a

biological science or other relevant discipline (or equivalent experience).

X

2. A PhD in a relevant discipline. X3. Significant track record in musculoskeletal research, such as

musculoskeletal imaging, particularly microCT, and/or mechanical loading effects on bone.

X

4. Ability to establish research objectives, and initiate and implement a programme of research.

X

5. Ability to demonstrate a record of quality research publications with significant authorship positions.

X

6. Potential for leadership in research. X7. A strong focus on producing high-level research outputs (e.g.

publications, patents, knowledge transfer).X

8. Evidence of ability to lead and manage a research team. X9. Evidence of research income generation. X

Teaching and learning10. Demonstrate the potential to enhance the students’ learning

experience.X

11. Possess teaching experience, ideally with a teaching qualification.

X

1 12. Experience of supervising student projects. XCommunication skills

13. Effective communication skills, both written and verbal, X

Person Specification

including report writing skills and experience of delivering presentations.

14. Ability to explain complex ideas to a variety of audiences. XTeam working

15. An ability and commitment to working with colleagues towards a common objective.

X

Problem solving and decision making16. Ability to develop creative approaches to problem solving X

Supporting staff performance17. Appreciation of pastoral role in relation to students. X18. A commitment to enhancing the student experience. X19. Experience of supervising students and staff in a research led

environment.X

Project management20. Experience of research project management and delivery. X

Personal effectiveness21. Experience of developing and maintaining a network of

contacts throughout own work area.X

22. Experience of working effectively on a collaborative basis. X23. Commitment to continuing professional development. X24. Excellent organisational skills and the ability and willingness

to contribute to the administrative function.X

25. Proven ability to work to and meet deadlines (both short and long-term).

X

This post is full-time: This role has been identified as a full-time post, but we are committed to exploring flexible working opportunities with our staff which benefit both the individual and the University. Therefore, we would consider flexible delivery of the role subject to meeting the business needs of the post. See www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/wellbeing/info/wlb.html for more information.

Further Information

Terms and conditions of employment: Will be those for Grade 8 staff. Salary for this grade: £37,756 to £45,053 per annum, with potential to progress to £50,688per annum.

More details on salaries, terms and conditions and our wide range of benefits for staff are available at www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/reward/structures

Closing date: 10 March 2014

Informal enquiries:For all on-line application system queries and support, contact: e-Recruitment@sheffield.ac.uk .

For informal enquiries about this job and department, contact: Professor Tim Skerry, Head of Department on hodhm@sheffield.ac.uk or 0114 271 2414.

Health assessment: Please note that due to the duties of this post, the final appointment will be subject to the completion of a satisfactory health assessment from the University Staff Occupational Health Service.

Following the closing date, you will be informed by email whether or not you have been shortlisted to be invited to participate in the next stage of the selection process. Please note that due to the large number of applications that we receive, it may take up to two working weeks following the closing date before the recruiting department will be able to contact you.

It is anticipated that interviews and other selection action will be held on XXX. Full details will be provided to invited candidates.

Benefits

Selection-Next Step

The University of Sheffield is committed to achieving excellence through inclusion.

The University of Sheffield is proud to be a Two Ticks employerwww.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/equality/support/twoticks/

The University has achieved the Athena SWAN award for Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine.

The Medical School has achieved the Athena SWAN silver award for Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Pursue the extraordinary

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Healthhttp://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/medicine-dentistry-health/

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health is one of the major UK centres for education and research in health and related subjects. With origins dating back to 1828, the faculty has a longstanding tradition of excellence in clinical education and research.

Over 2,500 students study in the faculty each year on over 40 different courses. In addition, over 200 students are registered on research degrees, supporting a faculty research portfolio in excessof £30M.

Independent assessments of our teaching and research quality rate us as among the best in the UK.

With over 250 academic and clinical staff, and 250 research associates, the faculty has the trainingand development of staff at the centre of its strategic priorities. A tailored training programme - Think Ahead - in line with the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers is available to all researchers in the faculty. This includes an induction process; workshops linked to working-based learning opportunities; employer lead career days; and tailored support in preparation for the end of a contract. A newly developed career mentoring scheme with academic, industrial and alternative careers' strands gives practical support for career development in your chosen destination. The portfolio of transferable skills and career development courses is continuously updated and tailored to the researcher and the employer needs and to fit with the strategic aims of the faculty. For more information on current opportunities see http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/medicine-dentistry-health/thinkahead or email Lucy Lee (L.Lee@sheffield.ac.uk).

The Medical Schoolhttp://www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/

Sheffield School of Medicine was founded in 1828, subsequently merging with Firth College (1879),forerunner of the University, and Sheffield Technical School (1884) to form University College Sheffield in 1897. The University of Sheffield was granted a Royal Charter in May 1905.

The Medical School today is home to more than one thousand students at undergraduate andpostgraduate levels. Our aim is to provide high quality, innovative teaching and research to ensuretomorrow's doctors are best equipped to tackle disease.

The school's activities incorporate teaching, research and the practice of medicine. Our coursesexpose medical students to best current practice, through learning with the excellent Primary andSecondary care providers in the region.Equally important is the research we engage in to contribute to developing the medicine of tomorrow. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, we submitted to 6 Units of Assessment.Overall, 90% of our research was assessed as internationally recognised with 60% of research inUoAs 2 and 4 being rated world-leading or internationally excellent. We increased substantially thenumber of staff submitted and our research power ranks us 11th out of the 20 Russell Group Medical Schools.

Department of Infection and Immunityhttp://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/infectionandimmunity

The department combines basic science research in molecular cell biology, with a particular focuson innate immunity, with clinical specialties including Respiratory Medicine, Infectious Diseases,Renal Medicine, Rheumatology and Dermatology.

There is a very substantial base of Wellcome Trust, MRC and BHF grant funding. The department includes two MRC and one Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellows and one Wellcome IntermediateClinical Fellow. There are also a number of Clinical and Non-Clinical Research Fellows funded byMRC, Wellcome Trust, ARC and Kidney Research UK.

There is extensive expertise in vertebrate and mammalian models of chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases. There is also a strong track record of high quality clinical and translational research. There are strategic links to the MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Geneticsand to the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology within the University of Sheffield.

Department of Human Metabolismhttp://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/humanmetabolism

The Department of Human Metabolism combines strong basic and clinical science groups to create a major focus on translational research. This is well illustrated by the integration of the Biomedical Research Unit for Bone within the department. The research strengths are in the fields of Musculoskeletal Research, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Reproductive Medicine with cross-cutting themes in Clinical Pharmacology.

Research activity is supported by state of the art molecular biology laboratories, dedicated clinicalresearch facilities and access to the latest imaging technology including MR, NMR and PET scanning. The department has strong links with Sheffield Institute for Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Imaging (SIMFANI). The main areas of musculoskeletal research are in osteoporosis, childhood bone disease, inflammatory arthritis and bone oncology and the Mellanby Centre for Bone Research is located within the department. Reproductive research is in fertility, andrology and the department hosts one of the most successful Assisted Conception Units in the country, with facilities for human embryonic stem cell derivation. The Diabetes Group has a focus on hypoglycaemia, neuropathy and diabetic education. The Endocrinology Group has expertise in pituitary and autoimmune thyroid disease with research programmes directed at optimising endocrine replacement therapy. The Clinical Pharmacology Unit has extensive expertise in pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling, human drug metabolism and pharmacogenetics.

Research activity is supported through a broad portfolio of research funding. This includes projectand programme grant support from major UK funding organizations such as the Medical Research Council, NIHR, the Arthritis Research Council, Diabetes UK and the Leukaemia Research Fund. Substantial support from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies has formed the basis for asignificant knowledge transfer activity and the department supports four university spinout companies (Asterion, Diurnal, Medella, Health Care Solutions). A major emphasis of the department is in career development. This has been demonstrated by the success of members of the theme in attaining personal support through Fellowship schemes, which include NIHR, ArthritisResearch Council Clinician Scientist and Clinical Research Fellowship awards.

Department of Oncologyhttp://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/oncology

The Department of Oncology at The University of Sheffield has an extensive research programme from basic science through to clinical trials. The department is part of the Sheffield Cancer RearchCentre supported by CRUK and YCR. There are three main groupings in the department. The Institute for Cancer Studies (Head, Professor Mark Meuth) receives core funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research and the major focus of research relates to genomic instability and DNA repair mechanisms. The clinical trials unit at Weston Park Hospital (Head, Professor Robert Coleman) has major areas of research in the field of bone oncology, particularly the role of bisphosphonates in the prevention and management of patients with bone metastases. The third major area of research is tumour microcirculation and micro environment (Professor Gill Tozer and Professor Nicola Brown) and the tumour targeting group, (Professor Claire Lewis). There are many other opportunities for both clinical and scientific research in a range of disciplines (breast, GI, Urological cancers and sarcoma) Cancer research in the Department of Oncology receives extensive funding from Cancer Research UK, Yorkshire Cancer Research, NIHR, Leukaemia Research Fund and other national and local research organisations.

In addition to these areas, the department includes the Academic Units of Urology, Supportive Care, Human Nutrition and Ophthalmology. All of these have strong areas of research activity both within their specific fields and integrating with the areas outlined above.

Together with Medical Education and the other four departments that comprise the Medical School, the Department of Oncology makes a substantial contribution to teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The department also hosts the Undergraduate degree course in Optometry and a Postgraduate Master’s course in Human Nutrition contributing to the Master’scourse in Molecular Medicine.

Department of Neurosciencehttp://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/neuroscience

The Neuroscience Department comprises multidisciplinary groups from Neurology, Neuropathology, and Academic Clinical Psychiatry (that also includes a strong interest in neuroimaging) working in both basic and clinical neuroscience. The major areas of research interest are in neurodegenerative diseases (diseases of the motor system, basal ganglia and dementia); psychiatric disorders (psychosis and major affective disorders) and neuroimaging. The Neurodegenerative Disease group research portfolio includes genetic, cellular, molecular and clinical research into common disorders including motor neuron diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and the ageing brain and dementia. The research focus is strongly translational and a new 2,800m2 research facility, the Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen, in November 2010. The Academic Clinical Psychiatry group within which the Sheffield Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory (SCANLab) resides, has major research programmes investigating perception in auditory and visual modalities and their interaction; time perception and processing; social cognition and executive function in health and psychiatric disease. Structural and functional MRI are the main neuroimaging techniques used to define these processes.

There are strong collaborative links with other Neuroscience groups within the University of Sheffield, including: the neuroradiology group which focuses on the investigation of the causes andsequelae of cerebrovascular disease; neurodegenerative processes and foetal and childhood developmental brain abnormalities; the MRC Centre for Development and Biomedical Genetics (CDBG) which has major strengths in developmental neuroscience and in model systems for neurodegenerative disease; the Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging groups in the Department of Psychology and with tissue engineering and nanotechnology groups within the Kroto Institute.

Research activity within the Neuroscience Department is supported through a broad portfolio of research funding. This includes project and programme grant support from major UK funding organizations such as the Wellcome Trust; Medical Research

Council; NIHR; EU and multiple neurological and psychiatric disease related charities. Substantial funding from biotechnology andpharmaceutical companies supports our translational and clinical research programmes. The Neuroscience Department attaches great importance to career development. We have an excellent track record of attracting prestigious external fellowship awards and six of these fellows have recently progressed to faculty positions within the department.

Department of Cardiovascular Sciencehttp://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cardiovascularscience/index

The Department of Cardiovascular Science has sustainable, internationally excellent research and teaching in the core areas of Cardiovascular Biomechanics (including Virtual Physiological Human concepts translated to man), Vascular Inflammation and Thrombosis and Haemostasis. There is particular expertise in pulmonary hypertension (PH), vascular biology, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, experimental models of disease, systems biology, data simulation and management and translational clinical science, particularly in coronary artery disease and PH.

Research activity is supported by state-of the art laboratories for experimental models (including biological services and aquaria), cell and molecular studies. There is a dedicated NIHR clinical research facility (CRF) (www.sheffield.crf.nihr.ac.uk) as well as the Sheffield Institute for Maternal,Fetal and Neonatal Imaging (SIMFANI). We have considerable expertise with preclinical imaging andimaging in man including the use of hyperpolarised gases.

The department is funded by programme and project grants from the EU, MRC, Wellcome, BHF, BBSRC and NIHR. There are several clinical and non-clinical research training fellows and lecturersfunded by MRC, NIHR and BHF. The department teaches a highly successful Cardiovascular Pathway within the MSc in Molecular Medicine.

The department has strong links with The University of Sheffield Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics (CDBG), Insigneo (Institute for in silico medicine) and with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, particularly through close integration with the academic directorates of cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery and respiratory medicine (PH).

Academic Unit of Medical Education

http://www.shef.ac.uk/aume/index.html

The goal of the Academic Unit of Medical Education is to provide high level professional educational services to support and enhance the teaching role of the medical school. In doing so, itwill undertake research and development activities which will establish a national and internationalreputation as a centre of excellence in the field of medical education.

The academic unit provides high level professional educational services to support and enhance the teaching role of the medical school. Academic staff in the unit undertake research and development activities, which seek to establish a national and international reputation as a centreof excellence in the field of medical education.

The unit has responsibility for:Curriculum development, management and enhancementStaff developmentResearch in medical educationOperating the clinical skills centreOverseeing the Patients as Educators programmeThe use of information technology for curriculum management and communicationbetween staff and students, via Minerva, our managed learning environmentCollaborative and consultancy activities, locally, nationally and internationally

Academic staff in the unit have a range of research interests including, competency based assessment, professionalism, curriculum evaluation and interprofessional education. The curriculum of the MBChB course integrates clinical medicine and medical sciences throughout all years. Both academic staff and NHS clinicians teach and assess students. There are opportunities for students to undertake intercalated Bachelor of Medical Sciences courses and short research attachments lasting a few weeks as part of the MBChB curriculum.