Early Mid-Career Researcher Committee - Design
The RAPID Early-Mid Career Researcher (EMCR) comprise of ~100 members, led by a committee of four. The Chair of the committee participates in RAPD Investigator meetings. The aim of the RAPID EMCR Committee is to develop a range of activities focused on capacity building among EMCRs involved with the RAPID Point of Care Research Consortium for Infectious Disease in the Asia Pacific.
EMCR Activities
The EMCR committee contributes to planning and development of quarterly seminars and/or annual workshops and assist with planning, coordination and evaluation of EMCR group activities. ‘Speed Geek’, is an innovative multidisciplinary education/information sharing model initiated by the EMCR committee involving key speakers (‘geeks’) with diverse expertise allocated into small breakout rooms, providing a 5-minute presentation, with ~150 attendees across the events. The model was published in Nature59 and adopted by three national/international conferences.
Speed Geek 1
Date: October 20, 2021
Attendees: ~25
Presenters
- Mitchell Star, Senior Hospital Scientist, St Vincent’s – Point-of-care diagnostics
- Dr Caroline Watts, Research Fellow, Kirby Institute – MSAC application
- Dr Lise Lafferty, Research Fellow, Kirby Institute / Centre for Social Research in Health – Hepatitis C POCT in prison
- Dr Belinda Hengel, Research Fellow, Kirby Institute – COVID-19 POCT in Aboriginal communities
- Robert Monaghan, Manager, Kirby Institute – STI POCT in remote Aboriginal communities
- Corey Markus, Senior Research Officer, Flinders University – Quality Assurance
Speed Geek 2
Date: May 5, 2022
Attendees: ~25
Presenters
- Rabiah Al Adawiyah, PhD Candidate, Kirby Institute – Supply-side perspective on scaling-up antenatal HIV and syphilis testing
- Dr Louise Causer, Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Institute – Integration of Infectious Disease POC testing – why and how
- Rosie Gilliver, Nurse, Kirketon Road Centre – HCV POC Testing in Community and Outreach Settings
Speed Geek 3
Community models of point-of-care testing
Date: 15 September, 2022
Attendees: 21
- Mim O’Flynn, Nurse, Kombi Clinic – Keep Your Foot On The Pedal – Kombi Clinic Leads HCV PoCT Prison Eliminations
- Tony McNaughton, HCV Peer Engagement Specialist, NUAA – Point of Care and the Power of Momentum
- Joyce Huei-Jiuan Wu, PhD Candidate, Kirby Institute – Bundled rapid HIV and Hepatitis C Testing in an outreach program for MSM in Taiwan
- Dr Kirsty Smith, Senior Research Officer, Kirby Institute – Implementing a COVID POCT Program in remote Aboriginal communities
Speed Geek 4
POC23 Point of Care conference
Date: 14 March 2023
Attendees: ~65 attendees (‘sold out’ – room at capacity)
- Janet Gare, PNGIMR – Offering POC in resource-limited settings: The ACTUP-PNG Story!
- Deane Byers, Senior Scientist, The Royal College of Pathologists of Australia Quality Assurance Programs – External Quality Assurance and Point-of-Care Testing
- Bianca Borgnolo, First Nations Point of Care Program, Kirby Institute – The Hotline: Adding a personal touch to POC testing
- Mitchell Starr, Senior Hospital Scientist, St Vincents – Point-of-Care Diagnostics
- Mim O’Flynn, Nurse, Kombi Clinic – Keep Your Foot On The Pedal – Kombi Clinic Leads HCV PoCT Prison Eliminations
- Corey Markus, Senior Research Officer, Flinders – Quality Assurance
An overview of this event was published in Nature: “Speed geeking: how speed-dating techniques can tackle power imbalances at conferences”
Speed Geek 5
National-level enablers and barriers to POC scale up – International perspectives
Date: November 7, 2024
Attendees:18
- Dr Guillaume Fontaine, McGill University – Scaling up hepatitis C POCT in Canada
- Jacqueline Prestedge, PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne – Barriers and enablers to scale up in primary care settings in Australia
- Emily Phillips, Project Coordinator, Kirby Institute – Barriers and Enablers for national scale up of infectious disease POC testing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Dr Alison Marshall
Co-chair of the EMCR committee,
Lecturer
UNSW (co-appointed at The Kirby Institute and The Centre for Social Research in Health)
Dr Lise Lafferty
Co-chair of the EMCR committee,
Senior Research Fellow
Kirby Institute and Centre for Social Research in Health
Dr Caroline Watts
Research Fellow, Health Economics and Health Systems Group.
UNSW
Mrs Jackie Thomas
Research Officer
UNSW
