ASCEND Events
The Road Less Travelled (February 2025)
The ASCEND Network launched with its inaugural event, The Road Less Travelled: women’s journeys into academic leadership on February 11th.
80 people registered to listen to Dr Laura Coates and Professors Kokila Lakhoo and Eva Morris discuss their experiences, from growing up in South Africa during apartheid, to battling continual rejection whilst establishing their research career.
100% of attendees surveyed reported they found the event interesting:
“The speakers were really inspiring and I loved how they were all so humble and gave such fully rounded pictures of [their] lives.”
“The speakers were all individually interesting and a collective theme seemed to appear around resilience, not being afraid of rejection - it may open "better" doors, and being confident in ploughing "your own" furrow.”
“The 3 speakers were from different background [yet] made you feel inspired with one common theme.”
PPI for research development (June 2025)
The network hosted PPI for Research Development on June 24th. We were pleased to welcome an array of speakers to discuss PPI:
- Shoba Dawson, (Senior Research Fellow)
- Bep Dhaliwal (PPI representative)
- Angeli Vaid (Oxford BRC Training and Inclusion Manager in PPIE).
Our speakers gave some fantastic talks covering the patient perspective on PPI, how to engage historically underserved communities, and what funders want you to know!
Research ideation and Funding Pathways Beyond the Obvious (February 2026)
Emma Williams, PhD, delivered a workshop for network members aimed at supporting them to develop new research ideas and identify new pathways to funding. Emma's background as a postdoctoral scientist means she's "been there, worn the labcoat" and understands the challenges researchers in academia face.
The workshop received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 100% of attendees reporting that they found it useful and that they would take forward the lessons learned in their day to day work.
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