The Power of Collaboration: The Fight Against COVID-19

Colleagues from across the Norwich Research Park have come together to lead in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Park’s response to the pandemic continues to be swift and well informed, providing expert care for the sick, increasing testing capability, developing diagnostic tools, mapping the virus and much more. Join our academics to learn how COVID-19 has impacted their work and lives, and how they continue to collaborate to find solutions to one of the greatest challenges to face humankind. 

Online panel discussion with Q&A 

Recommended ages 12+

Watch live on YouTube and again for 7 days after the event

Set up a YouTube account and log in during the event to join the live chat where you can ask questions and share your thoughts!  

Please note that as this is an 'At Home' programme, some contributors may be joining us remotely, and as such the events will not be broadcast standard quality. If there are technical connection issues - please bear with us! Thank you.  

Chair: 

Prof Dylan Edwards

Professor Dylan Edwards is a cancer biologist who has worked at UEA since 1998, when he was appointed as the Big C Chair of Cancer Studies in the School of Biological Sciences. He had previously held research posts in Calgary, Oxford and London Ontario. 

He was Head of the School of Biological Sciences from 2008-13, and from 2015–16 he was Interim Director of The Genome Analysis Centre – now the Earlham Institute – on the Norwich Research Park. 

Since 2016 Dylan has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Medicine and Health Sciences at UEA overseeing education and research in medicine, nursing and the allied health professions. He is Executive Chair of UEA Health and Social Care Partners, which brings together organizations from around East Anglia to innovate ways to improve the lives of patients and health professionals.  

Panellists: 

Dr Rose Davidson

Rose is a Lecturer in Nutrition and Biomedicine based in the Norwich Medical School at UEA and is the Operational Lead for the BCRE COVID Testing Cell providing extra capacity to NNUH Pillar 1 testing, and the UEA COVID testing program for staff and students.

She is a molecular biologist with a biomedical sciences background and experience in industry having worked for Pfizer Ltd in the protein discovery group.  She then joined UEA to complete a PhD where she studied metalloproteinase gene expression and its control in osteoarthritis. Her research interests are in gene-dietary bioactive interactions in the context of musculoskeletal health and is currently involved in the development of an innovative bioactives discovery-to-translation pipeline in collaboration with NRP partners.  

Mark Hitchcock

Mark is Managing Director at UEA Health and Social Care Partners (UEAHSCP), a partnership that works to increase collaborative research in our region. Mark has worked across Europe in education and business management and has spent the last three years building a partnership focused on the needs of the East Anglian population. As the pandemic developed, UEAHSCP turned from research to innovation to identify and manage a range of solutions to the needs of clinical partners and their service users.  

Dr Justin O’Grady

Dr O'Grady gained his B.Sc. in Microbiology, his M.Sc. (Res) in infectious diseases diagnostics and his Ph.D. in the molecular diagnosis of pathogens in food all at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG). He remained at NUIG for his first post-doc, continuing his research in food microbiology. This was followed by a two-year stint in industry (Beckman Coulter) developing real-time PCR based tests for infectious diseases including tuberculosis (TB). Dr O’Grady then returned to academia, taking up a post-doc position at University College London on TB diagnostics. In January 2013 he was appointed Assistant Professor in Medical Microbiology at UEA, was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2016, and in April 2018 also took the role of Group Leader at Quadram Institute Bioscience. His research continues to focus on the rapid molecular diagnosis of pathogens with the aim of translating this research broadly, in different sectors and diseases, to maximise community/patient benefit.

Professor Kristian Bowles

Kristian is a consultant haematologist. He qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School, London in 1995 and undertook medical training in London, Kent and Southern Africa. He also trained in haematology in Cambridge and Norwich.  He has been a consultant in Norwich since 2006 covering all aspects of blood disorders with a particular focus on cancers of the blood and Professor of Haematology at Norwich Medical School since 2013.

Dr Kirsty Culley

Dr Kirsty Culley joined Anglia Innovation Partnership LLP (AIP LLP) as Scientific Engagement Manager in July 2019. Kirsty is responsible for providing a key interface between science and innovation, and for optimising communication and science engagement across the Norwich Research Park. Kirsty’s background is in human disease research, having completed a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a PhD in molecular biology at the University of East Anglia. Kirsty then continued her training at the Hospital of Special Surgery, New York City, where she researched the underlying causes of osteoarthritis and directed an education program that mentored surgical residents completing basic and translational research projects. 

Watch the animation about Norwich Research Park's COVID-19 response:

Watch the Norwich Research Park vision video