The Mesothelioma UK Research Centre (Sheffield) (MURC) is celebrating its second birthday. Some of our key achievements from the first two years are summarised below.
- The Research Centre is supported by an experienced team of research and administrative staff, we currently have five post-doctoral research staff in addition to our administrator and a number of honorary staff.
- The Research Centre supports two PhD students, we were delighted when one of our students (Virginia Sherborne) successfully defended her PhD earlier this year and was awarded her PhD with no corrections.
- We have completed a rapid review of evidence on mesothelioma and a subsequent Research Prioritisation Exercise, which identified 11 key research priorities for mesothelioma. We have also completed studies on palliative care in mesothelioma and the experience of long term survivors with pleural mesothelioma.
- Our MURC website continues to be updated regularly with our research and news, and our Twitter account now has nearly 500 followers @meso_sheffield
- Our PPI Panel and Advisory Panel continue to support our research and provide specialist expertise and advice to all of our research projects.
- We have presented findings from our research at a wide range of events around the UK including the Mesothelioma UK Patient and Carer Day, the Scottish Mesothelioma Network Day, and the Peritoneal Mesothelioma Day in Basingstoke.
The team at the Centre is currently working on several different research projects including:
- Continuity of primary palliative care in mesothelioma (PhD study)
- Mesothelioma in education workers (MEWS)
- Supporting our supporters – supporting family carers in mesothelioma
- Variability in patient pathways and experiences of care in peritoneal mesothelioma
- MINNOW – mental health and wellbeing in mesothelioma
- Impact of Covid-19 on mesothelioma
The team has published fifteen papers in peer reviewed journals and has presented 39 abstracts at national and international conferences including the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMIG) conference, Lung Cancer Nursing UK (LCN UK) conference and the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) Conference. International links have been established with other academics and clinicians with an interest in mesothelioma research which will hopefully lead to future research projects and external funding.
