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On November 20th 2023, 15 NIHR IBD BioResource participants, 6 gastroenterologists and 3 genetics researchers joined members of the Wellcome Connecting Science Engagement and Society team at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridgeshire. The purpose of the workshop was to inform a helpful and reassuring process for how the NIHR IBD BioResource shares genetic feedback related to additional findings with the study participants who have opted in to receive it, and to provide learnings for the wider field of genomic research into common, complex conditions

In this film public dialogue participants and researchers from the Human Developmental Biology Initiative discuss what it is like to take part in an important deliberation on this significant area of research.

This foundational public dialogue was commissioned by the Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI) and UKRI Sciencewise who have blogged about the process here. It provides an initial step to inform wider public involvement on the topic of early human embryo research and the 14-day rule, in the UK and internationally. The findings provide direction to future public engagement and research by highlighting where there are hopes, concerns and topics that need more exploration.

Residents in the West Midlands and the South of England came together to explore what helps and hinders walking, cycling and wheeling in their local area.

Earlier this year the team at Hopkins Van Mil worked with Sustrans to run a series of workshops exploring people’s views on everyday walking, cycling and wheeling in the areas they live.

Sustrans commissioned the work to understand, in more depth, the aspects of people’s lives and neighbourhoods that promote different kinds of active travel, and those which get in the way.

In early 2023, Hopkins Van Mil was commissioned by Genomics England to run a public deliberation with 103 members of the public to consider the scope of discovery research with newborns’ genomic data that will be held in the National Genomic Research Library (NGRL).

In 2021, the Spectrum 10K study launched, to understand the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to autism and to autistic people’s health. Many autistic people and their families expressed their support of the study, but some were concerned. They felt that the study’s aims and objectives were unclear, and were worried that the results of the study could be used to harm the autistic community through the development of a prenatal test for autism that could lead to prevention of autistic people (eugenics).

Are you curious about the world around you? Are you excited by collaborative, supportive and creative research? Join the HVM team as a Researcher

In 2017 the National Lottery Heritage Fund commissioned Hopkins Van Mil to evaluate their Heritage Endowment Programme. We are now happy to say that the full report has been published and can now be found on our website here.