Driving Discoveries 2024: accelerating research

25 September 2024

167 researchers, healthcare professionals, patients and members of the Kidney Research UK staff team met in Nottingham for our much-anticipated annual conference, Driving Discoveries, to hear about the latest research and future plans from inspirational and innovative professionals in renal research.

Following a welcome from Dr Aisling McMahon, executive director of Research at Kidney Research UK, our meeting chair, Professor Claire Sharpe, and patient co-chair, Ifrah Raza introduced our first session ‘Making discoveries count: the pathway to patients’.

Delegates at the Driving Discoveries conference viewing research posters during the coffee break

Presentations from Professor Nick Selby and Dr Maria Kaisar showcased progress in optimising dialysis and improving kidney testing pre-transplant. Next on the programme was the new review of our health inequalities report, including presentations from Professor Liz Lightstone and Dr Fergus Caskey, and its key recommendations for tackling kidney disease.

We were delighted to welcome Angela Watt, Kidney Research UK trustee and renal nurse to co-chair the second day of our conference. We started by highlighting the importance of collaboration to drive progress with updates about the Kidney Data Science Catalyst from Dr Samira Bell and Life-Arc-Kidney Research UK centre for rare diseases from Dr Louise Oni. This was followed by a session on our health economics report – 1 year on, which included an insightful fireside chat with a panel that discussed next steps for implementing government actions to addressing kidney disease.

We were also joined by Melina Frieland who bravely shared her own personal journey and what research means to her and her son Charlie, who has a rare kidney disease called nephronophthisis.

Further themes included our approaches to increasing the impact of research, with a focus on clinical trials and harnessing the skills of pharmacists. Both days also offered some of our funded researchers the opportunity to share their latest research findings, with presentations spanning the use of new technologies in Alport syndrome to an update on NURTuRE and understanding cardiovascular risk in patients with kidney disease.

We had a wonderful selection of researchers who presented their latest findings alongside poster presentations and time for networking and discussion.

Prize winners

This year we had two winners for the best oral presentation prize: Dr Simon Baker, from the University of York, for his research into the BK virus and Mrs Louise McAlister, paediatric nephology dietician, for her work exploring the real-life challenges to phosphate control in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The best poster prize went to Professor Grazia De Angelis, from the University of Ediburgh, for her innovative work towards wearable artificial kidneys. We look forward to hearing about the next steps in these projects.

Six people (4 females and 2 males) who were sitting in a line t form our panel during the Q&A

Panel at Driving Discoveries.

Spotlight on early career researchers

Alongside our focus on driving innovation for the kidney patient community, this year we also focused on new approaches to supporting the next generation of renal researchers. We hosted a forum for our early career researchers to provide them with the opportunity to hear experiences from some of our currently funded fellows and learn about the reality of career development in renal science. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.

Keep an eye on research roundup for the next steps in this initiative.

Reflections

“In the space of only a year, we have made progress in so many areas. It’s vital that we continue to look for ways to improve and accelerate research into kidney disease. We strive towards driving meaningful impacts for patients and always keep them at the heart of what we do - it’s great to have so many patients at an event like this, but also to see that they are being included more in research.” Matt Newcombe-Ellis, chair of trustees at Kidney Research UK.

Thoughts on the two days from kidney patient Ifrah Raza: “It was an honour to be asked to co-chair the event - I certainly had a lot of fun doing so!

"From a patient perspective, hearing about the amazing work, and more so getting the opportunity to ask questions to experts in the field was really insightful. I had many interesting conversations, in which the importance of research work was highlighted.

"Additionally, comparing notes with fellow patients revealed similar stories, and challenges, and it came to light that there’s still a long way to go for kidney disease to be given the same importance as other conditions.”