The British Society for Immunology’s (BSI) mission is to promote excellence in immunological research, scholarship and clinical practice in order to improve human and animal health. Their work concentrates on two main areas:
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To provide ongoing support to the scientific and clinical immunology research community through the provision of grants, events, networking opportunities and journals.
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To engage with the wider world on immunology research through policy, public engagement and partnership work.
The British Society for Immunology is delighted to be a supporting partner of the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium.This support takes a number of forms:
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BSI President, Professor Arne Akbar, is chair of the UK-CIC Scientific Advisory Board, which delivers independent oversight of the consortium, and input to its strategic priorities. The BSI will also provide secretarial services to this Board.
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Ensuring that the views of patients and the public influence the direction of research through running the patient public involvement programme for UK-CIC
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Running communications for UK-CIC including internal and external communications, media engagement, and the website and social media presence. This includes providing communications to engage with all key audiences from researchers to policy makers to the public
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Manage a UK-CIC virtual conference on SARS-CoV-2 immunology in 2021
Immunologists have been at the forefront of research efforts into COVID-19 and the BSI couldn't be prouder of how our community has stepped up to this challenge.By working with UK-CIC, we aim to support UK immunology as a whole to collaborate at a national level to answer the big outstanding questions around how the immune system interacts with SARS-CoV-2, with a view to improving diagnosis and treatment as well as supporting the quest to find a vaccine. Through supporting this inclusive approach across the whole immunology community, we will aim for a lasting positive legacy, creating a blueprint that could be exploited for future national collaborative efforts within immunology.
Contact the BSI team
The following BSI team members are providing support to UK-CIC:
Doug Brown, Chief Executive
Jennie Evans, Head of External Affairs, responsible for delivery of BSI involvement in UK-CIC
Erika Aquino, Public Engagement Manager. Erika provides support to the PPI panel and manages any public engagement activities.
Gabriela De Sousa, Research Communications Officer. Gabriela looks after internal and external communications for UK-CIC including managing the day-to-day running of the website and media enquiries.
Jane Sessenwein, Head of Events. Jane will be providing support to the UK-CIC virtual conference.
Laura Anderson, Administrative Assistant. Laura provides administrative support to the Scientific Advisory Board and PPI Panel.