Knowledge Exchange Case Studies
87 placements awarded across a range of technical disciplines and backgroundsMary Beresford
Manchester Metropolitan University to Florida State University
“The placement at Florida State University significantly expanded my technical expertise, particularly in textile testing, digital printing, and body scanning, while also broadening my international professional network. It has provided insights that I am eager to incorporate into my role as a Technical Specialist.
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to UK ITSS and Research England for funding this placement and making this invaluable opportunity possible.”
Cantug Bar
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute to the University of Strathclyde
“During my time there, I was introduced to new technical training, followed by highly productive discussion on how practical applications of the technique within the scope of my institute would look like and how I can report the results for best impact in line with standards expected in the field of microfluidics.
I believe the three days I spent in Jimenez lab through the Knowledge Exchange Programme saved me weeks of research time to understand the complex basics of this technique. This was a valuable experience that significantly broadened my horizon and capabilities as a technical support staff.”
Erik Lacko
University of Glasgow to the University of Birmingham
“My placement lasted three days at the University of Birmingham, where I learned a specialist technique and in depth data analysis from an expert. I attended a facilities showcase where I networked with other technicians and facility managers.
The experience has been highly beneficial for my scientific knowledge and expertise, which I plan to further build upon at my home institution.”
Emily Brooks
University of Brighton to Imperial College London
“I was given a Demonstration of physical tissue banking techniques such as microtomy and introducted to a national network of human tissue governance professionals.
The placement has helped to build my confidence in my own role and given me a strong network of professionals in a similar field to exchange knowledge and best practice with.”
Morgan Shaw
University of Dundee to the University of Alberta
“Collaborating in person is essential to fully understand complex techniques and learn the small details that make a huge impact in reproducibility and standardisation.
Funding opportunities are often limited for technical staff, so this placement scheme is an invaluable resource that should be taken by any technician seeking to learn or develop a specialist skill!”
Click here to read more about Morgan’s story.
Liene Spruženiece
University of Glasgow to the Natural History Museum
“For my placement, I went to the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) facility in the Natural History Museum in London. My host was Dr. Tobias Salge, a world-leading expert in quantitative EDS.
I spent four days in his lab and learned more than I could probably learn in two years trying to set up this technique on my own. I also had a chance to discuss science with Tobias, and it looks like we have some overlaps that could lead to new collaborations.”
Mark Wildman
University of Glasgow to the University of Tübingen
“The week-long Knowledge Exchange visit created time and space to have open discussions with the host leading to possible areas of collaboration and opportunities for developing protocols and techniques.
This experience was invaluable for me to upskill and to visualise and gain first-hand experience with a specialist technical approach.”
Ruth Adewuyi-Dalton
University of Oxford to the University of Warwick
“The team at Warwick have set up a reproducible process for enabling their researchers to utilise their robotic platform which was very inspiring.
It gave us confidence, that with some additional documentation, we could achieve the same sort of operating model here, as what we do at Oxford is not far off what we observed.”
Kersti Karu
University College London to Swansea University
“I observed the innovative methods for spatial localisation of sterols in brain tissues at the mass spectrometry labs led by Professor William J. Griffiths and Dr. Yuqin Wang.
Integrating this technology into our workflow promises to significantly enhance our research capabilities in UCL Chemistry mass spectrometry facility.
Thank you for providing me with this opportunity. The programme has been immensely beneficial in keeping my professional knowledge up-to-date.”
Marta Perez Fernandez
Royal Holloway University of London to Aberystwyth University
“I wasn’t sure of which institution could host me, but the programme offered help in finding one. Finally, I secured a placement at Aberystwyth University at the Department of Life Sciences, where Dr Niall McKeown welcomed me and taught me how to extract DNA for different environmental proxies.
During my placement, I not only learnt those techniques, but I was also able to meet other technicians who are working on very interesting projects in my area of specialization, and there were discussions about future collaborations as well.”
Siyi Liu
University of Bath to the University of Manchester
“The ITSS Knowledge Exchange Programme was a fantastic opportunity to learn from experienced peers in a well-organised and supportive environment. The open sharing of technical knowledge and exposure to different lab setups has been invaluable.
I’d highly recommend this programme to other technicians seeking to grow their skills and broaden their perspective.”
Sonya James
University of Southampton to the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
“I believe that this programme is invaluable in disseminating knowledge and skills throughout the scientific community.
Technicians can often feel that asking for additional training in new techniques is wasteful and unnecessary. But face to face and hands on training by experienced users saves valuable time, money and resources compared to a trial and error approach or learning from a manual.”