NIHR East of England RRDN CRP Event 2026

The National Institute for Health and Care Research East of England Regional Research Delivery Network (RRDN) Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) Event 2026.

Emily Knightbridge, AHCS Registered Clinical Research Practitioner and Team Leader of PVDU R&D – Royal Papworth Hospital, shares a reflection on the recent National Institute for Health and Care Research East of England Regional Research Delivery Network (RRDN) Clinical Research Practitioner (CRP) Event 2026.

We had a fantastic day coming together as a region on the 23^rd of April at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute in Cambridge to celebrate and collaborate with fellow CRPs and their managers.

We had 66 attendees from all across the region and spanning secondary, primary and community care. Many thanks to all the attendees and speakers for making the day such a success. Thank you also to the RRDN East of England (EOE) for their support both with the event and with the continued commitment to the CRP workforce. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to have Professor Ruth Endacott, NIHR Director of Nursing and Midwifery, join us whose talk was inspirational for our workforce.

The value of networking and shared learning was really apparent and this is something which we will be taking forward to bring together a regional CRP strategy and lots more work on this will follow in the coming months, taking on all the feedback from the day.

If anyone would like to get involved in the work we are doing as part of the EOE, as either a CRP advocate or an informal chat, please do get in touch with Emily or Stacey e.knightbridge@nhs.net  & stacey.cotterell@nihr.ac.uk.

The event was supported by the RRDN EOE, Cambridge Clinical Research Centre and hosted very kindly in the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute by Royal Papworth Hospital. Organised by the EOE CRP engagement leads and Antonella Ghezzi.