MPhil in Translating Devices and Advanced Therapies Research

The MPhil in Translating Devices and Advanced Therapies Research is aimed at individuals who are interested in the development and implementation of medical devices and/or advanced therapy interventions. The course would benefit individuals in clinical practice, academia or industry who require the knowledge to take the complex interventions through the implementation pathway.

The taught course is delivered by experts in their field, including lectures, small group workshops and online learning. There is a particular focus on case studies of successful development and implementation of medical devices and/or cell and gene therapy research. The course will cover:

• Understanding the NIHR/MRC framework in Complex Interventions for improving healthcare
• Conducting clinical trials in Medical Devices and Advanced Therapies
• Regulatory and ethical frameworks
• Statistical analyses for intervention trials
• Developing a scale up and implementation strategy
• Enterprise and Intellectual Property
• Obtaining funding
• Conducting inclusive and patient/clinician-relevant research

1. For participants to acquire broad knowledge and expertise in medical devices and advanced therapeutics, with knowledge relevant to every stage of development from initial proof of concept work to commercialisation (NIHR/MRC framework for developing complex intervention will be used to underpin learning);

2. To establish participants abilities to map out the stages required to bring a new device or advanced therapy to market, and the knowledge to build a team with the skills to complete this;

3. For participants to acquire transferable knowledge and expertise in the design, analysis and critical appraisal of research as well as communication and team building in a research environment;

4. For participants to develop skills in planning, conducting and delivering a research project.

Skills and other attributes

- explain the importance and impact of topics in their area of specialisation to specialist and non-specialist/public audiences;

- demonstrate expertise in research methods, data analysis and statistics, and application of the methods to interpret the data collected during the research project;

- analyse research literature and contemporary topics in the areas of their specialisation, and present such analyses in written and oral formats;

- demonstrate expertise in presenting novel data in different presentation and written formats;

- gain skills in preparing a presenting a concise proposal to potential collaborators and investors in a 5 minute ‘Dragons Den’ style pitch;

- demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving approaches to experimental data;

- demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the clinical trial design and delivery of Medical Devices and Advanced Therapies research.