Attending the NIHR Science Camp 2023

Attending the Science Camp was a great opportunity to meet with other professionals interested in addressing Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTCs). The three days flew, with plenty of opportunities for reflection, and to develop a research team and idea. I have written this blog to reflect my personal experience of attending the first NIHR Science Camp.  

I applied for Science Camp as I wanted to meet other researchers interested in MLTCs. The application was straightforward and offered the opportunity to provide a short biography and reasons for why I was interested in attending an MLTC Science Camp.

I found out I was successful and the only requirement before attending was to complete a ‘strengths profile’ and bring this with me. We arrived at the beautiful De Vere Cranage Estate in Cheshire for an afternoon start on Day one.  

We were introduced to the course leaders including Gareth O’Brien, who had helped developed the idea for Science Camp, and Stephanie Hopper and Jane Kemp from Cappfinity. Cappfinity are a company focused on developing people and teams through skill-based approaches, and Steph and Jane certainly brought a lot of energy and knowledge to the three days.

Day one was focused around getting out of your comfort zone (for the introverts) and getting to know everyone else. As we were from various backgrounds, locations and professions, most of us did not know anyone else there. By the end of the day, we had spent a lot of time speaking to other people and sharing who we were and why we were there. We also delved into our strengths profiles and identified what we each brought to a team and what skills were needed to complement those skills.  

Towards the end of the first day, we were all told to sit at the table number written on our badge (a total of 10 tables) and we were informed this was going to be our Science Camp group that we would spend the next two days getting to know and developing research ideas with.

The end of day finished with an incredible keynote from Susannah Townsend MBE (an Olympic gold medallist field hockey player) who spoke about working in a team as well as being authentic.  

Day two started with details around the Science Camp funding (yet to be released) including the amount, purpose and when we could apply - we then dived into team building. We reflected what has worked previously in teams and what we would like to improve on. We discussed ways in which we could build better communication and a team identity. By the end of these sessions, we had a list of values that continued to evolve over the next two days. Our teams were: 

• We will value people’s time and energy. 

• We will treat each other with respect and celebrate the team’s diversity. 

• We will recognise and value contributions equally. 

• We endeavour to retain an open mind. 

• We will be honest with ourselves and others. 

• We commit to making a genuine investment in the team. 

Due to the different professions and different interests in MLTCs, we all acknowledged we struggled to see how we would become a team that would be interested in addressing one aspect of MLTCs.

Our last session was set over two hours in a room to work this out together. Each group at the Science Camp had a Patient and Public Involvement member and our member was fantastic at bringing all our ideas back to the real world to consider how it would impact people living with MLTCs. 

Our final day felt much more optimistic. We had all bonded as a team and were excited to work together. When the course leaders offered the opportunity to move to a team working on an idea that better fit their interests, we decided instantly we did not want to do that.

Our final working session together identified a broad area we were excited to develop together. We swapped details and got a date in the diary for our next (sadly remote) meeting.  

Overall, the Science Camp required us all to dedicate three days of our time, which is always hard to do. However, the reflective practice meant I identified my strengths and areas to improve on and I also met a great bunch of people who are as passionate as I am about improving MLTCs.