CALL CLOSED ON AUGUST 29th 2024
The British College of Dermatology, the educational arm of the British Association of Dermatologists, has launched an online educational platform for anyone with an interest in furthering their dermatology knowledge. Among the courses already featured, you can find: Surgical Anatomy, Emergency Dermatology for Students, Management of Atopic Eczema for Pharmacists, and more.
Go to https://learning.bcd.org.uk to find out more.
The BSID Medal for Contributions to Dermatological Research in 2024 is awarded to Prof. Eugene Healy!
Eugene is Professor of Dermatology and Department Chair in the University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist in University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. He graduated in medicine from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and undertook his general medical and early dermatology training in Dublin. He subsequently moved to the UK and conducted his PhD as a Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Training Fellow (1994-1997) in Newcastle upon Tyne. He continued his academic training as an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow (1997-2001) in the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh (1997-1999) and in the University of Southampton (1999-2001). He was the first Dermatologist ever to be awarded an MRC Senior Clinical Fellowship (2001-2006) which he undertook in Southampton, where he became Professor of Molecular Dermatology in 2002 and Professor of Dermatology and Head of Department in 2007.
Clinically, he leads the regional skin lymphoma service, and the service for patients with severe/complex psoriasis, as well as undertaking general dermatology clinics and in-patient care in Southampton. His research interests have included pigmentation, UV responses, skin cancer, genodermatoses, inflammatory skin diseases, skin biology, and more recently artificial intelligence, and his research has been published in a variety of high impact journals (Lancet, BMJ, Nat Genet, Immunity, Nat Immunol, Nat Commun, PNAS, J Allergy Clin Immunol, Clin Cancer Res, J Am Acad Dermatol, etc.), with publications in 4* journals in each of five successive decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s). His research has been funded by MRC, Wellcome Trust, EPSRC, BBSRC, NIHR, medical charities and industry, and he has given numerous invited lectures on his research within the UK and abroad (Europe, North America, Asia, Australasia).
His professional roles have included Chair of the British Society for Investigative Dermatology (2003-2006), President of the European Society for Dermatological Research, Board member of the European Society for Pigment Cell Research, Member of the Medical Research Council College of Experts, Expert Adviser to NICE Centre for Guidelines (and topic advisor and/or expert member on several NICE guideline committees and/or health technology evaluation/appraisal committees), Chair of the UK Translational Research Network in Dermatology, and he has served on editorial boards of various journals (J Invest Dermatol, Br J Dermatol, Exp Dermatol, etc.).
His educational roles have included Training Programme Director for Wessex Dermatology, Director of Clinical Academic Training (for all specialties) in Wessex, Member of the NIHR Integrated Academic Training Operational Advisory Group, Member of the MRCP(UK) Part 1 Examining Board, Member of the Question Writing Group for the MRCP Derm examination, Member of the Standard Setting Group for MRCP Derm, and Member of the MRCP Derm Examining Board.
The 2024 BSID Medal ceremony will be held during the BSID Annual Dinner in Southampton on Monday 15th April 2024. The citation will be given by Prof Veronica Kinsler
The BSID is pleased to invite Early Career Researchers (ECR) to apply for the newly launched BSID Research Mobility Award Fellowship 2024 to the support young skin scientists and foster collaborations among BSID members.
- Eligibility and purpose: Open to ECR (Clinical Fellows, PhD Students and Post-doctoral researchers) who wish to visit a UK dermatology laboratory in a different Institution to learn a new technique or to carry out a short-term collaborative project. Both the ECR and the Head of the Host Lab MUST be BSID members.
- Conditions: up to £3000 towards relocation costs and/or research consumables
- Number of awards : 1 per year.
Selection process:
- Apply using this FORM
- Email application to ukbsid@gmail.com with the subject “BSID Research Mobility Award Fellowship”.
- Application deadline: Monday 4th December 2023by 12.00 AM (Midnight)
- Selection by the BSID Committee. Outcome notification Feb 2024
- Lab visit to happen in 2024
After a succesful first iteration in 2022/23, the BSID is pleased once again to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to gain skin research experience during the Summer of 2024.
Eligibility and focus:
The BSID Undergraduate Research Experience Scholarship is now open to undergraduate students who are looking for a Summer Project in one of the BSID members’ labs and are at least in the second year of their undergraduate degree. Preference will be given to applicants who do not yet have any research experience, and would therefore, particularly benefit from working on a summer project.
The project should be skin focused and research question-based. The BSID will fund 1 (one) scholarship for this 2023/24 call. The awardee will submit a final report at the end of the project, and will be invited to present their work at the BSID 2025 Annual meeting in London.
Funding:
£1500 stipend and £500 consumables for a 6-week project in the lab.
Application process:
Potential students should contact projects’ supervisors prior to their applications. Applications should be submitted by the students, in agreement with the chosen supervisor, selected from the list below. The applicants are expected to outline what they want to achieve through this studentship.
The application form to be emailed to ukbsid@gmail.com with the subject “BSID Undergraduate Research Experience Scholarship” can be found HERE.
Deadline : Monday 4th December 2023by 12.00 AM (Midnight).
In 2022 the BSID launched th
e BSID Undergraduate Research Experience initiative offering one BSc undergraduate student interested in skin research the possibility to spend 6 weeks in the laboratory of a BSID member to carry out a skin focused project. The scholarship includes a £1500 stipend for the student and £500 towards consumables for the hosting lab. For the first iteration there were 4 projects offered by BSID members, spanning from inflammatory skin disease to gene editing to fibrosis; and 5 BSc students applied from all over the UK, undergoing a competitive selection process overseen by the BSID Committee.
At the BSID meeting 2023 in Glasgow, Mr. Scott Reid, a pharmacology student at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) was announced as the first recipient of the BSID Undergraduate Research Experience scholarship to carry out a project on “Fibrosis and its Impact on Diabetic Wounds” under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Wright at GCU.
Scott joined the Wright lab in June, and we recently caught up with him to learn a bit more about his reason to apply for the scholarship and what he has made of this experience. “I applied for this scholarship as I was seeking experience in a research lab- he says- but I wanted to have a key role in my own project rather than shadow someone else. I am also seeking to further my studies and go down the route of research and this scholarship combined my passion for the skin and another key interest of mine, i.e. diabetes”. Scott’s project seeks to identify key mediators that contribute to fibrosis in a slow healing diabetic wound. 
We asked him what were the most and least favourite aspects of being in the lab: “I have learned many new techniques with my favourite being tissue culture – Scott says – I love the hands-on approach of this and seeing my cells grow day after day. A tricky thing I’ve had to overcome was to understand was understanding the rationale by which each treatment applied to our cells worked, but this came with time.” Overall Scott greatly enjoyed the 
experience, which he shared widely on social media as well. “I have absolutely loved every single second of my project.– he concludes- I would like to thank the BSID for selecting me for this opportunity and I would like to pay a special thanks to Dr Catherine Wright who came up with the project and for her supervision and support”.
The BSID Undergraduate Research Experience scholarship returns this year to select a new BSc student who will spend time in a skin research lab in Summer 2024. An email to identify hosting labs has been recently sent out to Principal Investigators active in skin research who are BSID members, and the call is expected to open to BSc students in September.
BSID 2023 Prize Winners and ECR Awardees travelled to Liverpool to showcase the best of our Society at the BAD 103rd Annual Meeting.
Best Non-Clinical PhD Student and Best Postdoctoral Researcher Oral presentation winners Mr. Luc Francis and Dr Katie Smith, as well as the 2023 BSID Early Career Research Awardees Dr Chester Lai (Clinician Scientist) and Dr Emanuel Rognoni (Scientist) presented their work in a very lively and interactive session chaired by BSID Committee members Dr Abigail Langton and Dr Paola Di Meglio. The BSID Chair Dr Neil Rajan delivered the Opening address and Dr Joanna Jackow from King’s College London delivered the Guest Speaker Lecture, sharing her latest work on gene editing approaches for Epidermolysis Bullosa. The session was very well attended, being standing-room only at one point, with several attendees standing at the back to listen to the speakers!
We met with Dr Smith briefly before her talk to know more about her. She said: “I am an immunologist, and I received my PhD from the University of Edinburgh. I am currently at Newcastle University as a postdoctoral research associate in the Amarnath Laboratory. I am very happy for the opportunity to attend the BAD meeting and present my work here”. We also caught up after the session with Mr Francis who is a 2nd-year PhD Student at King’s College London, funded by The Psoriasis Association. “I enjoyed very much the discussion following my presentation- he said– and I am grateful for the useful feedback I received”.
The BAD meeting also traditionally gives the opportunity to the BSID committee to bid farewell to the Past Chair. Dr Daniele Bergamaschi was in attendance in Liverpool and received warm thanks for his long-standing service to the BSID as Treasurer first and Chair afterwards.