The IMPACT monthly Research Engagement Seminar brings together experts, clinicians, researchers and policy makers from around the world to explore the latest developments in post-collision care.
Each session offers an inclusive forum to share new research, discuss innovations, and exchange ideas that can improve survival recovery after road traffic collisions — with a focus on both high-income and low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts.
The seminars are designed to:
• Highlight cutting-edge research and its practical applications in different resource settings
• Encourage collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and regions
• Build a global community of professionals committed to improving post-collision care
Who can attend?
Participation is open to everyone with an interest in post-collision research and trauma care. Presentations are designed to engage both experienced researchers and those new to the field.
Our speakers and content reflect diverse global perspectives, including insights from LMICs, where innovative, resource-adapted solutions are often developed and tested.
How to get involved:
• All engagement events are free to attend
• Registration links are available alongside each event listing
• Past events are available to view on our YouTube Channel
♦ Friday 24th April 12:00 to 13:00 BST
Seema Yalamanchili, General Surgeon and a Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Global Health Innovation’s Centre for Health Policy
♦ Wednesday 20th May 12:00 to 13:00 BST
‘Using AI and Machine Learning to Address Ethically Challenging Research Questions’ with Dr Amy Nelson, Academic Clinical Fellow at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Research Associate at UCL Institute of Neurology
You can read Dr Amy Nelson’s latest publication here and listen to her appearance on the Resus Room Podcast here.
♦ Wednesday 17th June 12:00 to 13:00 BST
‘Creating vicarious trauma informed research environments’ with Dr Nicola Lester, IMPACT Lead for Safeguarding and Ethical Practice
This seminar aims to support clinicians and researchers in developing vicarious trauma–informed environments, drawing on practical insights from research practice. It will explore how working closely with individuals and communities affected by trauma can have emotional and psychological impacts on professionals, and why it is essential that these impacts are recognised and addressed within organisational and research cultures.
♦ International Women’s Day 2026 – ‘Give to Gain’ – exploring how generosity, collaboration, and lifting women up drives shared growth and impact.
Tanya Fosdick – ‘Breaking the Pattern: Choosing Support Over Competition in a Male‑Dominated World’
Tanya is the Research Director at Agilysis, Trustee at the Road Safety Trust, and Principal Research Associate at Road Safety Analysis. Beginning her career in road safety within a highly male‑dominated policing environment, Tanya discovered early on how transformative women‑centred support can be.
Dr Claire Baker – ‘From Sensing to Saving Lives: Building Better, Fairer Post-Collision Response, Featuring Personal Reflections’
Claire is a Schmidt AI for Science Research Fellow in Design Engineering at Imperial College London, where she works on using accessible technology and data-driven trauma biomechanics to improve emergency healthcare.
Associate Professor Shweta Gidwani – ‘Reclaiming generosity – lessons from the frontline of global health’
Shweta Gidwani is an emergency medicine physician, an academic & educator in global emergency and injury care. Drawing from her journey as a woman on the frontlines of global health, she’s seen that the most transformative impact comes from radical, purposeful generosity.
Watch Tanya, Claire and Shweta’s seminar here.
♦ Dr Alex Psirides, Co-director of Wellington ICU & Medical Director of the Wellington Aeromedical Retrieval Service, Wellington, New Zealand
The Ethics of Acute Care.
The void between ethics-as-taught & their practical application within acute care is vast. Ethics committees aren’t coming to save us. A brief foray into Kant, Bentham & Aristotle via Batman will be presented, with a diversion into triage. How do we make ethical decisions when demand exceeds resource?
Dr. Nicola Lester is a registered mental health nurse and EMDR therapist specializing in psychological trauma. As the clinical consultant for Brake’s National Road Victim Service, she collaborates with caseworkers to integrate trauma-informed approaches into their support for families affected by road traffic collisions. She joins us to talk about trauma informed approaches to research practice.
♦ Professor Jo Røislien, Medical Statistician, University of Stavanger
Why do cool pre-hospital RCTs so rarely change our practice?
With their built-in capacity for assessing causality, RCTs have become the gold standard in medical research. However, with RCTs being quantitative experiments, they live in the intersection between the idealized worlds of mathematics and experimentation. Indeed, the phrase “quantitative experiment” turns out to be surprisingly challenging in the field of health research, tapping into less-than-straightforward topics like the meaningfulness of numbers, the fundamental difference between complicated and complex, and high-dimensional mathematical statistics. Sure RCTs are powerful. In theory. But clinical practice is not theory.
♦ Associate Professor Willem Stassen, University of Cape Town
Prof Stassen is an emergency care practitioner and academic, currently serving as the Programme Convenor for the Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town’s Division of Emergency Medicine. He has extensive experience in critical care retrieval, operating across various transport modalities including ground, helicopter, and fixed-wing aircraft. Prof. Stassen’s research focuses on critical care retrieval and transport, telephonic triage and dispatch, ethics in emergency care, and the development of prehospital emergency care systems. He has contributed to defining Critical Care Retrieval Services within the South African context and has been involved in international collaborations aimed at enhancing out-of-hospital care accessibility.
