The EORTC have an extensive programme of conferences and courses managed by their well established education office in Brussels. The courses/meetings are for members only, however as most of the courses have an EORTC theme, it is fairly safe to assume that their appeal would lie with clinical research personnel working on EORTC studies.

Throughout the year The EORTC also organises EORTC Tumour Site Specific Group meetings for their members annually e.g. EORTC Melanoma Group 29-30 March (See full programme). The meetings are held in venues throughout Europe, making UK attendance costly if un-sponsored.

The organised EORTC training programme for 2002 :-

• The EORTC Scientific Strategy Meeting-EORTC 40th Anniversary.
  26-28 March 2002
• Clinical Trials Statistics for Non Statisticians. (Annual course)
  13-14 June 2002
• One Day Introduction to EORTC Trials. (Annual course)
  27 September 2002V
• Cancer Clinical Trials: Methods and Practice
  (Course organised once every two years)
  25-29 November 2002

The EORTC have a sub-group called The EORTC Oncology Nurses Group, established in 1990, and is one of the four members of the Clinical Research Coordinators Group. One of their admirable aims is to promote, stimulate and provide education for nurses involved in clinical studies, however little is publicised of their intentions for the coming year.

The British Oncology Data Managers Association (BODMA) was founded in 1987 to promote data management and trial co-ordination within oncology in the UK. Membership is open to anyone in oncology data management and/or trial co-ordination and includes Data Managers, Trial Co-ordinators, Research Nurses and Auditors.

BODMA has an active Training Sub-Committee. The two main training courses are a ‘Basic Data Managers’ course and an ‘Advanced Data Managers Course’. Both run for 2 ½ days annually and are open to BODMA members only. A number of ad-hoc one day courses (Presentation Skills for Beginners) and meetings, (in 2002 an informed consent and quality of life meeting are planned) are held with details being publicised to members in the ‘Diary Dates’ section of the newsletter and on the Website. They have in the past collaborated with The Institute of Clinical Research in holding joint training and education, and last year held ‘Academia & Industry-Working Together to Fight Cancer’

The CRNA was founded in 1983 as a direct awareness among a group of nurses that they had been continuously extending their role. Nurses who where not only working for hospital and community health services but in less familiar situations such as university based clinical research centres. Nurses who, due to the variety and complexity of their roles within multidisciplinary settings, were becoming isolated from their peers. The CRNA has approximately 100 members. Membership is diverse and non-selective and is made up of nurses who work in clinical research and those who are undertaking their own nursing research.

The association primarily exists as a support / contact group to nurses who are interested or involved in any form of research that relates to patient or client care and aims to provide an organisation to disseminate research findings. The Association provides a forum for discussion and an opportunity for the presentation of papers by anyone in clinical research.

The Association hold an annual conference in a roving venue, where copies of abstracts of papers are presented and are consequently made available to all members by dissemination in the CRNA newsletter. They also hold a Spring Seminar meeting, activities are advertised in the newsletter and in the nursing press. There is an annual membership fee of £20.

The RCN research society does what it says on the label, it is primarily a forum for networking, not so much for nurses working in clinical research but for those who are undertaking nursing research. However the society offers:

• The services of a professional adviser
• A twice yearly newsletter called Headlines
• Occasional publications
• An annual conference (7-10th April 2002 Exeter)
• Local Networks throughout the UK.

The RCN research society are also offering an annual award to new or inexperienced researchers, currently undertaking a post-graduate course of study leading to a higher award (MSc, MPhil, PhD) The award is a free place at the annual international nursing research conference.

The Research Nurse Managers Forum, a relatively newly established group, only founded in October 2001, and currently have approx. 40 members throughout the country. The group was established as a result of a need for mutual support for senior Research Nurses. The group plan to run workshops and training specifically on professional and managerial issues. Their next meeting is to be held in February 2002.

The MRC Clinical Trial Managers Group was established in 1998 and is a forum for all MRC funded trials and has approx.150 members. Its primary functions are to link trial managers together to ensure the dissemination of expertise and experience and to provide training tools developed by members of the network. The group produced the very comprehensive ‘Trial Managers Guide’ after identifying the need for training and development of their members. The group holds regular study days & symposia on educational and professional issues e.g. data protection, financial management, consumer involvement.

The group has recently established a ‘Health Services Research Collaboration’ (HSRC), the centre being in Bristol with collaborating centres in Aberdeen, Dundee/St Andrews, Newcastle, York, Wales and London. There are two parts to the HSRC – research and training. Within the HSRC the group responsible for developing training for trial managers is led from the Health Services Research Unit in Aberdeen.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust Research Network has approx. 70 members that come from a variety of backgrounds and experience, they include research nurses, secretaries, data managers and radiographers. The network is not oncology specific. Meetings are held four times per year, with two guest speakers to initiate debate. They have also set up an email forum to disseminate information about meetings, and clinical research job vacancies within the trust.