NIHR HRC PCH Education Programme Launch
Monday 26 January 2026
Jess McNeill
We’re delighted to share that our education programme, Elevate2Innovate, has officially launched after hosting our first webinar, “The Innovation Journey”, last week.
At the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health (NIHR HRC PCH), we are dedicated to supporting the next generation of researchers and innovators in child health technology. We have developed a health technology-focussed training programme, Elevate2Innovate (E2I), which will provide tailored educational support to a cohort of NIHR HRC PCH-funded PhD students, each aligned to one of our five research themes. This programme is primarily aimed at the ten HRC-funded PhD students but certain elements of E2I are open to other postgraduates and Early Career Researchers within our network who are interested in pursuing a career in paediatric research and innovation.
E2I will equip the students with essential skills and knowledge for a successful and exciting research career in health technology. We will explore key principles of HealthTech development through a series of seminars, workshops, and skill-building sessions where participants will apply their learning to their own research. Students will also have the opportunity to network and showcase their work and even shape the programme themselves through peer-assisted learning and leadership opportunities.
One of the exciting initiatives within the programme is to partner with external organisations to deliver bespoke training, career development opportunities, and support capacity building for healthcare workers, industry, and academics. Our Education Programme Director, Dr Venkat Reddy, and Education Project Manager, Jess McNeill, are working together alongside these organisations and the rest of the NIHR HRC PCH team to develop and deliver a programme that benefits both the E2I cohort and other early career researchers and innovators-to-be in the UK.
DR VENKAT REDDY
Education Programme Director, NIHR HRC PCH & Officer for Digital Health and Technology, RCPCH
JESS MCNEILL
Education Project Manager, NIHR HRC PCH
2026 Launch: “The Innovation Journey” webinar series
The inaugural session of the E2I Programme took place last week: the first webinar in a three-part series on The Innovation Journey. This mini-series outlines the key stages of the innovation pipeline and introduces participants to basic principles of health technology development that we will explore in more depth later in the programme. The interactive and engaging session also invited some fantastic guest speakers to join the NIHR HRC PCH presenters to discuss a range of topics including:
- mapping out the stages of the innovation journey based on the Technology Readiness Levels,
- navigating regulatory requirements and approvals in early stage development,
- evidence generation and clinical investigations,
- understanding care pathways and hospital workflows,
- early health technology assessment and health economics,
- real-world case studies of paediatric health technologies.
What’s next?
The E2I Programme will run its course over the next three years, for the duration of the PhD studentships. Over the next few months, we are excited to host the first wave of activities as outlined below:
The next two instalments of “The Innovation Journey” webinar series are to be held in Spring 2026. Each session will include expert guest speakers, interactive activities, and opportunities for the participants to learn how to apply their learning to their own projects.
Alongside this three-part series, next month we are also excited to host a webinar and in-person workshop on “Involving Children, Young People, and Families” in research and innovation, hosted by our own in-house experts on Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE), Dr Gemma Wheeler and Jen Preston. In these sessions, the students will develop a foundational knowledge of the importance and impact of meaningfully engaging young people and families in HealthTech research and evidence-based approaches to PPIE that they will learn to apply to their own projects.
For regular updates on the E2I Programme and other educational activities we support, please visit our Training & Education page and sign up to our mailing list using the links below.