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Registrations are open for the Creating Solutions-Towards better health equity for all Conference. The virtual conference is being held on 2-3 July and is being co-hosted by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust. There is an exciting programme of national and international speakers and health sector leaders. It is being opened by the Health Minister Andrew Little. All those attending will be asked to contribute to practical solutions to growing health inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Some of the topics include:

• How to address poverty in a low wage economy and high cost country
• Ethnic and cultural prejudice: the long term effects of colonization
• Universal free access to health care
• How health workforces can encourage affirmative action

You can find out more and register here

The Department of Oncology has an opportunity for a Clinical Research Fellow to work on the Early Phase Cancer Trials Unit at the University of Oxford from January 2022 (start date can be negotiated). The post holder will be working alongside staff in the Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford. As part of the training programme the applicant will have the opportunity to undertake a clinical or translational research project at the Oxford Cancer Centre.

The Early Phase Cancer Trials Unit at the University of Oxford is a specialist, dedicated clinical trials unit, supporting early phase research integrating oncology and haematology as a seamless service. Recruiting over 150 patient per year, our key remit is the testing of novel therapies, on a bespoke 15 bedded ward incorporating a sample handling laboratory. Under the direction of our Principle Investigators, who are world-leading clinicians and clinician scientists, a team of research nurses and clinical fellows work across the broad portfolio of studies, providing expertise in patient management and protocol compliance.

The successful candidate will be a GMC registered Medical Practitioner (or eligible for GMC registration), with relevant and substantial hospital service, including experience of managing cancer patients, and to have held specialist training hospital appointments in oncology or surgery.

Closing date: 2nd July 2021

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Applications are now open for the RACP Foundation Research Awards, which provide research funding for 2022. Up to 50 awards up to a total value of $2.5 million and are available to RACP Fellows and trainees from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Funding is available in the following categories:

• Career Development Fellowships for established researchers
• Research Establishment Fellowships for those establishing their research careers
• Research Entry Scholarships providing stipend support for those at the beginning their research careers.

Applications for Education Development Grantsfor funding in 2021 and Research Development Scholarships and Travel Grants for funding in 2022 will open Monday, 1 June 2021.

Awards which may be of interest for your members include:

• Arnott Research Entry Scholarship in Cancer Research
• The Servier Staff "Barry Young" Research Establishment Fellowship
• RACP GSK Research Establishment Fellowship

Full details for these opportunities including eligibility and application closing dates are available on the RACP Foundation Research Awards webpage.

Please forward this email to colleagues who may be interested in applying for these or the other awards available.

Should you have any questions, please email us.

This issue includes research reporting that patients who relapse after adjuvant targeted therapy for BRAFmutated stage III melanoma respond well to subsequent anti-PD-1-based therapy with outcomes similar to those seen with first-line anti-PD-1 therapy for stage IV melanoma. We have also included a long-term safety report from three of the KEYNOTE trials of pembrolizumab monotherapy for melanoma. Research conducted in participants from a dermoscopy masterclass found that the accuracy of diagnosing lentigo maligna improved after they were trained in the inverse approach, added to the classic pattern analysis. This issue concludes with an Australian study investigating discrepancies between biopsy results and final excised specimens in keratinocyte carcinomas.

We hope you enjoy the research selected, and we look forward to your comments and feedback.

Kind regards,
Dr Annie Wong

The Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi is today calling for new Fellowship, Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi, and Honorary Fellowship, Ngā Ahurei Honore a Te Apārangi, nominations for 2021.

Fellowshipof the Royal Society of New Zealand is an honour proposed by one’s peers and conferred for distinction in research or the outcomes resulting from intellectual endeavour (Advancement).

A web portal has been set up to receive new and updated nominations, so please email (academy@royalsociety.org.nz) if you wish to submit a new nomination and you will be provided with a URL to access the web portal. Details of the nomination process and requirements can be found here, and the closing date is 30 June 2021.

Please note that the Academy is focused on increasing the diversity of nominations from under-represented groups, particularly with respect to gender, ethnicity, and employment context.

This year’s conference looks at ‘openness’ in animal research and teaching. Public confidence in animal research hinges on the scientific community engaging in the evolving conversation about how and why animals are used. Being open about these matters is a worthwhile endeavour, and to be encouraged.

To gain a broader perspective on how openness looks in practise, we will examine overseas examples, both success stories and failures, and learn from different cultural viewpoints.

We anticipate that the adoption of new approaches to openness will reflect constructively on ANZCCART‘s principal objectives, particularly the Three R’s – the refinement, reduction and replacement of animals in research and teaching.

• Learning Matrices – a new product which identify and describe the significant learning of subjects that can be used to develop robust teaching and learning programmes.
• Assessment Matrices – which identify the significant learning that will be assessed and credentialed at each NCEA level.
• Course Outlines – which provide examples of how significant learning can inform a year of teaching and learning.
• Initial draft Teaching, Learning and Assessment guides – which provide the overarching framework and structure to the assessment package, detailing links between The New Zealand Curriculum and the assessment at NCEA level.

Feedback can be provided through online questionnaires until 19 April 2021:

Questionnaire in English

Questionnaire in te reo Māori

Draft NCEA Level 1 achievement standards and assessment activities will be developed from May to August 2021, when feedback will be sought on this content.

More information is available on the NCEA Education website. If you have any queries in the meantime, please email us at ncea.review@education.govt.nz

We invite Maori and non-Maori healthcare professionals who have provided care for patients with cancer to take part in a brief online survey. iPad Mini up for grabs.

Click here to start the survey.

Please note that the Academy Executive Committee is focused on increasing the diversity of nominations from under-represented groups, particularly with respect to gender, ethnicity and employment context, from Crown Research Institutes and Independent Research organisations.