Clinical Researcher of the Year

Established in 1999, the Clinical Researcher of the Year competition was created to enable professionals working within the research fraternity, to test their skills by competing with fellow research professionals.  The competition is run through a high level industry steering committee with members drawn from the ranks of senior directors from top Pharma Companies (see steering group)

Participation is rewarded at every step of the way, with feedback and personal development and, should you go on all the way to the finals, the whole industry will join in celebrating your success at a special awards ceremony organised in your honour.

Watch the last PharmaTimes Clinical Researcher of the Year Awards video:

What is the time commitment?

The competition steering committee is only too aware of time pressure and so the competition balances the need for intellectual rigour, with your busy lives. The time commitment is as follows:

Stage 1 Online Multiple Choice Questionnaire (ICH/GCP).  Estimate 1 Hour

This is an ‘open-book’ exercise prepared by the Institute of Clinical Research (ICR) comprising 20 questions based on ICH/GCP guidelines.  There are no trick questions and the pass mark is 80%.

Stage 2 (Case Study) maximum of 1000 words.  Estimate 2 to 4 Hours

The case studies are category specific and draw on common environmental themes.  Efforts spent here will help you with your own personal development because they require you to think and apply knowledge and learning you have collected over the years.   Themes for this year’s competition include:

    - Productivity (doing more with less)
    - Quality
    - Ethics
    - Innovation
    - Patient focus

Stage 3 The Finals. 

The finals are hosted by one of our competition partners SAS at their offices in Marlow (40 miles West of London).  There is a great atmosphere on the day because you have already excelled in reaching the finals and will meet other equally successful participants.   You have 1 hour to prepare your response to a further case-study presented to you on the day, followed by 30 minutes with the judging panel. To remove any potential for bias, judges will not include any people from your own organisation. 

Stage 4 The Awards Ceremony – Central London.

The winners are announced in Central London in February 2012.  This is a black-tie occasion commencing at 6.45pm and finishing late!  This is our opportunity to recognise your achievement and reward the winners with the Pharma Award and a winner’s cheque for £500 (runners up receive £300 and bronze receive £200).

Who can enter the competition?

Categories have been created to cater for key operational role within both the Pharma Company or CRO and the Investigator site.

As a Project Manager, you will carry different responsibilities and focus depending on whether you work for a Pharma Company or a CRO.  To recognise this fact, this category has been tailored to ‘Pharma Project Manager’ and ‘CRO Project Manager’ and joins the other established categories for 2011.

See which category best suits your talents and skills

Take your first important step for by entering or why not encourage a valued colleague to take part by nominating here .

Unlike other competitions for clinical researchers, this is not based on work done in the past, but on individual and team competencies displayed during the competition.

The competition caters for all main functional areas within clinical research and in addition, there is a new category to recognise the work done by staff at the Investigator Site - Clinical Research Site of the Year. See more detail Clinical Research Site of the Year

Other categories include: CTA, CRA, Project Manager NEW - this category is now split into Pharmaceutical Company Project Manager and CRO Project Manager, Line Manager, and Clinical Research Team (non- NHS clinical research teams).

The winners of the competition are announced at the Pharma Awards ceremony when the presentation of the Pharma Award is made in front of a large pharma audience.

Each year’s winners will join an exclusive alumni of past winners and like them, share the knowledge they have been recognised by their industry peers.

All participants are welcomed by the steering committee as individuals who are demonstrating an interest in their personal development, committed to furthering their talents and abilities as clinical researchers at the forefront of delivering improved medicines to patients.