Research thrives on lively exchange, collaboration, and ventures founded on trust. To foster these conditions, the SCTO has established a strong tradition of hosting events and providing opportunities to debate challenges and developments in research. We organise these events together with regional universities and their hospitals as well as with other international clinical research infrastructures in order to stay rooted in science, learning, and practice.
The SCTO Forum 2023, which focused on patient recruitment in clinical trials, was held in person after two years of online meetings. The 54 participants were treated to interesting presentations on the forum’s topic. The discussions focused on planning efficient patient recruitment, managing the recruitment process itself, and avoiding the early withdrawal of participants from clinical trials. The slides from the presentations as well as the forum’s programme are available on our website.
In June, the SCTO Symposium 2023 in St. Gallen was devoted to the topic of clinical research in the age of digital health and was co-organised with the CTU St.Gallen. During our symposium, we looked at real-life examples of digital health applications in clinical research projects and discussed legal and ethical aspects that have to be taken into consideration. Over 170 participants attended the event. A selection of slides from the presentations as well as the symposium’s programme are available on our website.
Symposium 2023 in St. Gallen
The SCTO Platforms’ lunch meeting series started in September 2023. A total of three online meetings took place in 2023, each with approximately 60 participants from our Clinical Trial Unit (CTU) Network. These initial meetings provided an opportunity for the CTUs to introduce themselves. They presented their units, shared success stories, highlighted achievements, discussed main challenges, and explored ways in which other CTUs or the CTU Network could offer support. Additional lunch meetings on various platform-related topics are planned for 2024.