Charity Insights

This week started off with many crucial tasks, including finalizing the attendee list, printing and binding the conference packet, creating name tags for the participants, and filling the gift bags. We had a good assembly line going, though, so it wasn’t too tedious.

The programme for the conference was successfully uploaded to the INCA2015 website, which was safely accepting research abstracts and payment for participation as well.

As an intern directly responsible for the outcome of the conference, I was also in charge of catering. Because the conference was hosted by PCRF, we contacted many shops around the South Kensington area to see if they would want to contribute to our conference.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) requires that many businesses incorporate some ethical or charitable actions into their business plan. CSR through environmental, social, or philanthropic means is important for improving the local communities’ response to the company. Many of the businesses we contacted had already allocated their annual budget for charitable acts to other charities, so it was difficult finding a company that would help. We were thrilled when Starbucks agreed to supply us with free freshly brewed coffee, cups, and milk, on both days of the conference. Thanks Starbucks!

On the day of the conference, I had a chance to meet so many people from all over the world. We welcomed our guests at the registration table, and then later on were able to listen to the inspiring speakers at the conference, and speak to participants exhibiting their research posters in the coffee breaks.

The combination of work at this charity was a dedicated effort to immerse myself into a scientific career with the fundamental goal of bettering people’s lives. I’m so thankful I was trusted with so many jobs so quickly. Planning the conference took up a significant part of my time at the charity. I was able to input so many of my ideas into planning the conference, which made the whole experience rewarding and worthwhile. I’ve gained a whole set of new skills, most important of which is negotiation and tactical communication. During my time I’ve met so many kind and interesting people, and hope to work with them soon again. I want to say a massive thank you to Charity Insights and PCRF for giving me the opportunity to work and gain such invaluable experience this summer.

Read Conference Success! Week 4 in full

With two weeks to go to the big “Ion Channels in Cancer” (INCA) conference, the pressure has definitely been put on. This conference happens biannually and is hosted in a different place every time. This year, Professor Djamgoz and his PCRF team are the hosts. The topic of Ion channels is an exciting new development in cancer which holds promise to enable early, definitive diagnosis and non-toxic therapies of cancer. The conference will bring together scientists at the forefront of this field in order to advance novel solutions to cancer. The meeting will include over 30 invited speakers from all over the world, with around 100 people expected to attend.

Because the charity prides itself on having no administrative costs, logistical organization up till now was largely down to Mustafa alone. With an estimated overall cost of £16K, my colleague and I found the email addresses of multiple research charities, science and technology companies, and scientific societies, and sent them personalized emails asking whether they could help us meet our balance. Whilst we preferred receiving direct monetary support, we also welcomed any supporting materials such as pens, notepads, sweets, or any other souvenirs that the delegates would receive in their conference goody bags. In return, we offered to include any publicity material in the conference pack.

I’ve had a very exciting week speaking with so many different people. I’ve been able to harness my communication and negotiation skills that I gained in my previous job as a telethon fundraiser for Imperial’s President Scholarship Fund and apply it to contacting these individual professionals. We were so excited to have our first contact offer £1000 in the first day of our fundraising. We’ve had many more positive responses and are building up a strong donation base.

Read Moving on–Week 3 in full

Over the course of my first week the plan for my project has changed slightly, I originally was going to make a website from scratch, design, text, and code. The only experience in coding that I have is from R, a language and data handling program that we use a lot in Biology for statistical computing and graphics. In the interest of continuity, my supervisor decided that it would be best to leave the designing and coding of the website to professionals who have had instruction and training in this field. When I was told, I was quite disappointed because I was very excited to learn a new skill and be responsible for something so big. Last week, my original pressure of building the website was already lifting, as I was getting the hang of the procedure from tons of information that is available on the internet, which is also all conveniently free.

Despite not being able to be build it, I did get the ball rolling on setting it up. One of the very first steps in building a website is registering a domain name, which is what you put into the address bar at the top of your webpage. I emailed a few domain registrars around the country for quotes and whether they could give any away for charity. Turns out many people were willing to help us, and we were able to secure a few domain names for free from a company in Mustafa’s large network of connections. This company was also able to host our webpage and set up a platform to start building it.

This left the writing of the website pages. I did a lot of thinking on what would be the most important information to include in this website. It needs to have a comprehensive and informative website that shares novel research, has relevant contact information, and allows donations to be made safely and efficiently. As PCRF is a charity, it was necessary for it to have a “Support Us” page, which will include information for donors and volunteers, as well as perspective partners.

At the end of the week, I had very constructive meetings with my supervisor and other members of the research group, where I presented my vision for the website and was able to discuss and process their feedback.

Read Second week completed in full

Pro-cancer research fund (PCRF) is a registered UK charity that has three main prongs of activity: research, outreach, and patient care. The research side is an integral part of the charity, and is led by Imperial professor Mustafa Djamgoz. Dr. Djamgoz is developing a non-toxic way of treating many different types of cancers, including Prostate, Breast, Colon, and Pancreas. The internationally acclaimed and peer-reviewed research is integral to PCRF’s mission as it gives them the necessary authority, professionalism and trust-worthiness for a supportive drop-in advice centre. PCRF offers a direct link between cutting-edge research and the patients that the research is ultimately meant to help. PCRF engages in multiple outreach talks and programs each year, such as the annual Orchid walk, aimed at making new information more accessible to the people actually affected by cancer. The patient care is delivered through the Amber Care Centre, a free drop in centre located in north London that offers professional help to cancer patients, as well as a free home nurse care program. PCRF is improving the lives of this community through awareness and prevention campaigns, psychological support, and specialist oncology detection and care, at little to no cost.

I chose this charity because its small size allows me the opportunity to take on multiple jobs that would normally be classified into many different sectors. My background is in Biology, and I am particularly interested in molecular biology. As one of the three prongs of activity is research, over the past six weeks, I have been introduced to the lab members, given a stack of seminal papers to read on the topic of “Ion Channels in Cancer”, and adopted many dishes of breast cancer cells, which I have grown and started testing drugs on. These six weeks have prepared me immensely for the second part of my internship this summer, which is the Charity Insights scheme. Having been involved in the research part has given me a significant hands-on experience, and allowed me to fully grasp PCRF’s unique approach to helping people with cancer.

During my internship at PCRF, my project will be to develop their website and assist in fundraising. The website is currently unavailable, which is a major hindrance to the potential of this organization. I will also aid in organizing a conference for 150 researchers in cancer for the 9th and 10th of September. Through the research that I have done in the past six weeks, I have learned enormous amounts about cancer to a much greater scope than has been offered to me in my course. I will use this as a base to build upon and share through the website and the blogs, and to be able to relate to the invited speakers and participants at the “Ion Channels in Cancer” conference PCRF will be hosting.

Read First week at PCRF in full