Category: All courses

Medical Ethics course 16-20 September 2019

By Professor Raanan Gillon

In 1983, as a hybrid of NHS GP and philosopher, I started the Imperial College one week CPD course in medical ethics to introduce doctors to several different approaches to ethics (currently deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, ‘the four principles approach’). The course considers a variety of problems in medical ethics including end of life issues, double effect, acts and omissions, killing vs allowing to die, paternalism versus respect for autonomy, truth-telling in medical practice, a session on ‘practical aspects of medical ethics’, fair distribution of resources, the relation of ethics and law, human rights and medical ethics. A half-day session is aimed at helping participants to understand opposing perspectives by means of an exercise in developing arguments explicitly opposing participants’ own viewpoints concerning cases that they have found troubling.

This year the last day of the course – which always looks at issues of justice in medical ethics- will be in the form of a stand-alone one day conference to which people interested to explore this complex component of medical and health care ethics can subscribe if they are unable to attend the entire intensive five day course. Seven plenary speakers will approach the subject from their varied perspectives- philosophy (James Wilson), care ethics (Ann Gallagher), health inequalities (Sir Michael Marmot), health economics (Richard Cookson), medical law (Emily Jackson), human rights (Julian Sheather) and medical ethics (Albert Weale). There will be no small group discussions but time is built in for audience participation.

For further information and to register for this course please visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/continuing-professional-development/short-courses/medicine/ethics/medical-ethics/

 

2019 – an exciting year ahead!

If in 2019 you are thinking about attending a Professional Development course to update your skills, refresh your knowledge or change your career path, then Imperial CPD is the place for you!

As ever we have a full and diverse portfolio of high quality short courses, within the disciplines of Science, Technology, Medicine and Business led by academics at the very top of their fields. Here are some of the highlights…..

Researcher Development Course

Previously called Starting out in Research, this popular course designed specifically for healthcare staff involved in research projects will now be directed by Dr Caroline Alexander, the Lead Clinical Academic for Therapies at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Adjunct Reader. The course is offered in two 2 day modules:

  • Module 1: 11 – 12 March
  • Module 2: 13 – 14 June

The gap between the modules is intended to allow you time to use and develop the skills taught during days 1 and 2, and to spend time developing a research question and start to formulate a proposal. We’re sure that with Caroline’s wealth of experience, this course will prove to be a successful as ever!

 

Improving Voice is back!

Previously held in 2017, don’t miss the chance to attend the very popular ‘Improving Voice: management and therapy for voice disorders’ 25 & 26 March, a 2 day course with Christina Shewell, internationally recognised expert in the spoken and singing voice. Early bird rate available until 26 February 2019!

Specific course content includes:

  • Overview of common voice disorders
  • Optimising voice evaluation
  • Introduction to 7 areas of management and therapy tools
  • Experiential voice and pair-based practical work 

 

Further your skills and broaden your opportunities in cardiovascular and respiratory healthcare.

The Faculty of Medicine’s new and exciting Cardiovascular and Respiratory Healthcare Master’s programme offers the following modules as stand-alone short courses:

Civil Engineering

Within the field of Civil Engineering, our 1 day course Systems Engineering leadership will be held on 22 March. Organised through the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation at Imperial College and the Systems Centre at the University of Bristol, this course enables you to develop your systems engineering leadership skills – to lead the use of systems engineering in infrastructure delivery in your own organizations and in the projects on which you work.

Now in its 14th year, our annual Post tensioning Design and Construction course, will be held 3-5 April, so if you’re looking to update your knowledge on the latest developments in construction technology and are  Interested in the economics of post tensioning, design procedures and software, this is the course for you!

 

Petroleum Engineering

Within the field of Petroluem engineering, is our established international course Using Special Core analysis in reservoir engineering 5-7 June. Led by the highly esteemed Jess Stiles, this 3 day course is designed primarily for reservoir engineers involved with reservoir simulation and/or classical hand calculations. A comprehensive manual accompanies the course which includes numerous examples from the North Sea and elsewhere in the world.

We also run short stand-alone courses from the MSc Petroleum Engineering programme. The remaining short courses within Modules 3- 5 are scheduled until 11 March 2019 and cover Reservoir Characterisation/ Engineering and Field Development. See our detailed course brochure for further information.

 

Mining Finance Courses

The courses offered provide a comprehensive guide to understanding the main factors involved in securing the financial support for mining projects through equity, debt, or entering into a joint venture.  This involves addressing the underlying technical principles, applying these to mineral projects and demonstrating how these influence the financial modelling.

In addition to the long-standing annual Introduction to Mining for Bankers 1-3 July, we also run the Metals and Energy Finance course, 18-22 November. Launched in November 2016, modular course in mining and energy finance identifies and examines the investment opportunities offered across the extractive industry’s cycle, from exploration through evaluation, pre-production, development and production.  The course addresses the similarities of a range of mineral and petroleum projects while identifying their key differences.

 

Summer schools

As ever, we have a busy summer planned, with a full programme of summer schools including World challenges and innovation summer school, 5-16 August, now in its 2nd year.  Applications are now open, so join us for a summer of discovery!

 

Medical Ethics – now includes a one day standalone conference!

This year, our long-standing Medical Ethics Course 16-20 September will include a one day stand alone on day conference on day 5, which will focus on Justice and fairness in medical and health care ethics – to which people interested to explore this complex component of medical and health care ethics can subscribe if they are unable to attend the entire intensive five day course.

 

Please feel free to browse our webpage for further information on these courses and our full programme of events at www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd or follow us on twitter @imperialCPD for fast course updates.

 

Medical Ethics Intensive One Week Course in London, 10-14 September 2018

By Professor Raanan Gillon

In 1983 I started a one week CPD course in medical ethics to  introduce doctors to several different  approaches to ethics (currently deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, ‘the four principles approach’). The course considers a variety of problems in medical ethics including end of life issues, double effect, acts and omissions, killing vs allowing to die, paternalism versus respect for autonomy, truth-telling in medical practice, a session on ‘practical aspects of medical ethics’,  fair distribution of resources, the relation of ethics and law,  human rights and medical ethics. A half-day session is aimed at helping participants to understand opposing perspectives by means of an exercise in developing arguments explicitly opposing participants’ own viewpoints concerning cases that they have found troubling. Overall satisfaction of previous participants has always (over the last 34 years!)  been at an average level of 9+ on a ten-point scale so  I am confident that doctors who come on the course do find it very worthwhile.

Comments from participants have included “The best post-graduate experience of my career” and “A first class course to put your ethical thinking into perspective and relate [it] to present day healthcare…”.

The course is in English and UK doctors are the main attenders but we usually have some international visitors whose perspectives add value to the experience,  as do the various others who come- among them nurses clinical ethics committee members, medical ethicists, health managers and even the occasional vet.

If you are interested in attending please visit the CPD website www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd

Professor Raanan Gillon
Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics,
Imperial College London

Introduction to Mathematical Models of the Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases 4th-15th September 2017

35 delegates from across the world attended this annual 2-week short course run by the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. Bringing together policy makers, clinicians, economists, veterinarians, mathematicians, and biologists, the course provides a thorough, but accessible and demystifying introduction to the essential elements of mathematical modelling with an emphasis on the use of mathematical models for policy making. With infectious diseases frequently dominating news headlines, public health professionals, policy makers and infectious disease researchers increasingly need to understand the transmission patterns of infectious diseases. This allows them to interpret and critically evaluate both epidemiological data and the findings of mathematical modelling studies.

Highlights of an intense first week of lectures and practicals included a trip on the London Eye followed by the course dinner, and a taste of British culture with a pub quiz to end the week.

Delegates chose two projects in the second week, applying methods and concepts taught in week one to build their own disease-specific models. This year’s invited lecture was given by Dr Chris Dye, Director of Strategy in the Office of the Director General at the World Health Organization, addressing “What will the Sustainable Development Goals do for health?”.

Power Minimization in low-noise analog IC’s, given by Prof. Willy Sansen of the KULeuven, Belgium

This annual course, held 14-17 November 2017 at Imperial College London is an insight in analogue IC design. Insight is developed by the analysis of some of the most important circuits, followed by the use of design plans or algorithms to obtain the best Figures of Merit (FOM).  This is worked out for circuits such as multi-stage amplifiers and class-AB amplifiers. Considerable attention goes to the noise trade-off with power consumption. Both continuous-time and switched-capacitor filters are also discussed and compared, to be used in Sigma-delta Analogue-to-Digital Converters.

This course is thus for expert designers who want to become more competitive in their field. This course is however also for novice designers who are already acquainted with some design aspects but who want to broaden their portfolio in design knowledge.

Low-power Analogue design is a niche design expertise, which has never failed to lead to ever more job opportunities. At the same time it is a life-long learning activity, which perfectly fits the present-day career development goals.

It is at the core of all portable electronics, such as portable phones, medical monitoring systems, etc., but also the coming Internet of Things.

Medical Ethics Intensive One Week Course, 11-15 September 2017

By Professor Raanan Gillon

In 1983 I started a one week CPD course in medical ethics to  introduce doctors to several different  approaches to ethics (currently deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, ‘the four principles approach’). The course  considers a variety of problems in medical ethics including end of life issues, double effect, acts and omissions, killing vs allowing to die, paternalism versus respect for autonomy, truth-telling in medical practice, a session on ‘practical aspects of medical ethics’,  fair distribution of resources, the relation of ethics and law,  human rights and medical ethics. A half-day session is aimed at helping participants to understand opposing perspectives by means of an exercise in developing arguments explicitly opposing participants’ own viewpoints concerning cases that they have found troubling. Overall satisfaction of previous participants has always (over the last 33 years!)  been at an average level of 9+ on a ten-point scale so  I am confident that doctors who come on the course do find it very worthwhile. Comments from participants have included “The best post-graduate experience of my career” and “A first class course to put your ethical thinking into perspective and relate [it] to present day healthcare…”.

The course is in English and UK doctors are the main attenders but we usually have some international visitors whose perspectives add value to the experience,  as do the various others who come- among them nurses clinical ethics committee members, medical ethicists, health managers and even the occasional vet.

If you are interested in attending please visit the CPD website www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd

Professor Raanan Gillon
Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics,
Imperial College London

Post-Tensioning Design and Construction Course Completes 12th Year

This April we completed our 12th annual course on post-tensioning design and construction. Over the years, the course has taken on its own legendary status and has become a highly sought after event by UK and international delegates. Consistently, engineers calling from over 10 countries participate in the course to learn about the basics of post-tensioning and sharpen their design skills. Many of the larger design offices have also made it standard practice to send new hires to the course. As lecturers, we have been very pleased with the logistical support we receive from the Center for Professional Development. Imperial College has proven to be a great venue and creates a collegial atmosphere among the delegates. One of the highlights of the course has become a dinner we invite delegates to between the first and second days of lectures. This social event has turned into a great networking opportunity and forum for practitioners from different parts of the world to share ideas and forge new friendships. Dr. Bijan, the course Director, and I have also had the chance to meet many interesting individuals and maintain ongoing contact with quite a few of them.

Each year we strive to provide up-to-date course content and deliver relevant information to the attendees. The optional hands-on software workshop that is offered on the third day gives delegates the opportunity to learn new structural design software skills. It has been a real pleasure for us to be part of this CPD program and look forward to many more years of giving the course. The next course is in 23- 25 April 2018, so make sure you keep an eye out on the CPD website for details. www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd

Florian Aalami – Course Lecturer

Medical ethics as applied to paediatric practice

Law and Ethics in Paediatrics is a two day course looking at medical law and ethics as applied to paediatric practice. This important course will cover topics such as negligence, confidentiality, child protection, research, end of life care, organ donation, reporting of deaths and the Coronial process; delegates will get the opportunity to visit Westminster Coroner’s Court.

Course aims include enhancing the problem-solving skills necessary to solve practical problems in paediatric practice through debate and discussion and to provide familiarisation with the Coroner’s Court and the Coronial process.

The course is open to doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and students of medicine or law and has recently been added to the modules available on the MSc Paediatrics and Child Health programme offered at Imperial College London.

Delegates who previously attended the course described it as an ‘Excellent overview of major paediatric issues in law and ethics.’ and ‘Extremely thought provoking and interesting!’

 If you would like to know more about the course please visit:
www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd/lawethics/ or contact cpd@imperial.ac.uk

Laryngectomy: rehabilitation and surgical voice restoration (Advanced Level)

Leading experts Yvonne Edels and Margaret Coffey recently delivered another successful advanced level Laryngectomy course for speech therapists.

The course is a joint venture between Imperial College London (ICL) and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT).  It is specifically designed for speech and language therapists (SLT’s) who have specialised in the field of Head and Neck Cancer, specifically cancers leading to laryngectomy (removal of the larynx).  Course applicants must have previous working experience in the field. Numbers are limited to around 30 delegates to maximise the learning experience.

The focus is on surgery for standard laryngectomy and options for extensive surgical reconstruction; changes to the anatomy and physiology, their effects upon breathing, swallow and voice production and complications associated with these procedures.

The multi awarding winning E-Learning Module “Understanding laryngectomy surgery to optimise swallow and voice outcomes” is a compshutterstock_309796568_cropped2ulsory pre-requisite.  It concentrates exclusively on surgery for standard laryngectomy and includes some procedures and suggestions to maximise rehabilitation outcomes including detailed illustrations with explanatory text, 2D animations, labelled surgical photos and “live” videos of actual surgery. A series of nine innovative 3D animations with explanatory voice-over, summarise the stages of the surgery itself, as well as the pre and post-operative functions of breathing, voice production, swallow and prosthesis placement.

 

Why is it important?

Removal of the larynx together with the cancerous tumour necessitates the surgical construction of a stoma through which the patient must permanently breathe. An additional trauma is the loss of the vocal cords, the normal means to produce voice.  The ability to communicate verbally can be seen as a fundamental human requirement. Advances in treatment, improvements in surgical technique and the development of modern voice prostheses mean that post-operative outcomes have significantly improved. This course aims to present the advances in knowledge to speech and language therapist in order to maximise patient outcomes in particular voice rehabilitation but also such surgical corollaries as breathing and swallowing difficulties.

If you would like further information on the Advanced Laryngectomy course or the e-learning module, please contact cpd@imperial.ac.uk or visit

www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd/svr
www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd/svrelearn

Alumnus returns to Imperial after 50 years, to deliver a CPD course

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Imperial alumnus Professor Bijan Aalami recently delivered a CPD short course on ‘Post Tensioning Design and Construction’, to 50 civil engineers, in Lecture Theatre 201 Skempton Building.  It was in this very room, 50 years ago on the same day, where Bijan was awarded his PhD degree.

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He said “this day has brought back lovely memories of my student days at Imperial!  The civil engineering department has not changed a bit after all these years, and the lecture theatre looks exactly the same”.  The Alumni Office interviewed Bijan during the course about his return visit.  We hope this will encourage more successful alumni to come back to Imperial, to deliver CPD short courses.