Blog - ACRC Launch – A day to remember

In our latest blog, Rob Mackie looks back at the ACRC Launch event.

On 3^rd November, the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC) held its long awaited launch event.

Bruce Guthrie presenting at ACRC Launch event 3rd Nov 2021 — Bruce Guthrie with the opening Plenary

With a small team in the venue, it felt quiet, only speakers, facilitators and a handful of ACRC staff. It didn’t feel real – we didn’t quite know what to expect. There wasn’t the usual hubbub of an event on this scale.

But we needn’t have worried. Over 300 people registered for the launch event, with a constant number of around 200 delegates for the duration, from a range of organisations. Interaction was immediately evident, questions were streaming in – so many that we weren’t able to fully delve into all of them. There was constant activity on twitter, which you can read by following either #acrclaunch or #careinlaterlife.

The glory of an online conference is that it doesn’t all need to be squeezed into one day, so six linked seminars ran over the following week. Each of these was well attended, with 65 attending the final seminar in the series. There was a fantastic level of interaction, with insightful and thoughtful questions and discussions taking place throughout. Feedback from speakers has been fantastic, and barring the odd technical hitch, everything ran smoothly with everyone in their home office, instead of at a conference venue.

We recorded all the different seminars and the plenary which kicked everything off. The launch session recording is available here and the seminars are available below.

Panel Discussion at ACRC Launch event 3rd Nov — Panel Discussion underway

We are in the early stages of planning further events into the future, and to find out what we take forward, sign up for our monthly newsletter. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in the discussions, or have feedback on what you would like to see from us in future events, please contact us: acrc@ed.ac.uk.