If you have undertaken a research project relating to the veterinary nursing profession and are excited and passionate about sharing the methodology and results of the project, Research Bites is a platform to enable you to do so! Research Bites provides an opportunity to showcase your research at BVNA Congress 2019 in bite-sized summaries in the form of a poster and short oral presentations.

I have been working with the Learning & Development committee and we have decided to tweak what was previously known as Clinical Abstracts Competition and associated Science Cafe at BVNA Congress. We are very keen to continue running the competition because supporting and sharing research is vital for the continuing progression of the profession in terms of further education and development relating to animal welfare, engaging owners, aspects relating to practice management and veterinary nursing education.

We would like to invite researchers to submit an abstract based on their research project and subject to peer-review, the researchers will be asked to provide a bite-sized summary of their research in the form of poster presentation at BVNA Congress 2019. Traditionally, the best poster competition has been determined by judges alone but one of the changes we are excited to inform you about is that delegates will also be able to vote for their favourite poster presentation on Friday. Both the judges’ and delegates’ opinions will be used to determine the winner of the poster competition.

When researchers submit an abstract, they will be asked if they would like to be considered for a bite-sized oral presentation in the Research Bites session at BVNA Congress on Friday 11th October in addition to the poster presentation. There will also be a competition for the best oral presentation.

Is Research Bites for me?

If you find yourself reading this article and wondering if you should get involved, if you answer yes to any of the following questions, I would suggest that Research Bites is for you!

•   Have you collected research data for a project you have been working on?

•   Would you like to share the results of your project with BVNA Congress delegates?

•   Would you like a complimentary BVNA Congress Friday ticket?

•   Do you think your project supervisor or one of the co-authors of your poster presentation would like a discounted BVNA Congress Friday ticket?

•   Would you like to further develop your writing and presentation skills?

Submitting an abstract and providing a summary of your research in the form of a poster and/or oral presentation will help to further enhance your writing and presentation skills. It will also be a great addition to your CV! We recognise that it can be daunting to provide a presentation so we hope that by offering a discounted BVNA Congress Friday ticket to your supervisor and/or co-author, their presence on the day would provide additional support.

If your supervisor and/or co-author is not able to attend the BVNA Congress on Friday, not to worry! There will be several BVNA Council Members and myself to provide support and guidance on the day. We are a friendly bunch!

There was a wide range of topics presented last year such as supporting owners of diabetic cats, a mobility scale for lemurs, the welfare of veterinary nurses in the workplace and an interprofessional education club. If you would like to submit an abstract to provide a presentation at BVNA Congress, please visit our website for further details and the application form: www.bvna.org.uk/researchbites

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email: Stacey@bvna.co.uk

Wishing you all the best for writing your abstract and preparing the presentation(s)! I am looking forward to meeting you and hearing about the research projects you have been working on.

Author

Stacey Blease Head of Learning & Development

Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 34 • April 2019