The Clair Fisher Research Impact Award celebrates examples of palliative and end of life care research that’s had a notable impact on policy and/or practice.
About the award
The Marie Curie Research Impact Award has been named after Clair Fisher who sadly died in January 2022 having lived with a terminal illness since 2018. Clair was a passionate and influential advocate for improving wellbeing in palliative care.
She started the impactful Dying Well Project, bringing people together to share their learnings and identify where the evidence gaps are when it comes to living with a terminal illness and wellbeing.
The winner will be awarded £1,000 to go towards further impact activities or professional development.
How to make a nomination for this award
Nominations for this award are now closed. The next winner will be announced as part of the Marie Curie Research Conference during the session taking place between 11–14 February 2025.
The judging panel for this award will be looking for nominations that demonstrate notable impact change on practice and/or policy for people affected by dying, death and bereavement.
Nominations can include projects that weren’t funded by Marie Curie but must be relevant to palliative or end of life care.
This year's winner
First place:
Project title: Working with terminal illness: what is known and what is needed
Project lead: Joanne Smithson, The What Works Centre for Wellbeing
Funder of project: Marie Curie
Panel decision: The panel, formed of clinical experts, policy and research staff, selected Joanne's project for its innovative engagement and for helping many companies to support employees with a terminal illness at work. The panel felt the project addressed a well-known problem and had achieved broad reach and significant impact with potential to influence more change going forward.
Runner ups:
Project title: Using Simulation to Improve the Confidence and Preparedness of Medical Students to Care for Dying Patients and their Families
Project lead: Geoffrey Howard Wells, University of Sussex
Funder of project: University of Sussex
Project title: Anticipatory prescribing of injectable medications for last-days-of-life symptom control: reassessing best practice
Project lead: Ben Bowers, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and University of Cambridge
Funder of project: NIHR School for Primary Care Research and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England
