Research IT

CORONET Nominated for NIHR Clinical Excellence Award

A tool created in conjunction with the Digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team to support decisions regarding hospital admissions or discharge in cancer patients presenting with symptoms of COVID-19 has been selected for a NIHR Clinical Research Network award.


In January 2021, our Research Software Engineers (RSEs) worked with the Digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team (dECMT) to create a tool called CORONET. The tool supports decisions regarding hospital admissions or discharge in cancer patients presenting with symptoms of COVID-19 and the likely severity of illness. The tool has been shown to be critical for hospital admission, severity prediction and increased monitoring for early intervention with further updates made in March 2021.

Now seven months on CORONET has been selected for an award at the NIHR CRN Greater Manchester’s Evening of Excellence held by NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Greater Manchester. The awards were created to acknowledge the staff behind the incredible health and care research that has taken place in Greater Manchester during the pandemic. Submissions were open to all people or teams in Greater Manchester, East Cheshire and East Lancashire who receive NIHR funding and/or support NIHR Portfolio studies.

The CORONET team were nominated and selected for inclusion in the category of “Trailblazers in COVID-19 research response” which recognises the significant and important impact in response to the pandemic made by an individual or team. They led, or made a vital contribution, to Urgent Public Health research which has helped turn the tide on COVID-19.

Louise Lever, Research IT’s Web Application Development Service (WADS) lead. said “We’re delighted to be recognised for work that we already feel immensely proud of. Knowing that our collective effort helps those in need during difficult times was motivation enough. Working with such a tight-knit, friendly and dedicated team, provided welcome invigoration. My thanks to the project team and the wider community of collaborators.”

The award ceremony will be held live online on Thursday 18th November and will be available to all to watch.

The dECMT members are:

  • Oskar Wysocki
  • Julie Stevenson
  • Paul Fitzpatrick
  • Jessica Davies
  • Rebecca Lee

The Research IT RSE members are:

  • Joshua Woodcock
  • Louise Lever
  • Richard Hoskins
  • Andrew Jerrison