THE Health Systems Research Centre at the University of Limerick will present a conference entitled ‘Evidence for Healthcare Reforms’ on October 17 at the CastleOaks House Hotel in Castleconnell.

The prestigious conference aims to offer perspectives from the Irish, UK, European and Canadian and media experiences that will enable people to assess or query the contribution of evidence to current debates on key issues.

Some of the questions posed include: How is evidence generated for policy and practice? Does it inform the philosophy, organisation and delivery of health care in Ireland? We experience change and note the media reports. Do we know if there is reliable and valid research to support specific reforms and changes?

Some of the speakers on a diverse range of related topics include former UL president Roger Downer, Professor Stiofan de Burca of UL, Professor Kieran Walshe of Manchester Business School and Richard Boyle of the IPA.

Others include: Professor Charles Normand or the World Health Organisation, Senior Advisor Jennifer Thornhill of the Canadian Health Service Research Foundation, journalist and health policy analyst

Sara Burke and PhD student Edel Conway of the Learning, Innovation and Knowledge (LInK) research centre at DCU.

For more information on this free conference, contact Joanne Ryan at the

Health Systems Research Centre on 061-233702 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it