Search Lightning – The 2026 UHMLG Spring Forum
2026-04-22 09:15 - 2026-04-23 12:30 (Europe/Dublin) | Online
This review is automatic, systematic, hydromatic!
The 2026 UHMLG Spring Forum will once again bring together a fantasic line-up of speakers from around the UK, across two half-days 22-23 April. There are a total of six talks on the overall theme of systematic reviews – some of which do, of course, discuss the use of AI in systematic reviews… but the focus is very much on the practical implementation, not on generalities or background.
Book your place at this link
Schedule
Wednesday 22 April

09.15: Forum opens
09.20: Welcome and introductions
09.30: Isla Kuhn, Head of Medical Library services, University of Cambridge: The Medical Student Systematic Review Group at Cambridge University.
10.20: Break
10.30: Pip Divall, Clinical Librarian Service Manager, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust: Experiences of UK based health librarians collaborating with clinical research staff on systematic reviews and associated authorship.
11.20: Break
11.40: Lightning Talk: Manfred Gschwandtner, Librarian, Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS): Examining Learning Resources Used by Year 5 Medical Students for UKMLA Preparation: A Descriptive Case Study
11.50 Carolyn Smith, Horton Library Manager and Outreach Librarian, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford: Systematic review searching – what does being a co-author involve
12.40: Closing remarks

Thursday 23 April

09.15: Forum opens
09.20: Welcome and introductions
09.30: Charis Wong, Clinical Fellow in Data-Driven Drug Selection and Consultant Neurologist, University of Edinburgh: AI-enabled systematic review platforms: how well do they perform?
10.20: Break
10.30: A presentation from the RAISE project: Working towards the responsible use of AI in evidence synthesis: The RAISE project
11.20: Break
11.40: John Barbrook, Faculty Librarian, Lancaster University: AI Methods within systematic review search strategies
12.30: Closing remarks

Tickets
This year, to ensure the continuation of UHMLG’s activities in the absence of a Summer Conference, we do need to charge a small fee for tickets:

£25 for one person, one day
£40 for one person, both days
£100 for an organisation ticket: multiple staff can view both days, and the conference can be streamed in a shared space

Searching for Systematic Reviews: Advanced Design Methods Course
2026-04-22 13:00 - 2026-04-29 16:00
Join Julie Glanville & Carol Lefebvre online over 2 days on April 22nd & 29th.
This course will look at advanced methods for search strategy design for systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses. Participants will learn how to structure and build search strategies using a range of techniques and for a range of review questions. An official Instats certificate of completion and 1 ECTS equivalent point are provided at the conclusion of the training.

Day 1: Advanced Design Methods for PICO Questions

• Text mining

• Boolean operators

• Term identification

• PICO

• Strategy design

• AI

• Term identification

• Search strategies

• Search filters

• Search hedges

• PICO

• Strategy design

Day 2: Design Methods for Complex Questions and Searches

• AI

• Complex questions

• Complex searches

• Strategy design

• Citation analysis

• Combined search approaches

• Complex questions

• Multistanded searches

• Complex searches

• Strategy design

• Guidance

• Non-PICO questions

To book your place click here.
