Edinburgh Evidence Synthesis Community Initiative Recent years have seen substantial growth in the use of systematic review and meta-analyses to provide evidence syntheses to guide policy and future research investment. The number of such reviews published from the University of Edinburgh has increased dramatically, with us now producing over 60 per month. The proportion of University of Edinburgh outputs identified as systematic reviews has increased from 1.8% in 2008 to 6.6% in 2023. There is a wider use of such reviews in student project work. University of Edinburgh plays host to leading global experts in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of such reviews, and in their automation. This in-person mini-conference will comprise two sets of talks, with a chance to see demos and network in between. The first set of talks will set the scene with presentations about current developments and illustrative projects at the University. The second part of the event will allow you to circulate among demonstration stalls to see various tools in action and even try them out yourself. This is also an opportunity to meet others involved in evidence synthesis across our organisation. The third part will be a keynote presentation on the Future of Automated Tools in Evidence Synthesis by Rene Spijker of Cochrane Netherlands. First Afternoon Session 14:00 Welcome 14:10 Evidence Synthesis introduction Marshall Dozier, College Lead for Library Academic Support, will briefly introduce the evidence synthesis context. 14:20 The University of Edinburgh – a World Leader in AI and Research Malcolm Macleod, Co-Director of Edinburgh Neuroscience, will give a brief introduction to Digital Evidence Synthesis Tools, the position of Edinburgh in Evidence Synthesis and its automation; and current funding opportunities which are set to transform the field. 14:30 Automated tools for citation screening: What’s out there, and do we know if they work? Francesca Tinsdale 14:40 De-duplication in Systematic Reviews Kaitlyn Hair (UCL) will introduce the Automated Systematic Search Deduplicator (ASySD): a rapid, open-source, interoperable tool to remove duplicate citations in biomedical systematic reviews 14:50 Challenges and Lessons from a Large Cross Disciplinary Systematic Review: Responsibilities of Subject ExpertsFelicity Vidya Mehendale, Surgeon and Global Cleft Lip and Palate Research Programme Lead, will speak about challenges and pitfalls, particularly when large systematic reviews cover a number of disciplines, with inconsistent terminology; the responsibilities of subject experts in deciding what can (and cannot) be responsibly and accountably ‘delegated’ to AI systems, as well as the need for better global consensus on consistent terminology and methods of presentation of studies in publications.15:00 LitXpress – An Evidence Synthesis Tool For Veterinary Medicine The team from SEBI (Supporting Evidence Based Interventions) will speak about and demo, LitXpress, a tool developed with Edina and Informatics, to use AI to automate the gathering of data to make life-changing interventions in sub-saharan Africa. 15:10 To find non-automated review with barriers 15:30 World Cafe and Networking Please grab a coffee and join us for a demonstration and networking session. There will be demos of:Full Text Retrieval (Sean Smith) The Systematic Review Facility (SyRF) (Fiona Ramage) Systematic Online Living Evidence Summaries (Emma Wilson) The Automated Systematic Search Deduplicator (Kaitlyn Hair) Covidence (Marshall Dozier) ELM LitXpress Second Afternoon Session 16:15 Can Digital Evidence Synthesis Tools transform the way we do systematic reviews? Rene Spijker, UMC Amsterdam and Cochrane Netherlands 16:55 Closing and thanks Feb 05 2025 14.00 - 17.00 Edinburgh Evidence Synthesis Community Initiative A vibrant forum for examining the use of systematic review and meta-analyses in research. Become part of the discussion. Room 1.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute Register
Edinburgh Evidence Synthesis Community Initiative Recent years have seen substantial growth in the use of systematic review and meta-analyses to provide evidence syntheses to guide policy and future research investment. The number of such reviews published from the University of Edinburgh has increased dramatically, with us now producing over 60 per month. The proportion of University of Edinburgh outputs identified as systematic reviews has increased from 1.8% in 2008 to 6.6% in 2023. There is a wider use of such reviews in student project work. University of Edinburgh plays host to leading global experts in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of such reviews, and in their automation. This in-person mini-conference will comprise two sets of talks, with a chance to see demos and network in between. The first set of talks will set the scene with presentations about current developments and illustrative projects at the University. The second part of the event will allow you to circulate among demonstration stalls to see various tools in action and even try them out yourself. This is also an opportunity to meet others involved in evidence synthesis across our organisation. The third part will be a keynote presentation on the Future of Automated Tools in Evidence Synthesis by Rene Spijker of Cochrane Netherlands. First Afternoon Session 14:00 Welcome 14:10 Evidence Synthesis introduction Marshall Dozier, College Lead for Library Academic Support, will briefly introduce the evidence synthesis context. 14:20 The University of Edinburgh – a World Leader in AI and Research Malcolm Macleod, Co-Director of Edinburgh Neuroscience, will give a brief introduction to Digital Evidence Synthesis Tools, the position of Edinburgh in Evidence Synthesis and its automation; and current funding opportunities which are set to transform the field. 14:30 Automated tools for citation screening: What’s out there, and do we know if they work? Francesca Tinsdale 14:40 De-duplication in Systematic Reviews Kaitlyn Hair (UCL) will introduce the Automated Systematic Search Deduplicator (ASySD): a rapid, open-source, interoperable tool to remove duplicate citations in biomedical systematic reviews 14:50 Challenges and Lessons from a Large Cross Disciplinary Systematic Review: Responsibilities of Subject ExpertsFelicity Vidya Mehendale, Surgeon and Global Cleft Lip and Palate Research Programme Lead, will speak about challenges and pitfalls, particularly when large systematic reviews cover a number of disciplines, with inconsistent terminology; the responsibilities of subject experts in deciding what can (and cannot) be responsibly and accountably ‘delegated’ to AI systems, as well as the need for better global consensus on consistent terminology and methods of presentation of studies in publications.15:00 LitXpress – An Evidence Synthesis Tool For Veterinary Medicine The team from SEBI (Supporting Evidence Based Interventions) will speak about and demo, LitXpress, a tool developed with Edina and Informatics, to use AI to automate the gathering of data to make life-changing interventions in sub-saharan Africa. 15:10 To find non-automated review with barriers 15:30 World Cafe and Networking Please grab a coffee and join us for a demonstration and networking session. There will be demos of:Full Text Retrieval (Sean Smith) The Systematic Review Facility (SyRF) (Fiona Ramage) Systematic Online Living Evidence Summaries (Emma Wilson) The Automated Systematic Search Deduplicator (Kaitlyn Hair) Covidence (Marshall Dozier) ELM LitXpress Second Afternoon Session 16:15 Can Digital Evidence Synthesis Tools transform the way we do systematic reviews? Rene Spijker, UMC Amsterdam and Cochrane Netherlands 16:55 Closing and thanks Feb 05 2025 14.00 - 17.00 Edinburgh Evidence Synthesis Community Initiative A vibrant forum for examining the use of systematic review and meta-analyses in research. Become part of the discussion. Room 1.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute Register
Feb 05 2025 14.00 - 17.00 Edinburgh Evidence Synthesis Community Initiative A vibrant forum for examining the use of systematic review and meta-analyses in research. Become part of the discussion.
