Good News (Dementia Research, Project Funding),
BREXIT, Infrastructure Projects (HS2, Airports,
Stonehenge), Energy Projects (Wind Farms, Energy Planning,
New Technology Projects), Closing Remarks
REPORT
By Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring has sprung, or so my gnomes report from as far afield as USA, Greece and China. There is a dearth of reporting from the more northerly countries such as northern Norway and more locally, northern Czech Republic from whence I have been following the World Biathlon Championships, so, like some project reports (see below) we assume it is late.
That said, there is good news to report and some old news has resurfaced. We also cover developments in some major infrastructure projects including HS2 and Stonehenge so there is a lot to cover.
GOOD NEWS
Dementia Research. The National Health Service (NHS) released forecasts related to Alzheimer’s Disease with the worrying news that indicated large numbers of patients could miss out on new two breakthrough drugs because they cannot diagnose the disease early enough. Rolling out the new drugs is predicted to cost between £500 million and £1 billion per year, with the drugs delivered to patients at clinics via fortnightly or monthly intravenous drips.
It is therefore excellent news that a research project has found that blood tests that analyse protein levels in blood can predict dementia up to 15 years before symptoms become evident. Researchers have identified a set of biological markers which are present more than a decade before the clinical onset of dementia. In the project, blood samples taken from 52,000 healthy adults, which had been taken as part of the UK Biobank study and frozen for 10-15 years were analysed using AI. In the intervening time between freezing and analysis, 1,417 of the participants were diagnosed with dementia.
The implications of this breakthrough are far reaching as current diagnosis depends on highly invasive and costly testing. The new tests simply rely on routing blood sampling and bring closer the possibility of routine testing for specific age groups. This would enable long term planning to take place to meet the demands of an aging population more efficiently than at present. Such diagnosis would also enable the new drugs coming onto the market to be administered in time to be effective, thus reducing overall costs.
Project Funding. This is always good news for PMs and one that has had an unexpected boost from the Government which wants to improve on UK’s record on innovation. It has just funded the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to the tune of £800 Million to focus on projects with the potential to produce transformative technological change, or a paradigm shift in an area of science.
More…
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How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2024). UK Project Management Roundup, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue III, March 2024. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/pmwj139-Mar2024-Shepherd-UK-Project-Management-Report.pdf
About the Author
Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 30 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. His consulting work has taken him to Japan, Taiwan, USA and Russia. Past Chair and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was, for seven years, a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is immediate past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. He is currently Chairman of the British Standards Institute project management committee. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
