And there was even more cause for celebration, as the anniversary event happily coincided with news that the National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) had successfully secured a final £6m in funding.

The NCCHT will be a global-first, as a centre dedicated to developing the world’s most advanced and integrated healthcare system for children and young people, a vision brought to life by one of the Conference Ambassador Programme’s greatest advocates, Professor Paul Dimitri.

A Director of Research and Innovation at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and a world-renowned expert in child health, Professor Dimitri was one of the programme’s early Conference Ambassadors and has successfully established the annual Child Health Technology Conference in Sheffield, now in its third year (CHT2023).

Sheffield’s Conference Ambassador Programme is one of the longest running initiatives of its kind in the UK and has underpinned the long-term success of the city’s conference calendar by supporting academics, medical specialists, and experts from industry sectors, in attracting major conferences to be hosted in the city.

Ambassadors such as Professor Dimitri, often use conferences as a key platform to showcase expertise, share latest research and seek collaborative opportunities with peers from across the world. 

Since the pandemic, Sheffield ambassadors have secured conferences and events worth £4.6 million to the local economy. This includes several national and international sector-specialist events set to take place over the next couple of years, including the Annual International Stillbirth Alliance Conference; the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons Annual Congress; NDE In Nuclear Conference; the International Society for Study of Celiac Disease General Assembly and the 52nd Meeting of the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes.


Emma France, Marketing Manager for Business Tourism and Trade at Marketing Sheffield, said: “I don’t think we ever imagined that 15 years later- and after the struggles of the pandemic- the Conference Ambassador Programme would continue to be so successful.

“We are fortunate to have a network of ambassadors with endless enthusiasm for telling the world where Sheffield leads the way. They’re also supporting us as we launch a new drive to find the next generation of conference ambassadors in the city and look towards the movers and shakers, who will be the experts of the future and can help us grow the programme even more.”

“Establishing a national centre of excellence in Sheffield like the National Centre for Child Health Technology, creates even greater opportunity for us to attract major national and international conferences to the city, in this highly competitive sector.”

Professor Paul Dimitri, Professor of Child Health and Director of Research and Innovation at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“The National Centre for Child Health Technology is set to develop the most advanced therapies for children and young people in the world. It will play a central role in ensuring that we advance the way we develop sustainable and transformational healthcare and drive prevention for children to ensure the future is bright.”

“The Child Health Technology Conference, our home-grown event developed with Marketing Sheffield, has played an important role in uniting colleagues from around the world who share our common goal and has helped progress plans to establish the NCCHT in Sheffield. We look forward to hosting another edition of the conference later this year.”

The 2023 edition of the Child Health Technology Conference (CH2023) will take place 8 & 9 November this year and bring together global healthcare professionals, engineers, computer scientists, designers, and academics, around one of the most exciting and fast-moving fields in healthcare today – all with the aim of improving children’s health through technology.

For more information on the Sheffield Conference Ambassador Programme visit: welcometosheffield.co.uk/conference and for further information on the National Centre for Child Health Technology, visit: sheffieldolympiclegacypark.co.uk.