Author: Jo Stephenson (Page 2 of 4)

King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize 2021

03/08/2021 /

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2021 King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize!

Twenty awards are given across the year to celebrate truly outstanding research and theses completed by King’s doctoral students. The prizes are nominated by the external examiners and are judged by a panel consisting of the College’s Director of Research Talent and the Chair of the Research Degrees Examinations Board. 

We have an exceptional community of postgraduate researchers at King’s. Each year we recognise 20 of the very best, who have been nominated by their examiners. The standard is incredibly high, in terms of the quality and impact of the research and the clarity and skill of the written thesis. Most winners have published multiple papers and won prizes at conferences, some are already shaping their fields, forging new avenues of research and changing national policy, whether in the UK or abroad. It is definitely one of the most inspiring and enjoyable part of my role to read the submissions from the examiners and the supervisors’ supporting statements.

-Dr Nigel Eady, Director of Research Talent & King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize panellist.

 

Take a look at some reflections from the 2021 winners:

 

Dr Cheng Lin, Dickson Poon School of Law

Thesis: The legal nature of export credit insurance and export credit guarantee: a comparative study between the UK and China.

I feel greatly honoured to be awarded this prize. I would like to thank Prof Özlem Gürses and Prof Eva Lomnicka QC (Hon), my dear supervisors at King’s, for their endless support. I am also grateful to King’s for offering me a generous PhD scholarship and various conference and research allowances. My PhD is a pleasant and unforgettable journey in my life. I enjoyed a number of interesting training courses organised by the Centre for Doctoral Studies, which substantially improved my academic skills. I also benefit from my internship research project at the International Union of Credit & Investment Insurers, where I was able to examine whether the legal theory fits the practice in the real commercial world. For those who are about to submit, I encourage you to keep a health daily routine. Do work hard, but also eat well, sleep sound and get some exercise every day. And always take notes when you come up with some fresh ideas even if they are not directly related to your thesis. Happy research and good luck!

 

Dr Michelle White, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Thesis: Informing the knowledge gap of implementation of the World Health Organisation Surgical Safety Checklist in sub-Saharan Africa.

I loved every minute of my PhD at King’s and am indebted to my supervisors Dr Andy Leather and Prof Nick Sevdalis for their constant guidance and encouragement. They created an atmosphere that was both intellectually stretching and supportive. For me, writing my thesis was a way to express all that I had discovered and become passionate about over the last three years, which meant it was an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. I would encourage anyone interested in doing a PhD to find subject you love and supervisors who you can connect with – then you will have some of the best years of your life.

 

Dr Luis Medina, Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Thesis: Where are the Borders? (Re)Imagining the Nation in Contemporary Ecuadorian Literature.

I remember my PhD years at King’s as some of the happiest of my life. I can’t help but smile when I think that I was privileged enough to spend so many hours reading and writing about the literature that I love. One of the most decisive aspects of my doctoral experience was my fantastic supervision team. I’ll be forever grateful to Dr Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela and Professor Catherine Boyle from the Department of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies. Their unconditional academic and emotional support helped me to produce a thesis that won three prizes and is already being edited for publication. After receiving my award in August 2020, I held a teaching position at the University of Manchester, and I’m thrilled to share that, from September 2021, I’ll be joining the University of Birmingham on a permanent lectureship in Modern Languages (Spanish).

 

Dr Emma Kinnaird, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoology & Neuroscience

Thesis: Beyond the stereotypes: characterising the unique features of underresearched eating disorder populations, and implications for treatment.

I feel incredibly lucky to have spent three years researching a topic that I feel passionate about, supported by two wonderful supervisors who really took time to adjust the project to my strengths and interests. I’m now taking the skills I’ve learned in my PhD and putting them into practice as I train as a clinical psychologist at Oxford University.

 

Dr Pablo Lopez-Custodio, Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences

Thesis: Design of Reconfigurable and Mobility-Variable Linkages with Singularity Analysis and Kinematic Analysis Using Generated Surfaces

I dedicate this prize, and the thesis itself, to the loving memory of my dad Sigfrido Lopez-Zamudio, who passed away during my first year of PhD in King’s College London. Thank you having been an ever-present inspiration.

 

 

Dr Jessica Dafflon, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Thesis: Machine Learning Methods in Neuroimaging.

I feel honoured and grateful to have been awarded the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize. I would like to thank the Center for Doctoral Training in Smart Medical Imaging for this opportunity, my PhD advisors Prof. Federico Turkheimer and Dr. Peter Hellyer. But above all, I would like to thank Prof. Robert Leech, Dr. Walter Hugo Lopez Pinaya, and Pedro Carvalho De Paula Ferreira da Costa for the support during the hard times and the brilliant discussions we had. Lastly, I would like to congratulate Thomas Helfer on also winning the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize and on making my time at King’s College an unforgettable experience.

 

Dr Thomas Helfer, Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences

Thesis: Exotic Compact Objects in Numerical Relativity.

I am delighted to win this thesis prize, which was only possible with the help of the fantastic people that surrounded me during my Ph.D. journey. They not only helped me foster my passion and love for numerical relativity, but they were also there to share a coffe or beer during the challenging times. Thanks especially to Eugene Lim, my excellent supervisor, who always had time for questions and discussions, and shaped me into the scientist I am today. I would also like to thank Jessica Dafflon for being present during the difficult times and congratulations on also winning the KCL thesis prize.

 

 Dr Clemency Jolly, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Thesis: The timing of key events and mutational processes in tumour evolution.

I was really delighted to be nominated for this prize – it feels pretty surreal to write up four years’ work into one thesis, and definitely takes a bit of stamina! I have so many great memories from my time in the lab, where I was working on a project trying to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer from genome sequencing data. While I was based at the Francis Crick Institute, I was also affiliated with King’s, and definitely appreciate the great support I received from both during my studies.

 

Dr Jaffar Khan, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Thesis: Novel transcatheter electrosurgical laceration of heart valve leaflets to prevent blood flow obstruction from transcatheter heart valve implantation.

I am thrilled to be awarded the Kings’ Outstanding Thesis Prize for my work on novel cardiovascular interventions. It is so unbelievably gratifying knowing that the techniques described in my thesis have already helped treat thousands of patients worldwide.

 

Dr Cristina Fernandez Turienzo, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Thesis: Evaluation of the introduction of a midwifery continuity of care model for women at increased risk of preterm birth.

I am delighted to receive this prestigious award in recognition for my PhD work. I will always be in debt to my amazing supervisors Prof Jane Sandall, Prof Andy Shennan and Dr Kirstie Coxon, thesis committee members and many other people within Kings (and outside!) who supported me in one way or another. Thank you also to my examiners for such a positive online PhD viva experience. I have recently received a NIHR DSE award and I am looking forward to enhance my learning of clinical trials in global health.

Dr Tiago Rua, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Thesis: The economics of implementing new clinical pathways across community and hospital-based care.

As part of my PhD I have tried to bridge the gap between the economics and medical imaging fields by applying health economics methodologies across multiple clinical conditions and imaging modalities. Currently, I am working as a Programme Manager of the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

 

 

Dr Elisa Bruno, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Thesis: Wearable non-EEG sensors for seizure detection

My experience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, has been fantastic during my PhD, and has helped me to develop professionally in a very inspiring way.

It is a great workplace where I’ve found contagious positivity, enthusiasm and knowledge.

 

Dr Rosina Matilde, Social Science & Public Policy

Thesis: Deterrence and international migration: The criminalisation of irregular entry and stay in Italy and France.

It’s an honour to be awarded the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize. I would like to thank all my interviewees, for agreeing to share their knowledge and experiences with me. A special thanks also goes to Professor Simona Talani, and to my examiners Professor Henk Overbeek and Dr Anna Sergi. Since finishing my PhD, I have joined the European Institute at LSE as a fellow, and look forward to continuing my work on migration.

 

Full list of 2021 winners:

Dr Bryony White,  English Language & Literature, A&H

Dr Luis Medina, Latin American Studies, A&H

Dr Jonah Miller, History, A&H

Dr James Rakoczi, English Literature and Medical Humanities, A&H

Dr Vinod Patel, Clinical Dentistry, FoDOC

Dr Tiago Rua, Health Economics, IoPPN

Dr Jessica De Faria Dafflon, Neuroimaging, IoPPN

Dr Emma Kinnaird, Psychological Medicine, IoPPN

Dr Elisa Bruno, Clinical Neuroscience, IoPPN

Dr Clemency Jolly, Cancer Genetics, FoLSM

Dr Jaffar Khan, Cardiovascular Sciences, FoLSM

Dr Cristina Fernandez Turienzo, Women and Children’s Health, FoLSM

Dr Michelle White, Surgery (Global Health and Implementation Science), FoLSM

Dr Thomas Helfer, Physics, NMS

Dr Pablo Lopez-Custodio, Kinematics, NMS

Dr Kristina Kubiliute, Mathematics, NMS

Dr Matilde Rosina, International Political Economy, SSPP

Dr Adam Day, War Studies, SSPP

Dr Rajan Basra, War Studies, SSPP

Dr Cheng Lin, Law, DPSoL

 

About the awards

Each King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize winner is awarded £250 and receives a certificate endorsed by the Principal.

PhDeets Podcast – Talking about all things PhD

04/05/2021 /

Blog post by Carolin Oetzmann, Katie White & Nicol Bergou.

The PhD Journey can be a turbulent one – from finding the right program to navigating supervisor struggles, and all the madness in between! PhDeets is a podcast aimed at current and prospective PhD students to share experiences and help those trying to figure it out.

About the hosts

Carolin

We are three researchers working and studying at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.  Each of us are in a different stage of our PhD journey. Katie is in her second year of a part-time PhD, alongside a research assistant role. Nicol is in her first year of a 1+3 programme funded by the Medical Research Council. Carolin is due to start her MRC funded PhD in September 2021, after contemplating whether doing a PhD was the right next step for her.

 

 

Nicol

All three of us are the first in our families to do a PhD and we struggled to make sense of the different PhD programmes, funding options, application processes, career pathways and other things that are difficult to figure out without having a friend or relative who can answer your questions along the way. There is information online, but we wanted to create a platform where diverse student voices could be heard. Being avid podcast listeners, we decided to start a podcast ourselves.

 

 

 

Katie

About PhDeets

PhDeets is the podcast we wish we had when we were applying for our PhDs. Its target audience is current PhD students at all stages, as well as people who are deciding whether or not to apply, or those currently going through the ups and downs of the application process. We interview current PhD students, postdocs, lecturers, professors, people who left academia during or after their PhDs, those who are recruiting people with PhDs into industry positions, career advisers and really anyone who has any useful insights into the academic journey.

 

Previous episodes

We use our experiences to inform the topics we cover, but we also reach out to people to ask what topics they’d like to hear about. Some of our previous episodes are:

  • Neurodiversity at university – Panel discussion of neurodivergent researchers Claire, Katrina and Sheila about what being neurodivergent means to them, how it impacts their university life, what support they find helpful, diagnosis and labels, and more.
  • Luke’s journey to becoming a lecturer – We interviewed Luke Devereux, a lecturer at Middlesex University about his journey from PhD to becoming a lecturer, changing topics between undergrad ad postgrad, getting teaching experience, and balancing teaching and research responsibilities.
  • More than one way to do a PhD – Another panel discussion with PhD students Jaya, Shaheim, Victoria and Fiyory about the differences and similarities between their PhD programmes, including a partnership with the industry, self-funded PhD, 1+3 programmes, student versus supervisor driven applications, our reasons for doing a PhD, and applying for funding as an international student in the UK.

 

If you’d like to propose a topic for a future episode, or get in touch about anything to do with the podcast, you can message us on Twitter @PhDeets_podcast or you can email us at podcast@phdeets.com

 

 

 

You can find the podcast on our website phdeets.com or wherever you get your podcast.

Science Communication Fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

02/03/2021 /

Blog post by Emily Prpa, PGR student in Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences

 

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology offer a range of different Fellowships to UK PhD students (in 2nd year or above) in biology and health sciences, energy and environment, physical and digital sciences, and social sciences. The Fellowships give students the chance to work with POST or other teams within Parliament, such as the House of Commons and House of Lords Libraries and the Select Committees. I carried out my 3-month POST Fellowship between September and December 2020, extending the final year of my PhD at King’s College London. Despite being part of the first intake of PhD students to participate in this scheme remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have still taken away invaluable knowledge, skills and lasting friendships.

I worked on a project researching the reformulation of food and drink products. This required me to scope the research area and conduct interviews with stakeholders in order to write a 4-page summary on the topic, known as a POSTnote. A POSTnote is an impartial, balanced and peer-reviewed analysis of new and emerging research evidence which is provided to the UK Parliament. As a POST Fellow you are immediately given a great deal of responsibility – within my first few weeks I was interviewing key stakeholders (from across academia, government, industry and the not-for-profit sector) and planning the first draft of the POSTnote. However, during my time at POST, I worked collaboratively with my supervisor, editing and redrafting the report to produce a balanced, impartial and succinct overview of the topic. The final draft was reviewed by POST scientific advisers, board members and interviewed stakeholders.

The finished POSTnote on food and drink reformulation to reduce sugar, salt and fat levels can be found here. In brief, food and drink reformulation is one tool used to promote healthier diets and reduce the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease. The POSTnote highlights that it is difficult to measure whether current UK policies encouraging product reformulation (voluntary and fiscal measures) have had a direct positive impact on public health. It also describes challenges and opportunities for reformulation such as product quality, industry engagement and consumer attitudes. Finally, it highlights that improving public health through better diet requires a number of complementary policy approaches alongside reformulation, including incentivising healthy food and creating a healthy food environment.

I am proud to be an author of this POSTnote. However, I came away from the Fellowship with so much more than this publication. Firstly, I learnt a unique style of written science communication – given that MPs and Peers are extremely busy, I crafted the skill of translating complex scientific information into concise lay terms. I was also exposed to the inner workings of Parliament and built important relationships with key stakeholders (such as Public Health England, the Food & Drink Federation and leading academic researchers). I delved into a novel and exciting topic of food science by using a range of resources including government reports, publications from the House of Commons and Lords libraries and grey literature – stepping out of my comfort zone by not solely relying on academic research.

I was worried that carrying out my Fellowship during the COVID-19 pandemic would affect the overall experience. However, I needn’t have worried. During my time at POST, I attended conferences on nutrition and policy, had a tour of Parliament and joined coffee breaks to meet other advisers and Fellows at POST – all virtual of course. The team at POST helped create a community between all the current Fellows and organised additional workshops for us, including a QnA session on policy careers.

I strongly encourage any PhD student to apply for this scheme. You can sign-up to the POST newsletter or follow @POST_UK on Twitter to stay updated on the Fellowship opportunities available at POST. These are also a great way to see newly approved POSTnote topics; if any are within your field of research, it is worth getting in touch with the lead adviser because your expertise could be valued.

 

Resources

Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology (POST) Fellowship

Institute of Food Science and Technology Fellowship 2020/2021

Bridging research and policy – POST Parliament

POST Parliament resources

How to write a policy briefing

POST Parliament Fellowship

 

 

 

Health Professional Researcher Profile: Professor Bijan Modarai

24/02/2021 /

Professor Bijan Modarai is the King’s Chair in Vascular Surgery and a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Senior Clinical Research Fellow. He completed his Basic Surgical Training in London before being awarded a BHF Clinical PhD Studentship in 2002. He graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry in 2006 and completed his Higher Surgical Training as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at King’s and as an Endovascular Fellow at The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Vascular Surgery at King’s and Honorary Consultant Vascular Surgeon at GSTT in 2012, having secured a BHF Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship. He was awarded a Hunterian Professorship by The Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2017.

He is a Council member of the British Society for Endovascular Therapy, examines for the Fellowship of European Board of Vascular Surgery and co-leads the GSTT/King’s Biomedical Research Centre School of Translational & Experimental Medicine.

Bijan is the King’s medical lead for INSPIRE, an initiative from the Academy of Medical Sciences that seeks to engage medical, dental, and veterinary undergraduates with research.

Bijan will be joining a panel to discuss the challenges of navigating dual careers as a health professional researcher at our ‘Managing Dual Careers’ series of webinars in April 2021. Book your place via Skills Forge. 

 

We chatted to Bijan about his career as a clinical academic, and in particular his views on enhancing the diversity of the pipeline of future clinical academic leaders.

Bijan, tell us about a typical day (or week) in the life of a clinical academic leader in vascular surgery? 

The great thing about being a clinical academic is that no day or week is the same! My role is fully funded by the British Heart Foundation, allowing dedicated time for research and the opportunity to maintain a flexible timetable depending on what the clinical demands are. Clinically, my time involves seeing patients, participating in MDTs (multidisciplinary team meetings), operating, and on call sessions. 

Research-wise, I spend my time supervising PhD students, in lab meetings, liaising with national and international collaborators, and forging new collaborations to get new research off the ground. My research team spans basic and translational science, from cell biology in the lab to data-driven clinical research. It’s very much a bedside, to bench, to bedside model. I also spend time reviewing papers, writing grants, and (less so now in the pandemic) attending meetings to present and discuss the research with international colleagues. 

One thing that I’d say has helped me in navigating the dual career as a clinician and researcher is focussing my clinical practice to a specific, specialised area. It’s really important not be a jack of all trades clinically as you’ll have no time for research.  

Looking back to the early stages of your career, what do you think were the biggest challenges in forging your career as both a clinician and a researcher? What tips did you find helped you overcome these? 

Many clinicians are concerned that there’s a perception that if you take time out for a PhD, then you de-skill clinically. Perhaps it’s getting better these days, but when I started it was relatively unusual for an individual in a craft speciality such as mine to take three years out for research towards a PhD. It’s important that Trusts and academia work together to improve this, and that clinical training committees have appropriate expectations for clinicians who are also doing research.  

However, a key piece of advice I’d give to clinicians is that in order to have kudos with your clinical colleagues, it’s important to strive hard to ensure you achieve the same, if not better, clinical competencies than your clinical colleagues not doing research. This is an important mindset to have and is achievable with the right prioritisation strategies. I’d encourage any clinician undertaking time out of programme for a research degree to try and carve out flexible time e.g. an afternoon a week, to maintain clinical skills. 

What got you interested in research? 

In truth, I didn’t set out knowing I’d be a clinical academic. I did an intercalated BSc in medical school, that gave me a taste of research. What really led me into this path was the mentorship and opportunities I was exposed to early on in my early clinical jobs.  I had some excellent mentors who encouraged me, and with them I wrote a proposal for a PhD, funded by the BHF. I wasn’t sure whether doing research was the right thing to do, and at that stage there was no defined career path, but then the NIHR IAT programme was created and I was one of the first NIHR-funded surgical ACLs.  

The period after a PhD can be particularly difficult to navigate as a clinician. How should clinical PhD students find opportunity to stay engaged in research after their degree? 

This is still a huge issue that we need to tackle, namely the lack of opportunities post-PhD to continue driving up research outputs in order to be competitive for clinician scientist or intermediate fellow funding. The way I achieved it was through supervising a PhD student whilst I was an ACL, thereby enhancing the research outputs to be competitive for the BHF intermediate fellowship. 

Many clinicians don’t realise that there’s no one size fits all, in the quest to be a clinical academic. In many ways, everyone must forge their own bespoke pathway at every stage.  Key to this is the relationships you cultivate, both within the Trust (e.g. your Programme Director) and academic colleagues. You need to bring people on board to help you navigate the pathway. Skills in negotiation, interpersonal skills, all are key and should not be underestimated.  

It can be more difficult for those in minority groups to imagine themselves achieving this when there are fewer senior role models who look like them. While things are improving, women and BAME communities are still underrepresented in cardiovascular surgery and in senior clinical academic research. Again, seeking mentorship is key. There are many ways to find mentors outside your immediate clinical or academic environment. For example, social media helps you see what people are interested in and connect with them. Attend talks and events, and crucially, don’t be shy – talk to people afterwards. I remember an inspirational talk I attended from a young Asian plastic surgeon which left a long-lasting impression – this was 25 or 30 years ago. If someone inspires you, contact them, don’t wait, or assume they won’t have the time to respond. It’s flattering to be contacted no matter what level you’re at. 

However, it’s certainly not just down to the individual. It’s the responsibility of senior people to seek talent and provide opportunities based on merit, to everyone. We must always be conscious of the balance of opportunities we give people. More senior academics must also highlight examples of successes from those they mentor, and from underrepresented groups in particular. I’d also recommend participating unconscious bias training, to help you think about biases you’re not even aware you have. 

What other advice do you give early stage clinical academic colleagues? 

You can’t do everything! It’s so important to have focus, and to decide what the priorities are in conjunction with good advice from colleagues. If you’re good, you’ll be approached to do 101 different things, and part of your success depends on filtering those, knowing where your talents are, and where your time is best spent. 

You can’t underestimate the importance of having the skills to work in a team, and interpersonal skills to find mutually beneficial opportunities that help you move forward. Always be grateful to those who do help you. Find ways to be part of a supportive, social, non-hierarchical cohort of clinicians and scientists. Don’t be arrogant, know at the early stage that you’re starting from scratch as a researcher, have humility and be the kind of person that others want to see succeed. 

 

 

 

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