STEM for BRITAIN Press Release
March 2022

Two PhD students on the Cambridge BBSRC DTP - Orla Woodward (Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science) and Hamish Symington (Plant Sciences) – were awarded prizes in a Parliamentary showcase of early-career research. They were shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to present their biosciences research to a range of politicians and a panel of expert judges, as part of the STEM for BRITAIN event on Monday 7th March.

Orla’s research explores how the brain regulates feeding behavior to identify new drug targets for obesity treatment, while Hamish’s research is in the area of food security, identifying pollinator responses to flower shape and nectar and pollen production, with the aim of increasing crop pollination. They each presented a poster, which was judged against dozens of other scientists’ research in the only national competition of its kind. Orla received the Nutrition Society prize for the best nutrition-related research, while Hamish received Silver in the Biology and Biomedical Sciences category of the competition.

Orla remarked: “It is an honour to have been selected to present my research at this year’s STEM for BRITAIN event. I very much enjoyed discussing my work with politicians and scientific experts, and meeting the other early career researchers.”

Hamish comments, “Food security is key priority for humankind, and I’m delighted to be able to showcase my research to MPs and others who can make a real difference to UK policy.”

Stephen Metcalfe MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said: “This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers. These early career engineers, mathematicians and scientists are the architects of our future and STEM for BRITAIN is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.”

The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee runs the event in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Biology, The Physiological Society and the Council for the Mathematical Sciences, with financial support from Dyson, Clay Mathematics Institute, United Kingdom Research and Innovation, Society of Chemical Industry, the Nutrition Society, Institute of Biomedical Science, the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research, the Biochemical Society and IEEE UK & Ireland Section

 

STEM for BRITAIN

STEM for BRITAIN is a poster competition in the House of Commons - involving approximately 120 early stage or early career researchers - judged by professional and academic experts. All presenters are entered into either the engineering, the biological and biomedical sciences, the physical sciences (chemistry), the physical sciences (physics) session, or the mathematics session, depending on the researcher’s specialism.

Each session will result in the award of Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates. Bronze winners will receive a £750 prize; Silver, £1000; and Gold, £1,500 and a medal. There will also be an overall winner from the five sessions who will receive the Westminster Wharton Medal.

STEM for BRITAIN (formerly SET for BRITAIN but now renamed to reflect the importance of its mathematical element) was established by Dr Eric Wharton in 1997. Following his untimely death in 2007, the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, with support from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Biology, The Physiological Society and the Council for the Mathematical Sciences, is working to further his legacy.

The event is made possible this year with financial support from Dyson, the Clay Mathematics Institute, United Kingdom Research and Innovation, Society of Chemical Industry, the Nutrition Society, Institute of Biomedical Science, the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research, the Biochemical Society, and IEEE UK & Ireland Section.

The competition is open to early stage or early career researchers, which includes university research students, postgraduates, research assistants, postdocs, research fellows, newly-appointed lecturers, part-time and mature students, returners, those people embarking on a second career, and their equivalent in national, public sector and industrial laboratories, and appropriate final year undergraduate and MSc students, all of whom are engaged in scientific, engineering, technological or medical research.