Main image caption: Stephen Benn, Sue Wharton, Adele Parry – Westminster Medal winner, Liz Rowsell, Stephen Metcalfe MP | Photography credit: John Deehan Photography and the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee’s STEM for Britain event 2022, was year held in person at Portcullis House on 7 March and saw many early-career researchers present their posters to members of both Houses of Parliament.
Five categories are represented at the STEM for Britain event, these being: Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Chemistry. Each category sees gold, silver and bronze medals awarded. The winner of the Westminster Medal is decided from the five gold medal winners for the poster which communicates its science the best.
The Westminster Medal, which is sponsored by SCI, was awarded to Adele Parry from the University of Leeds. The event was well attended by the Society sponsors, council members and winners of the Bronze, Silver and Gold medals. Adele’s poster: a better lateral flow test? the design of novel liquid crystal droplet biosensors’ describes the problem of varying sensitivity of lateral flow assays (LFAs). Her research centred around using liquid crystals in order to develop an inexpensive but highly sensitive alternative test that requires no further validation by a PCR test.
Stephen Metcalfe MP introduced Liz Rowsell, Corporate R&D Director at Johnson Matthey who represented SCI at the event alongside Nick Bourne, chair of SCI’s London regional group.
Prior to Adele receiving the Westminster Medal, Liz said a few words about SCI’s early career activity and emphasised the importance of telling your narrative when communicating science. Liz also acknowledged Dr Eric Wharton and Sue Wharton - Dr Eric Wharton was an SCI London Group Chair and founder of SET for Britain, which is now STEM for Britain.
The Gold Medal winners from each category:
Biological and Biomedical Sciences:
Miquel Serna-Pascual – King’s College London: HIDDEN DISEASE SIGNS IN THE PATTERN OF BREATHING
Engineering:
Gor Piliposyan - University of Liverpool: HARDWARE SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Mathematical Sciences:
Matthew Tointon - University of Bristol: PROBABILITY ON FINITE TRANSITIVE GRAPHS
Physics:
Adele Parry - University of Leeds: A BETTER LATERAL FLOW TEST? THE DESIGN OF NOVEL LIQUID CRYSTAL DROPLET BIOSENSORS
Chemistry:
Katherine Macfarlane - University of Strathclyde: EXPLOITING DNA-ENCODED LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DISCOVERY OF NOVEL ANTIBODY RECRUITING MOLECULES AGAINST LOX-1
SCI would like to congratulate all those who took part and were involved in making STEM for Britain 2022 such a success.
Visit Blog