Sophie Morse wins the 2019 Westminster Medal

This year’s Westminster Medal winner was Sophie Morse, a final year PhD Student at Imperial College London’s Department of Bioengineering, for her poster, Getting drugs to the brain using ultrasound and microbubbles.
Georgina Hines

Nick Bourne, Inna Baigozina-Goreli, Sophie Morse, Sue Wharton and Stephen Benn. Image: SCI

Sophie was presented with the Westminster Medal, which is given to the young scientist who best communicates her research to a set of experienced judges, by SCI Trustee Inna Baigozina-Goreli and Nick Bourne, who is a member of SCI’s London group on 13 March 2019.

The Westminster Medal is awarded at the annual STEM for Britain event, where the best and brightest young scientists are invited to Parliament to showcase their research to MPs and other policymakers. The event is hosted by the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, which is Chaired by Stephen Metcalfe MP.

Stephen Metcalfe MP speaking at the event. Image: SCI

Posters were presented in five categories: engineering, biological and biomedical sciences, mathematical sciences, chemistry, and physics. The winner from each category were then interviewed and judged on their ability to communicate their science to a lay audience.

The winner of this round then received the Westminster Medal, which is sponsored each year by SCI in honour of Dr Eric Wharton, who founded SET for Britain (as it was formerly known) and was a long-time SCI member instrumental to the ongoing success of our London group.

The results in each category were:

	Engineering Gold – Sophie Morse, Imperial College London – Getting drugs to the brain using ultrasound and microbubbles Silver – Lachlan Jardine, University of Cambridge – The effect of cooling on turbine performance Bronze – Kari Clark, UCL – Sub-nanosecond clock and data recovery in an optically switched data centre network Sophie, Lachlan and Kair. Image: STEM for Britain
	Biological & Biomedical Sciences Gold – Rebecca Sheperd, Lancaster University – Exploring adipocytes to improve bone health Silver – Max Grogan, King’s College London – Microbial and metabolomic responses to serotonin in the murine gut Bronze – Sophie Harrington, John Innes Centre – Understanding the molecular regulation of senescence in wheat Sophie, Rebecca and Max. Image: STEM for Britain
	Mathematical Sciences Gold – Kristian Kiradjiev, University of Oxford – Modelling removal of toxic chemicals from flue gas Silver – Marina Jimenez-Munoz, University of Kent – How do bird population vary across Britain? Spatially-explicit integrated population models Bronze – Francesca Romana Crucinio, University of Warwick – Sequential Monte Carlo for fredholm equations of the first kind Francesca, Kristian and Marina. Image: STEM for Britain
	Chemistry Gold – David Fallon, GSK – The design and synthesis of bromodomain photoaffinity probes Silver – Felicity Noakes, University of Sheffield – Investigating the cytotoxicity of water-soluble organic intercalating ligands as potential cancer theranostics Bronze – Isabel Wilkinson, University of Oxford – Target identification studies of a utrophin modulator for treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Felicity, Isabel and David. Image: STEM for Britain
	Physics Gold – Katie Ley, University of Surrey – Radiation dosimetry has never looked so stylish: glass jewellery beads as thermo-luminescent dosimeters Silver – Lorenzo Zanisi, University of Southampton – Galaxies, dark matter and blood pressure Bronze – Amalia Thomas, University of Cambridge – Force networks in photoelastic avalanches Amalia, Katie and Lorenzo. Image: STEM for Britain

Congratulations to all of the winners from this year’s STEM for Britain! We look forward to seeing more young talent in 2020.

Sophie Morse wins the 2019 Westminster Medal

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