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UCL Neuroscience graduates scoop major student prizes
5 May 2011
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icn.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_self">UCL Institute of
Cognitive Neuroscience
In a remarkable demonstration of student talent, two UCL Neuroscience graduates won the top student prizes awarded this spring by the British Psychological Society and the British Neuroscience Association and another was Highly Commended by the BNA.
Congratulations go to UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience's Dr Catherine Sebastian, UCL Institute of Neurology's Dr Stephanie Burnett, and ICN/Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging's Dr Marieke Scholvinck (now at the Max Planck Institute).
Dr Catherine Sebastian has been awarded the 2010 British Psychological Society Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research for her PhD on "Neural and genetic bases of responses to social rejection in adolescence."
Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, along with Dr Essi Viding, who nominated Catherine for the award, commented, "Dr. Sebastian's PhD was an exemplar approach of the newly emerging field of developmental social cognitive neuroscience, several aspects of which stood out to us specifically. She combined multiple strands of psychological enquiry, a range of methodologies and experimented with a variety of different groups. She also collaborated with several experts from a variety of different fields."
Despite the ambitious scope of her PhD, Dr. Sebastian completed her thesis in under 36 months and has already published eight papers from her PhD research in high impact peer review journals, and been invited to present her work at several international meetings.
Dr Sebastian said, "It is a real honour to have been selected for this award. I am immensely grateful to my supervisors and collaborators at UCL for the excellent training and inspiration they provided. I very much enjoy working in the fascinating and rapidly emerging field of developmental cognitive neuroscience, and look forward to learning more about the links between the developing brain and social behavior".
Drs Burnett and Scholvinck were recognised at the recent 2011 British Neuroscience Association Annual Meeting. Dr Stephanie Burnett was awarded the 2010 BNA Postgraduate Prize and Dr Marieke Scholvinck was Highly Commended in the same category.
Dr Burnett's PhD, supervised by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, focused on a completely novel area of research, the development of the social brain, that is, the network of brain regions involved in understanding other people, in typically developing adolescents. She published some of first papers on this topic and paved the way for further research in the field. Like, Dr Sebastian, Burnett has a highly impressive publication record, having published two papers during her undergraduate degree and another eight during her PhD. She is also a keen public engager, and has participated at a Café Scientifique event and at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
Upon receiving the prize, Dr. Burnett said, "It was an honour to receive this prestigious award, which reflects the vigorousness of UCL neuroscience as well as the current exciting atmosphere in developmental and social cognitive neuroscience."
Dr Marieke Scholvinck, who only barely missed out on the top prize, was Highly Commended for her PhD studies on the interaction between spontaneous activity and responses to stimuli in the visual cortex of humans and primates.
She commented, "I'm very happy to receive this special commendation for my thesis work. I feel grateful for having had the opportunity to do my PhD research at UCL and the NIH, which are both world-class institutes in the field of neuroscience, and I'm thrilled to have my work recognised with this commendation.'
Images: Catherine Sebastian (top), Stephanie Burnett (middle), Marieke Scholvinck (bottom)
Media Contact: Alison Brindle
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