2020 BSA Media Fellows Announced

The BSA Media Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for practising scientists, clinicians and engineers to spend two to six weeks working at the heart of a media outlet such as the Guardian, BBC Breakfast or Buzzfeed.

Previous UCL fellows have included Dr Lena Ciric, who worked at the BBC, Dr Gary Zhang who worked at the I newspaper, and Prof. Clare Elwell who worked at the Financial Times

Our three media fellows for 2020 are Dr Jerone Andrews from UCL Computer Science, Dr Richard Colchester from UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and Dr Priti Parikh from UCL Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering.

Prof. Clare Elwell, who is now Vice-Dean (impact) said:

Dr Jerone Andrews

Dr Jerone T. A. Andrews is a Research Fellow in the Vision & Imaging Science Group at the UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence. Jerone currently holds a Royal Academy of Engineering UK Intelligence Community Research Fellowship and is researching deep learning-based image forensics. His research interests and expertise extend across computer vision and deep learning: from self-supervised anomaly detection, to human dimensional attention-inspired transfer learning, through to the use of generative adversarial networks for removing accidental device-linking ‘watermarks’ imprinted onto images by digital imaging sensors. While at UCL, Jerone has also spent time as a Visiting Researcher at the National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo, Japan) and Telefónica Research (Barcelona, Spain).

Twitter: @jeroneandrews

Dr Richard Colchester

Dr. Richard Colchester is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow based in the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at University College London. His research focuses on the development of imaging and sensing devices for use in minimally invasive surgery. The overall aim is the development of an all-optical platform technology which uses optical fibres for imaging, sensing, and therapy. His current focus is on the development of highly miniaturized (< 1 mm diameter) all-optical ultrasound transducers. These devices use light to both generate and receive ultrasound and can be used to make highly sensitive, broadband ultrasound imaging devices. He is researching novel optical and ultrasound components to enable device fabrication, as well as developing wavelength-selective materials for ultrasound generation. These materials will enable a new range of devices which incorporate complementary imaging and therapeutic modalities. Dr. Colchester is interested in a broad range of medical applications and is currently working on devices for medical fields including cardiology and gastrointestinal imaging

Dr Priti Parikh

Dr. Priti Parikh is a chartered civil engineer and Associate Professor in Engineering and International Development at University College London. She has over 15 years of engineering consultancy experience in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. Priti has successfully championed the need for high quality research and engineering education to meet the Sustainable Development Goals in resource challenged settings. She was the founder of the MSc programme in Engineering for International Development (EFID) and the EFID student hub, which harnesses engagement from students through joint activities EWB-UCL, UNICEF and the Royal Academy of Engineering. She won the UCL Provost Education Award for her contribution to Engineering Education.

Priti created and now heads the interdisciplinary EFID Research Centre which focusses on research in relation to water, sanitation and energy infrastructure in low-middle income countries. She was awarded the prestigious BBOXX/Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research fellowship which focuses on energy access in sub-Sahara Africa through smart solar solutions. Priti and her team of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers use mixed-method approaches for research focusing on the provision of sustainable and resilient infrastructure, environmental improvements and business models for resource constrained settings.

Priti is a key influencer in her field, and has been recognised as an Engineers Without Borders Changemaker, as well as serving as chair of the editorial panel for the Institution of Civil Engineers Engineering Sustainability Journal. She is also a member of the board of trustees for the Happold Foundation.

Twitter: @pritiparikh73