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Announcing this year’s ABSW Media Fellow

23 July 2025

UCL Global Engagement is supporting Academic Clinical Lecturer and GP Dr Cini Bhanu through a sought-after Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) Media Fellowship, paving the way for a placement with the BBC Science Unit later this year.

Dr Cini Bhanu

The scheme places practising scientists, clinicians and engineers at the heart of national newsrooms for two to six weeks, giving them the confidence to engage with the media and helping to foster trust and build understanding between science and society. 

Dr Bhanu, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, leads research into healthy ageing in primary care, including projects on nutrition, hydration, dementia care, vaccination uptake, mental health in later life, postural hypotension and polypharmacy. 

Dr Bhanu’s research agenda now reaches across Europe and North America. Current international partnerships explore patient perspectives on postural hypotension, early dementia detection and older adults’ health during heatwaves, alongside a UK–US bid to test blood‑pressure interventions in primary care. She also convenes the Big Data Special Interest Group of the European Geriatric Medicine Society and is developing future collaborations in India and Taiwan.

She said: “I am delighted to have been awarded this fellowship; it is a great opportunity to get hands-on experience to understand the pathway between health research and science communication. I hope to learn how we can work together to engage the public, create impact and empower people to lead healthier lives.” 

As part of her fellowship, Dr Bhanu will learn core newsroom skills during an intensive induction before embarking on her placement in Cardiff. Once at the BBC, she will shadow producers, pitch story ideas grounded in her clinical insight and contribute to the broadcaster’s science coverage.  

The award continues UCL Global Engagement’s regular support for the fellowship scheme, equipping researchers collaborating internationally with the skills needed to engage diverse communities and inform policy debates.  

Dr Bhanu will join three additional UCL Fellows taking part in the scheme this year, separately supported by UCL Engineering: Professor Tao Cheng (Professor of Geoinformatics and founder of UCL SpaceTimeLab); Professor Ian Eames (Professor of Fluid Mechanics, whose research on fluid flows ranges from disease transmission to tsunamis); and Professor Ivana Drobnjak (Professor of Computational Healthcare, who focuses on advancing ethical AI and imaging technologies).  

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