Spotlight on Dr Nazia Mehrban, IHE Impact Fellow

Could you tell us about your ‘day job’, your area of research, and its impact? 

I am currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Biotechnology at the University of Bath. When I started the Impact Fellowship, I was a Senior Research Fellow at the Ear Institute at UCL. It was quite a transition going from working ‘for someone’ to setting up my own research group! I am still in the early stages and learning a lot about my job. It’s slightly daunting that students now look to me for guidance! 

My area of research is regenerative medicine and I specialise in designing and creating biomaterials that are implanted into the body for various reasons; for example, to repair diseased/ damaged tissue or to build robotic tissues that help a patient function. 

As my research is based in medicine and benefits patients, the impact is possibly easier to envision. At the moment I am working with a team of researchers and clinicians from multiple institutes to help develop robot muscles to allow patients to move as they should.  

However, I think it’s important to say that my research isn’t always linear. I will be talking about my involvement with patients and the impact they have on my research in an article I am writing for The Conversation.  

You were an IHE Impact Fellow from 2020-21. How do you feel it has helped you develop? 

The Impact Fellowship was something I went into with no expectations, partly because we were the first set of Fellows to go through the programme. However, the lessons I have learned from the network I have established (both with colleagues and external speakers) have been amazing. I now look back and think I had a very narrow-minded view of what impact meant before I started the Fellowship. 

How did this change your understanding of creating impact?  

I feel I now have a broader understanding of impact beyond the medical aspect. The Fellowship gave me skills in all areas from policy to media and public engagement. I was convinced policy engagement was beyond my level of expertise but I now find myself contributing to policy documents for the UK Parliament! As well as broadening my understanding of the theme I feel it has boosted my confidence to engage with all the various stakeholders.  

After the Impact Fellows, what impact/engagement work have you been involved in? 

The Fellowship organisers were generous in providing a small bursary for the Impact Fellows to explore their newly-acquired skills and engage with external institutions to showcase the impact of their research. I created a research exchange programme with a university in Colombia to share research across cultural and language barriers. This was all done via Zoom and involved a huge team and students from both sides. The students even got to design the logo that was used for the symposium and printed on all the prizes. It was a hugely successful event with over 150 attendees and both the UK and Colombian researchers have been giving us positive feedback! 

The winning logo design for the symposium

The programme is currently in its final stages in which Colombian university students are mentoring high school students and encouraging them to explore healthcare subjects and research. My hope is that this programme will serve as a template to enable future events between the UK and other countries as well as creating a lasting relationship between the Colombian university and high school so that future generations can benefit from the idea.  

What would you like to do next? 

I am hoping to develop an Impact Fellowship here at Bath and give Bath researchers the same training and opportunities I was lucky to receive. It’s still early-stage but the university is certainly interested. 

I am also writing an article for The Conversation and hoping to continue engaging (and not being frightened to engage) with healthcare policy. 

Anything else you’d like to say? 

I have had a fantastic time with Georgie Cade and Alice Hardy (the IHE Marketing & Communications team) as they helped us navigate through all that encompasses impact! I have to say this programme far exceeded my expectations and so many months on I find myself referring back to the lessons I learned and engaging across all sectors. I would like to say a huge thank you to the team but also if you are given the opportunity then do sign up, you may be surprised by what you learn!