MAPS Faculty ECR Forum Awards 2023 Winners Announcement

Early-career researchers (ECRs) are valuable members of our research community. To recognize this and celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions made by our ECRs, the MAPS ECR Forum ran its inaugural Faculty ECR Forum Awards in the summer of 2023. The Awards were open to all current ECRs including PhDs, PDRAs and Research Fellows. A peer committee of PhDs and ECRs from the MAPS ECR Forum made awards across five categories: Community, Outreach and communication, Teaching Excellence, Research Excellence, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Many congratulations to the following winners!

ECR Forum co-chair Cass Morrison said: “Students and supervisors were asked to self-nominate or recommend colleagues. We were blown away by the quality and diversity of submissions. We’re delighted to highlight this vital work that takes place in our departments and often doesn’t get talked about enough.” Dr Michael Booth, another co-chair, added “The incredibly varied impact from the award winners demonstrates the ability of young researchers at UCL to change the world.”

All the winners were invited to attend the MAPS Faculty Awards ceremony that was held in mid-December and each winner received their award certificate from the Faculty Dean, Prof Ivan Parkin. In response to receiving the awards, Dr Louisa Acciari, winner of the Community Award, said, “I’m very grateful that the faculty recognises our work beyond our usual academic tasks. Social impact and community work is central to the Centre for Gender and Disaster and our GRRIPP project. The awards are individual, but this was really a teamwork and it means a lot to us to be receiving it. Thank you!”.

Prof Andrew Wills, Faculty Vice Dean for Research, congratulated the winners and said “We are delighted to have been able to showcase and recognise the achievements of our Early Career Researchers across the different categories. Their contributions cover a diverse range of impact from department-level to national and international”.

The ECR Forum consits of PhDs, postdocs and research fellows working across UCL’s MAPS Faculty. Working with the MAPS faculty, individual departments and directly with ECRs on the ground, it aims to establish an inclusive support structure and a positive research culture to enable ECRs to thrive and excel.

More on the winners 

Curran Kalha

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum —  Research Excellence Award

4^th Year PhD, Department of Chemistry

Curran’s PhD research focuses on understanding and improving diffusion barriers for power semiconductor devices, in particular providing key insights into the make-up and behaviour of titanium-tungsten diffusion barriers for copper metallisation schemes. His work required him to work with industrial partners to help them understand the results of advanced materials characterisation and implement the findings into their manufacturing streams.

Zhuo Sun

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum  — Research Excellence Award

4^th Year PhD, Department of Statistical Science

Zhou’s PhD research builds efficient transfer-learning strategies for statistics and machine learning that will significantly reduce the environmental impact of artificial intelligence models, by allowing people to re-use previous computations. This work has launched a new line of research and has been recognised by several awards including a prize from the American Statistical Society Section on Bayesian Statistical Science and an oral presentation at the Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence conference.

Ilina Yozova

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum  — Teaching Excellence Award

2^nd Year PhD, Department of Statistical Science

Ilina is a postgraduate teaching assistant who uses experience from being an undergraduate in the department of Statistical Science to enrich their teaching and support. For example, Ilina organises ‘module selection’ sessions to help students make the best module choices for their interests and brings into it experience of the modules themselves and how overwhelming module selection can feel. She also supports the efforts of the Statistics Society and efforts to encourage A-Level students to study statistics and computing.

Luke Davis

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award

Research Fellow, Department of Mathematics

Luke has led on the “MAPS Going Beyond Scheme and Awards”, which ran workshops led by diverse researchers, making students more aware of the importance of inclusion and self-identity, and where to look for guidance. The scheme also recognised undergraduate students who have helped improve the well-being of their community. He has been a panel member for the Black Heroes in Mathematics Conference, is an advisory board member for the new Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, and is part of the B-Mentor scheme.

Michela Barbieri & Marta Benozzo

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award

2^nd and 3^rd Year PhDs respectively, Department of Mathematics

Michela and Marta co-organised WINGs 2023 (the Women in Geometry and Number Theory spring retreat) together with two other PhD students from the University of Warwick. The networking event had 55 participants and included research sessions on number theory and geometry as well as others on career; including experiences as part of an underrepresented gender, encouraging underrepresented genders to continue in academia, and managing a work/life balance.

Claudia Perez

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award

2nd PhD, Department of Mathematics

Claudia works within the Mathematics department to help the department to address the challenges faced by PhD students.  Beyond UCL, she launched the AulaValle project — providing academic support to year 12 students affected by the volcano emergency in La Palma — and is a tutor at Bridging the Future, a non-profit organization established by UCL PhD students providing tutoring to refugees or asylum-seekers.  She is an active member of many communities including the Sparrows, London’s oldest wheelchair basketball team.

Kai Hou Yip

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Outreach and Communication Award

PDRA, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Kai is a Postdoctoral Researcher that specialising in exoplanets and is the Principal Investigator for the Ariel Data Challenge, an annual event for individuals from diverse backgrounds that addresses technical and scientific challenges encountered by the ESA-Ariel Mission. The challenge is designed to be accessible and engaging for non-specialists, enabling meaningful contributions from participants of all ages. The challenge has attracted over 200 participants from 51 countries, with a strong representation of students and industry professionals.

Rebecca Shutt

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Outreach and Communication Award

4^th PhD, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Rebecca has for 3 years co-delivered a course on delivering outreach to students on the Advanced Characterisation of Materials CDT, and was awarded a Sustainability Education Award by Sustainable UCL for co-delivery of a series of RAEng-funded workshops on DIY renewables, which introduced young people to the engineering of DIY renewables. She was part of a collaboration that exhibited in the Green Zone of COP26. The event empowered pupils from across the UK to communicate the science behind sustainable devices.

Saad Shaikh

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Community Award

4^th PhD, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Saad has had a primary role in the organisation and running of all 5 editions of the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s annual “PandA (P-and-A) Day” event, a social and networking event that showcases creative talents from all over P&A and fosters a sense of community across the department. PandA Day has grown from being a workshop at Cumberland Lodge in 2020 to taking over the Bloomsbury Theatre in 2023, and has become a cornerstone for community engagement within the Department.

Louisa Acciari

Winner of the MAPS ECR Forum — Community Award

Research Fellow, Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction

Louisa was Global Network Coordinator for the GRRIPP project — a network working to improve Gender Responsive Resilience & Intersectionality in Policy and Practice. She has worked to design and deliver training to 20 women from the Institute Women of the Amazon in Brazil, to empower them to lead their own projects. Most of those involved had never accessed funding before. Her work helped these indigenous, black, and informal women workers’ groups in Brazil to win a total of 9 small grants.