MAPS Faculty ECR Forum Awards 2026 Winners Announcement

The MAPS ECR Forum Awards 2026  recognised exceptional achievements in research, teaching, community engagement, and outreach and communications. This year, the judging panel received an impressive number of high-quality applications from PhD students, PDRAs, Research Fellows and other early career researchers from departments across the Faculty. With so many outstanding applications, selecting just ten winners proved to be no easy task. We are delighted to announce this year’s award recipients:

Research Excellence Award

• Wang Maida, PhD, Department of Chemistry
• Guo Fei, PhD, Department of Chemistry
• Carolina Borrelli, PhD, Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Alfio Chiarenza, Research Fellow, Department of Earth Sciences
• Lewis Mosby, PDRA, London Centre for Nanotechnology
• Jacob Chittock-Wood, PhD, London Centre for Nanotechnology

Teaching Excellence Award

• Domna Ladopoulou, PhD, Department of Statistical Science

Outreach and Communication Award

• Kate Hetherington, Research Assistant, Department of Science and Technology Studies
• Amy Bowen, PhD, London Centre for Nanotechnology

Community Work Award

• Lucia Baldauf, Research Fellow, London Centre for Nanotechnology

Many congratulations to all winners! 

Dr Megnaa Mehtta, one of the Forum Co-Chairs, said:

 “Being an ECR can come with several challenges especially at a time when higher education in the UK is undergoing several transitions and uncertainties. Recognising early career scholars is therefore so important for the contributions they make to the University and to society at large. The diversity of these awards ranging from research, teaching, outreach and community work reveals that MAPS and UCL value different kinds of contributions from a wide range of our community. My hope as the ECR co-chair is to widen this community even further and to enhance the support that is required for ECRs. These awards provide us with a moment to pause and celebrate the hard work of the ECRs! “

As the winner of the Teaching Excellence Award, Domna Ladopoulou, a final-year PhD student from the Department of Statistical Science, said:

 “I am truly honoured to receive the MAPS ECR Forum Teaching Excellence Award. Teaching has been one of the most rewarding parts of my PhD, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with so many talented and enthusiastic students. I am grateful to the Department of Statistical Science, my colleagues, and the students whose engagement, curiosity and feedback have inspired me throughout my teaching journey.”

Prof Emma Tobin, MAPS Faculty Vice Dean for Research, commented:

 “I am extremely proud of our MAPS ECRs. The applications we received in 2025/2026 were incredibly strong and testimony to the strong and collaborative culture in our ECR community. They are making wonderful contributions across all areas of research, education, outreach, EDI and community work.  Many congratulations to all the award winners!”

All winners will be invited to the annual MAPS Faculty Awards Ceremony which will take place later in 2026. 

Meet the winners and learn more about their outstanding work.

Wang Maida, PhD, Department of Chemistry
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Maida’s research established Quantum-Informed Machine Learning (QIML), published as first author in Science Advances (2026). Their research demonstrated how a small quantum circuit can enhance classical machine learning to improve long-term prediction of chaotic turbulent flows, providing a practical example of quantum advantage on a real scientific problem. The work has helped shape thinking on hybrid quantum-classical computing and has received widespread recognition from academia, industry, and major organisations, including NVIDIA, IQM, UCL, the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, and the Science Museum, highlighting its scientific significance and real-world impact.

Fei Guo, PhD, Department of Chemistry
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Fei’s research focuses on designing advanced electrocatalysts for sustainable energy conversion, addressing key challenges in proton exchange membrane fuel cells and water electrolysers. During PhD, Fei developed atomically engineered catalyst systems that improved the activity and durability of oxygen electrocatalysis while reducing reliance on precious metals. By combining advanced characterisation techniques with electrochemical analysis and theoretical modelling, Fei gained new mechanistic insights into catalyst behaviour. This work has resulted in multiple publications in leading journals and contributes to the development of clean energy technologies supporting global net-zero ambitions.

Carolina Borrelli, PhD, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Carolina’s research addresses the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance by combining atomic force microscopy, microbiology and biophysics to investigate how antibiotics interact with bacterial cell envelopes. Their first-author paper in Nature Microbiology provided new insights into how the last-resort antibiotic polymyxin B kills Gram-negative bacteria, advancing understanding of antibiotic tolerance and resistance. Carolina’s research has also contributed to bacterial cell-envelope biology through a publication in PNAS, attracted international recognition and media coverage, and helped advance nanoscale imaging approaches for antimicrobial resistance research.

Alfio Chiarenza, Research Fellow, Department of Earth Sciences
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Alfio’s research combines palaeontology, palaeoclimate, macroevolution and Earth-system science to investigate biodiversity change through deep time. Their work has integrated fossil data with advanced quantitative modelling to address major questions in evolutionary biology and climate science. Key contributions include a PNAS paper demonstrating that the Chicxulub asteroid impact was the primary driver of the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction, and subsequent high-impact publications on the effects of climate change on dinosaur and reptile evolution. Alfio’s research has also achieved significant public engagement through media appearances, a TEDx talk and invited lectures.

Lewis Mosby, PDRA, London Centre for Nanotechnology 
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Lewis’s interdisciplinary research has combined mathematics, physics, computer science and biology to investigate how robust body patterns are formed during development. Their first-author PNAS paper demonstrated a new mechanism for morphogen gradient scaling via position-dependent expander molecules, challenging previous models and providing experimentally consistent predictions. Lewis has also contributed to collaborative work on multi-signal integration in Drosophila eye development and co-authored a review in Development on morphogens in evolution. Together, these studies advance understanding of developmental patterning and have led to publications, conference presentations and ongoing collaborations.

Jacob Chittock-Wood, PhD, London Centre for Nanotechnology
Winner of Research Excellence Award
Jacob’s research has made significant contributions to scalable quantum computing. Their research demonstrated that silicon quantum devices manufactured using industrial 300 mm semiconductor processes can support key building blocks of quantum processors, including coherent electron-spin control. Jacob also developed a scalable radio-frequency readout technique and automated methods for assessing device performance. Together, these results advance both the scientific understanding and practical manufacturability of silicon quantum technologies, while contributing to high-impact collaborative publications.

Domna Ladopoulou, PhD, Department of Statistical Science
Winner of Teaching Excellence Award
Since 2022, Domna has taught statistics and data science across fourteen modules at UCL and London Business School, supporting students from diverse academic backgrounds. Their teaching is centred on accessibility, confidence-building and inclusion, using real-world examples, visual explanations and interactive Mentimeter polling to make statistics more approachable. As PGTA Representative, Domna has strengthened feedback practices across the department. Domna has also co-supervised seven research projects in machine learning for wind energy, helping students progress from learners to active research contributors.

Kate Hetherington, Research Assistant, Department of Science and Technology Studies
Winner of Outreach and Communication Award
Kate developed an immersive online role-playing platform for climate foresight specialists and OECD policy makers. Designed for the Centre for Future Generations, the project helps participants explore climate futures, societal values, geopolitical contexts and the consequences of action or inaction on geoengineering. Drawing on expertise in science communication, responsible innovation and role-playing game design, Kate has led the creation of the game’s scenarios, decisions and actions, making a vital contribution to its innovative design and future educational potential.

Amy Bowen, PhD, London Centre for Nanotechnology
Winner of Outreach and Communication Award
Amy has shown outstanding enthusiasm and creativity in science communication throughout their PhD, engaging more than 100 members of the public through outreach activities including Science Museum Lates, school lunches, Science Yoga and careers events. They have developed imaginative activities, from a physics-of-balloons science show to interactive sessions encouraging girls into physics. Their communication skills were recognised nationally in the Institute of Physics’ Three Minute Wonder competition, where they won both the judges’ and audience votes in the London heat and finished runner-up in the Grand Final.

Lucia Baldauf, Research Fellow, London Centre for Nanotechnology
Winner of Community Work Award
Lucia has made an outstanding contribution to strengthening early-career researcher communities across the LCN, Institute for Physics in Living Systems and wider Physics of Life network. They have organised events including a Biophysics Week Meetup, monthly IPLS/Biophysics pizza meetings, an IPLS Away Day and the LCN Biophysics summer social, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange, career development and networking. Through advocacy, Lucia has also improved ECR visibility at symposia, introduced dedicated networking opportunities with external speakers, and supported better communication and working conditions for postdocs.

Links: 

MAPS ECR Forum Awards 2026

MAPS ECR Forum Awards Winners 2025

MAPS Faculty ECR Forum 

MAPS Faculty ECR Newsletters

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