Dr Annalisa Bettini wins Athena Swan ECR Pump-Priming Award

Dr Bettini is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging and will be awarded £5,000 to support the pursuit of her independent research project.

The award is intended to offer ECRs the opportunity to gain experience of preparing and defending a grant proposal. The award can only be used for research consumables.

Dr Bettini said: “I applied to the Athena Swan ECR Pump Priming award to secure funding for preliminary experiments and gain confidence in writing grant applications. I would highly recommend applying to the award to any early-career researcher as it was a great opportunity to gain experience in a familiar and supportive environment.

"The application involved writing a costed project proposal, followed by an interview panel. The interview was a fantastic experience to practice presenting and justifying my research proposal in front of a panel with diverse research backgrounds and experience. During the interview I felt challenged, yet supported, and look forward to taking the panel’s feedback and overall application experience, into writing future project grants and fellowship applications.

"I am grateful to receive this funding and would like to thank the panel members for their time and the Athena Swan committee for this opportunity.”

Co-leads of the Division of Medicine Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team, Dr Manu Platé and Dr Vitor Teixeira, added: “Many congratulations to Annalisa on receiving the Division of Medicine Athena Swan Early Career Researchers Pump Priming Award, a fantastic achievement that reflects her talent and commitment to advancing her research. We are delighted to see this award supporting early-career researchers in taking key steps toward research independence. 

"The scheme provides valuable experience in project planning, grant writing, and funding management, all of which are essential skills for building a successful research career. This also reflects the Division of Medicine Athena Swan Team’s strong engagement in supporting early career researchers to take the next step in their research journey.”