Dr Rachel Walters receives DoM Athena Swan early career researchers pump-priming award

Rachel stated 'Securing the Athena Swan Pump-Priming Award was a valuable learning experience and one I would recommend to all early-career researchers who are planning on applying for fellowship grants in the future. The application process involved writing a project proposal and an interview and significantly enhanced my skills in the grant application process. As someone who has never written a grant proposal or been interviewed by a grant panel, the experience given to me by the Athena Swan team was invaluable. It allowed me to experience this important aspect of academia within the walls (and relative safety) of the Division of Medicine. I’m very excited to start using the funds to gather preliminary data. 

I would like to send my sincere gratitude and thanks to the Athena Swan Team and the interview panel for this incredible opportunity. Your thoughtful questions and feedback have been extremely helpful in guiding my thinking for future fellowship applications'.

The Leads for the Division of Medicine Athena Swan Committee, Dr Manu Platé and Dr Vitor Teixeira, added 'We are excited to have been able to launch this pump-priming award aimed at supporting ECRs working towards independence. Support to ECRs has a prominent place in our plan, and we are very grateful to the Head of Division and Divisional Manager for agreeing to fund the award'.

• Read more about the Division of Medicine Pump-priming Award