Postgraduate researchers, alumni and staff gathered on 15 May at UCL East for the UCL200 Faculty PhD Symposium: From Learners to Leaders in Population Health. The one-day event highlighted the breadth and diversity of research across the faculty.

Part of UCL’s bicentenary, the symposium provided a platform for postgraduate researchers to present their work, exchange ideas and engage with the wider research community.

The symposium featured a keynote from Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at UCL and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, whose work has been internationally recognised for advancing understanding of health inequalities and the social determinants of health.

Showcasing research and building skills

The programme combined research presentations with opportunities to develop communication and professional skills. Participants presented their work through poster sessions and the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, alongside informal activities designed to encourage discussion and collaboration.

A creative “Your thesis on a Post-it” challenge invited researchers to summarise their work in a simple and accessible format, reflecting the importance of communicating complex ideas clearly to wider audiences.

The symposium also supported interdisciplinary exchange, enabling researchers to connect with peers across different fields and explore new perspectives and potential collaborations.

Recognising excellence in research communication

Prizes were awarded across the day to recognise outstanding research and communication:

  • Best poster overall: Hadi Waheed, “Is a mother’s height linked to the way she gives birth? Insights from MRI”.
  • Best social science poster: Pei-Yu Chen, “Can children resist HFSS food influencer marketing? A school-based nutrition media literacy intervention”.
  • Best wet lab poster: Lotti Wood, “Handedness switch and temporal lobe atrophy associated with language reorganisation in LH Rasmussen syndrome”.
  • Best computational science poster: Damjan Veljanoski, “Normative diffusion MRI reveals the epileptogenic zone in children with drug-resistant epilepsy: EZ-NORM mapping”.
  • Best presentation: Imogen Heenan, “Developing a human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac organoid disease model for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy caused by mutations in MYBPC3”.
  • Audience choice award: Imogen Heenan.

  • First prize: Benjamin Downing, “Heartbreak after breast cancer? Closing the cardiovascular gap for survivors”.
  • Second prize: Hadi Waheed, “What can MRI reveal about a baby and birth?”.
  • Commendation award: John O’Rourke, “You have 4,000 weeks… Can someone living with HIV since childhood hope for the same?”.
  • Audience choice award: Hadi Waheed and John O’Rourke.

  • Winner: Imogen Buckle, “Your blood is clotting due to your own antibodies? Here’s a novel protein where glycans fix the problem”.

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