UCL Research Progression Award: 14 Projects awarded to tackle challenges facing LMICs

The 2024/25 UCL Research Progression Award was an internal call funded by a Research England International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Grant supporting research projects that met the ODA’s criteria. The initiative aimed to empower awardees to gain greater autonomy in their research and foster international collaborations to help find solutions to global problems.

Open to all disciplines across UCL supporting early and mid-career academics, the call attracted nearly 100 high-quality proposals. The overwhelming response highlights our academics’ commitment to addressing challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through their research. 

A multidisciplinary panel, chaired by Professor Jolene Skordis, Vice Dean (International and Advancement), Faculty of Population Health Sciences, conducted a rigorous assessment of the proposals. Successful projects covered all four ISPF research themes of Resilient Planet, Transformative Technologies, Healthy People, Animals and Plants and had a strong career development element, demonstrating UCL’s wide breadth of expertise across a range of disciplines.

 “We have been able to support 14 exceptional projects, all led by outstanding mid-career researchers.  In partnership with research leaders in low- and middle-income countries, these projects will deliver insights and innovation to benefit some of the most vulnerable communities globally. We eagerly anticipate the impact of their work, which has been made possible by the UCL Research Progression Awards.”  

Professor Jolene Skordis 

The research emerging from the award will help drive UCL’s global impact and help generate positive changes to global communities.

Awardees

A multi-disciplinary understanding of early childhood development progress in contexts of climate emergencies
Dr Asma Zubairi, Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCL Institute of Education

Minitablets Acceptance in Children as a novel remedy (MAC) – bridging the gap between innovation and application
Dr Smita Salunke, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Life Sciences

Rice calli as a bioprocessing platform for edible vaccines
Dr Duygu Dikicioglu, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Designing Shared Solar Battery Storage Systems for Sustainable and Affordable Energy Access
Dr Boli Chen, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Walking the Talk: Envisioning Walkable, Climate-Resilient Infrastructures in Accra, Ghana
Dr Thaisa Comelli, Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences

Digitalising commons: transformative technologies for land justice
Dr Fenna Imara Hoefsloot, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences

A Global Approach to Scientific Equity: Building a Linked Network of Virtual Reality Institutes to Enhance Training and International Collaboration
Dr Stephen Hilton, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Life Sciences

Understanding multi-morbidity and undernutrition in a long-term humanitarian crisis
Carlos Salvador Grijalva Eternod, Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences

Advanced real-time risk management technologies for enhanced resilience in earthquake-prone regions (ARTISTRY)
Dr Gemma Cremen, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Asian Giants and Oak Trees – Can biotic interactions explain global distribution of the Asian Giant Hornet?
Dr Cintia Akemi Oi, Division of Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences

Understanding misinformation and disinformation and their impacts on non-communicable diseases health service utilisation in Vietnam
Dr Yuxi Zhang, Global Business School for Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences

Empowering women care workers in Brazil and Colombia
Dr Louisa Acciari, Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences

Developing a culturally-valid screening tool for imminent risk for suicide in Nepali adolescents (IRIS-NA)
Dr Cemile Ceren Sonmez, Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences

Transformative technologies for Parkinson’s disease in Nigeria
Dr Stephanie Efthymiou, Institute of Neurology, Faculty of Brain Sciences

Further information

For any questions about this award or the funding contact Rebecca Downing, International Grants Funding Assistant at rebecca.downing@ucl.ac.uk.

The UCL Research Progression Award call was led by the Life and Medical Sciences Research Coordination team in Research and Innovation Services (RIS), with support from faculties and other RIS teams.

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• Image: Female civil engineer discusses weir plans with colleague | Credit: Photo by ThisisEngineering on Unsplash