Doctoral School Competition Scholar winners announced!

Each year, the competition invites postgraduate researchers to present their research in creative and accessible ways, showcasing the breadth of research taking place across the university. Entries are submitted across five categories: posters, blogs, podcasts, vlogs or as ‘Research Images as Art/Art Images as Research’.  

This year’s winners were revealed at the annual Competition Showcase, held on Wednesday, 10 June 2026, at the Wellbeing Centre in Senate House. Visitors were able to explore the entries through a multi-media exhibition before joining the evening awards ceremony. 

Alongside the main competition prizes, the Student Funding Office awarded three cash prizes under a Scholar category, open to recipients of the following UCL scholarships: 

• Research Excellence Scholarship (RES) 

• Research Opportunity Scholarship (ROS) 

Scholar winner: Xiaohan Ma 

The year’s Student Funding Office Scholar winner was Xiaohan Ma, a Research Excellence Scholar from the Eastman Dental Institute. In his winning video, entitled ‘Life as a PhD Student – A Researcher in London’, Xiaohan offers an engaging glimpse into his experience as a doctoral researcher at UCL. Beginning with scenes from his laboratory work and research activities, the film then broadens to capture the vibrant cultural and social opportunities available in London, from theatre visits and cinema trips to social events across the city.  

Xiaohan’s entry is designed to be experienced visually, intentionally using minimal on-screen text, allowing viewers to experience his reality as a PhD student primarily through visual storytelling. Reflecting on his entry, Xiaohan said: ”Ratherthan presenting research in a conventional format, this piece reflects how ideas are shaped beyond the lab — through observation, atmosphere, and lived experience.” 

Scholar Runner-up: Tommy Maddinson 

One of this year’s runner-up prizes was awarded to Tommy Maddinson, a Research Excellence Scholar. Tommy’s entry, entitled ‘Remnants of War in the Garden of England’, is a photograph from his doctoral research into the relationship between landscape, militarisation and immigration control in South-East England. The photograph depicts several rusted military vehicles sat on grasslands on the Kent coast.  

In his entry, Tommy explains “Kent is often romanticised as the ‘Garden of England’ in the popular imagination, but for me this image suggests the uneasy coexistence of the pastoral with the reality of human warfare. This rural corner of England is not just a land of hops, rolling fields, and seaside pleasures; it is also home to shooting ranges, army camps, and military fortifications.” 

Scholar Runner-up: Pranav Sankhe 

The second runner-up prize was awarded to Pranav Sankhe, a Research Excellence Scholar, who also received a Scholar runner-up award in 2025. 

Pranav's entry, “Cognitive Neuroscience Experiments on Field”, captures a moment from his fieldwork in rural Rajasthan in India. The photo shows participants from his research study playing computer games as part of his research, watched by family members and neighbours.  

For his entry, Pranav explained “Behavioural science has long been built on a narrow slice of humanity. The vast majority of experiments are conducted on WEIRD populations (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) and the field has only recently begun to reckon with how unrepresentative this is of human behaviour at large.” 

Celebrating Research Excellence 

The Student Funding Office congratulates Xiaohan, Tommy and Pranav on their achievements, and thanks all scholarship recipients who submitted entries to this year’s competition. Their work demonstrates not only the exceptional quality of research taking place at UCL, but also the diverse and creative ways in which researchers can communicate their work and experiences.  

View all the entries for the Doctoral School Competition on the UCL website.