Laura Davies, 24, a third year PhD student at Newcastle University, originally hailing from Prudhoe, won Silver at a competition in the House of Commons, for the excellence of her chemistry research last week, walking away with a £2,000 prize.
Laura presented her chemistry research to dozens of politicians, including Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah, and a panel of expert judges, as part of the poster competition SET for Britain, on Monday 12 March.
Her research, undertaken as part of Dr Lee Higham’s research team, involves using phosphine chemistry to create new applications in disease imaging, was judged against 29 other shortlisted researchers’ work. Laura’s work has recently been published in one of the top chemistry journals, Angewandte Chemie.
Laura said, “I’m very proud to have won and to be promoting chemistry in the North East. I’d like to thank Chi Onwurah for visiting me at the competition and for her support and interest.”
SET for Britain is a competition in the House of Commons which involves researchers displaying posters of their work to panels of expert judges and politicians. Further information ia available here.
The event aims to help politicians understand more about the UK’s thriving science and engineering base and rewards some of the strongest scientific and engineering research being undertaken in the UK.
Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said, “This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers.
“These early career scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.”