Tissue Repair student Niamh McNamara wins award from British Federation of Women Graduates
PhD student Niamh won the Winifred Cullis award from BFWG for her research on microglia regulating CNS myelin integrity.
Many congratulations to Tissue Repair PhD student Niamh McNamara on her recent award from British Federation of Women Graduates. Niamh is based in the lab of Dr Veronique Miron, where she is investigating the role of microglia in perinatal brain injury and repair.
For the competition Niamh submitted a 2000-word essay summarising her research project to date, including publications and academic achievements, as well as outreach/engagement activities.
Niamh was then shortlisted for interview, providing an 8-minute research presentation to a panel from the British Federation of Women Graduates, consisting of academics but mostly people with a non-scientific background, followed by questions and discussion.
It was a huge honour to win an award from an association that does such pioneering and inspiring work for women in academia. As a woman in STEM, I think their advocacy work is particularly important for women in the sciences. I also really enjoyed the experience of presenting my work to an academic but non-scientific panel as it was a great way to step back and think about how and why my research would be interesting to those outside my field. It gave me some perspective and an invaluable opportunity to practice my science communication skills!