Big Ben and the houses of parliament in London, with an ornate lamppost in the foreground.

STEM for BRITAIN is a major scientific poster competition and exhibition for early career researchers, held annually at the Houses of Parliament. Image credit: BrianAJackson, Getty Images.

Published

6 Mar 2024

Oxford early career researchers shine in Parliamentary competition

Thirteen early career researchers from Oxford were finalists at this year’s STEM for BRITAIN event, held on Monday at the Houses of Parliament, with three winning awards in their categories.

Katherine Benjamin holds a framed certificate. She stands in the middle of a group of five people, which includes judges for the competition.

Katherine Benjamin (centre) receiving her prize at STEM for BRITAIN 2024. Image credit: Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

Organised by the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, STEM for BRITAIN is a major scientific poster competition and exhibition, held annually at the Houses of Parliament. This year, the event involved 120 early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematicians, shortlisted from hundreds of applicants. Finalists presented their research to dozens of politicians and a panel of expert judges, with prizes awarded for the posters that best communicated high level science, engineering, or mathematics to a lay audience.

Stephen Metcalfe 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 engineers, mathematicians, and scientists are the architects of our future and STEM for BRITAIN is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.’

A smiling young lady with long dark blonde hair and glasses holds a certificate. She stands in front of a large poster which summarises her scientific research.

Grace Meaker at STEM for BRITAIN 2024.

Katherine Benjamin (Balliol College), who won silver in the Mathematical Sciences category for her poster, Multiscale topology classifies and quantifies cell types in subcellular spatial transcriptomics, said: ‘I am surprised and honoured to have won this award. The event was a real joy, and it was a privilege to be able to share our work which was carried out in collaboration with an amazing team of mathematicians and researchers in the medical sciences here at Oxford and beyond.’

Grace Meaker (St Cross College), in the biological and biomedical sciences category, won the Physiological Society Award for her poster entitled Sticky Stem Cells: How PVA promotes blood stem cell production. She said: ‘I was beyond honoured to have been selected to present my work and to have won the Physiology Society Prize at STEM for Britain this year. It was great to speak to my MP, Anneliese Dodds, about how we are using PVA to grow stem cells in the lab to permit novel discoveries about the biology and physiology of stem cells. It is such an exciting time to be in stem cell research and I can't wait to see how the field develops!’

A young lady of Asian descent wearing a headscarf stands in front of a a large poster which summarises her scientific research.

Sawsan El Zahr at STEM for BRITAIN 2024.

Sawsan El Zahr (Somerville College), of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, won first prize in the Dyson Sustainability Award for her poster, Exploring the benefits of carbon-aware routing. She said: ‘The main challenge was to simplify the technical content and communicate it with a general audience. I am so honoured to participate and win the first prize and I hope that the discussions we had about sustainability can impact policy making.’

The full list of Oxford finalists are:

Katherine Benjamin, a DPhil student in the Mathematical Institute.
Deborah Cotton, a DPhil student in the Department of Physics.
Sawsan El Zahr, a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science.
Jennifer Clara Herrmann, a DPhil student in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine.
Fenglin Liu, a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science.
Alvaro Martinez Pechero, a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science.
Grace Meaker, a DPhil student in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine.
Calum Patel, a DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry.
Leto Riebel, a DPhil student in the Department of Computer Science.
Anna Rose, a Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics.
Ana Stuhec, a DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry.
Chloe Tubman, a DPhil student in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics.
Xingzao Wang, a DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry.

You can find more information about the competition and view all the finalists’ posters on the STEM for BRITAIN website.