Reflections on Student Protest in Light of the Encampment

Author: Jafar Cain // Editor: Erin PallottPhoto credit: Qais Attaallah Anyone who has been on campus within the past month will have inevitably seen the student encampment in the formerly named Brunswick Park area. Whilst similar student-led movements have been met with violent armed opposition by state forces in the USA, the movements across UK …

Beyond the Screen: Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy in the Age of Social Media

Author: Rebecca Light // Editor: Erin Pallott In an age where information about any subject is available at the click of a button, we have all been exposed to ‘#antivax’ information on social media, whether that be someone on a community Facebook page showing genuine concern over the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine they …

The Game-Changing Effects of Radiotherapy on Breast Cancer: Beyond Killing Cancer Cells

Author: Yamini Meshram // Editor: Erin Pallott Imagine you are giving your home a fresh coat of paint, but instead of just changing the colour, you end up remodelling the whole structure and even influencing the neighbourhood’s vibe. That's a bit like what radiotherapy does in the world of breast cancer treatment. Sure, it's known …

Alternative Careers within Academia: Research Management

Author: Josephine Thomas // Editor: Jill Merlini Like many PhD students, I went into my PhD with high hopes of a career in academic research and finding the next wonder drug. Also like many PhD students, I had realised in my second year that the lab was not for me and I started thinking about …

Building Your Researcher Profile and Utilising Social Media – Annet Nakkazi and Rural Great Minds

Author: Annet Nakkazi // Editor: Erin Pallott Teaming up with the Doctoral Academy and the Researcher Development team, I organised a podcast episode about how postgraduate researchers can start building their online presence and researcher profiles. I talked about our blog, Research Hive, and how blogging is a great way to start getting your name …

Food Labelling: Do We Interpret Nutrition Labels Correctly?

Author: Constanza Avalos // Editor: Erin Pallott Food labels are a ubiquitous feature in contemporary food retailing, and as such, they are a common sight for most people. However, some of us may deliberately avoid engaging with food labels, whereas others may struggle to fully comprehend their contents, or may experience both barriers to their …

NF-kB, It Isn’t a Sorority, But Rather an Important Inflammatory Signalling Molecule

Writer: Jess Mackin // Illustrator: Brendan Capey // Editor: Erin Pallott The most common icebreaker in research is to ask “What do you work on?”. When I tell a researcher my topic, NF-κB signalling, I am met with the joking question “Is that a sorority?”. I cannot blame them, it does sound like it! I …

Unlocking the Power of Multidisciplinary Collaboration:

Insights from a Summer School in Digital Health and Preventive Healthcare Author: Bibhusha Karki // Editor: Karabo Sibasa In early August, some PhD students and post-doctoral staff from the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) were competitively selected for an opportunity to attend a summer school in Bertinoro, Italy. Organised by The Mobilise-D consortium …

Celebrating Our Peers – DAGS Conference 2023

Authors: Erin Pallott & Charlotte Mellor // Editor: Erin Pallott It’s been a busy period for conferences and showcases. Whether you love being in the spotlight and preaching your findings, or you’d much rather be hiding away in the lab focusing on experiments, presentations and conferences are an essential part of your PhD journey. We …

A Brief Guide to Sustainable Practice in the Lab

Author: Jess Mackin // Editor: Erin Pallott Integration of sustainable practices in a research environment may seem difficult due to the vast amount of single-use plastics and high energy consumption from equipment. In general, life sciences are responsible for ~1.8% of total global plastic production and labs can consume up to 6 times more energy …