Elsevier and the US-UK Fulbright Commission Reward Early Career Researchers in the UK

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The UK represents under 1 percent of the global population yet produces 15 percent of the world's most highly cited articles^[1]. To maintain this situation, continued investment in the national research base is essential.

The UK Early Career Researcher Awards comprise two separate award programmes. As part of their joint mission to support young researchers in developing their careers, Elsevier and the US-UK Fulbright Commission have partnered in hosting the awards since 2011. Winners of these awards are chosen by an expert panel of judges, drawing on citation and publication information from Elsevier's Scopus database.

Elsevier and the US-UK Fulbright Commission announced the 2018 winners at an awards ceremony attended by over 75 senior figures from government, academia and industry.

The six 2018 UK Early Career Researcher Award winners are:

• Environmental Science: Dr. Richard Millar, from the University of Oxford, investigates the physical and economic consequences of climate change.
• Medicine: Dr. Sarah McGlasson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, conducts research to understand how immune activation can lead to neurological damage.
• Social Sciences: Dr. Filippo Menga explores the interplay between humans and the environment with a particular focus on water politics, at the University of Reading.
• Physical Sciences: Dr. Alex Ganose, from University College London, focuses on the discovery of energy materials, with a particular interest in photovoltaics and thermoelectrics.
• Biochemistry, Genetics, Molecular Biology: Dr. Serene Chen studies protein aggregates such as the alpha-synuclein protein, whose deposition is one of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease, first at the University of Cambridge and now as a postdoctoral research fellow at Imperial College London.
• Arts and Humanities: Dr. Charlotte Wray, from Royal Holloway, studies atypical child development, such as risk of language disorder at school entry.

Ron Mobed, CEO of Elsevier, said: "Today's early career researchers find themselves in an ever-more competitive environment while the future of science and indeed the sustainability of our planet depends on them. Supporting young scientists in building their careers and studying some of the most challenging questions of our time is critical. The UK Early Career Researcher Awards will hopefully be an encouragement to these young researchers to make a lasting impact and help transform our society for the better."

"We are very pleased to have partnered with Elsevier this year again in supporting researchers to further their careers," said Penny Egan, Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission. "These awards acknowledge the significant contributions of UK researchers in a range of disciplines, as well as the institutions that encourage the development of early career talent."

A second award category, also part of the UK Early Career Researcher Awards program, is the Researchers' Choice Communication Award. Introduced in 2015, this category aims to recognise researchers who have excelled in communicating the purpose, meaning and impact of their research to the wider public.

This year's winner is Dr. Joanne Jordan, of the University of Manchester, who investigated the impact of climate change on the lives of the urban poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Using local performance art to highlight the impact of climate change as slum dwellers experience it in their daily lives, Joanne has brought her work to over 7,000 people including those she studied, policy makers, academics, students and the general public.  

BBC presenter Adam Rutherford, lead judge in this year's Researchers' Choice Communication Award, presented Dr. Jordan with the award. "Dr. Jordan's Dhaka project is fully immersive and impressive for recording such a rich experience from people on the frontline of the impact of climate change," he said. "The resulting work has the potential to influence other people, and hopefully policy makers. It's a great example of scientific engagement that reaches diverse publics and has a genuine impact on viewers."

Notes to editors 

^[1] Source: International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base 2016

About the US-UK Fulbright Commission 

The US-UK Fulbright Commission was created by treaty on 22 September 1948. The Commission has been celebrating its 70 anniversary this year. We offer grants at postgraduate and postdoctoral level for study in any discipline and at any accredited institution in the US and UK, as well as a number of special exchange programmes for shorter projects and a social mobility programme for younger students. During the last six decades, approximately 15,000 UK nationals have studied in the US and 12,000 US nationals in the UK as part of the Fulbright Programme. Prominent alumni of the Fulbright Programme include poet Sylvia Plath, Liam Byrne MP and Dr. Ben Broadbent, Deputy Governor, Monetary Policy, Bank of England. http://www.fulbright.org.uk

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact 

Sacha Boucherie, Global Communications
Elsevier
+31-20-485-3564
s.boucherie@elsevier.com
newsroom@elsevier.com