Research Lives and Cultures Podcast

Prof. Jenny Clark is a Materials Physics research leader in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at The University of Sheffield. Jenny has sailed the fellowship boat to build her research career while putting her family as one of her priorities. She is an example to showcase that whilst no one can ever “do it all”, researchers with parenting responsibilities can progress in science and protect their family time.

Dr Phil Elks is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Population Health at The University of Sheffield. His research career has been dedicated to using Zebrafish as a model to study human diseases. Being part of a vibrant community using this animal model has shaped his career.

Dr Cariad Evans is a virology consultant for the NHS, as well as an infectious diseases specialist. After a period of working in Africa, Cariad returned to the UK to work as a consultant. A corridor conversation with a senior colleague kick-started her engagement in doing research via an MD. The recent pandemics have been fertile grounds to contribute to research, as well as impact national policy decisions.

Dr Deanne Bell is Associate Professor in Race, Education and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham. When I interviewed her, she was working at Nottingham Trent University as Associate Professor of Critical Psychology and Decolonial Studies. Her research has the potential to shift higher education towards an era where the colonial past is addressed, but first, it means “exposing and dismantling colonial systems of knowledge and exclusion.”

Dr Ahmed Iqbal is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health at The University of Sheffield and Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes for the NHS. His research interests emerged from challenging the status of understanding of the physiological impact of diseases and how this could be managed for better patients’ outcomes.

Professor Jo Richardson is Associate Dean of Research for Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University and Professor of Housing & Social Inclusion.

Her expertise on homelessness and methodological stance in co-production have created solid and value-based foundations for her leadership style.

Prof. Thushan de Silva is an Infectious Diseases Clinician Scientist. His research journey started during his medical training and continued thanks to several clinical fellowships that have allowed him protected time to build his research portfolio alongside continuing clinical work.

Dr Cristina Nostro is a Senior Scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute at the University Health Network (UHN), a research hospital, as well as Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. She recalls challenges in demonstrating research independence.

Dr Joby Cole is an Infectious Diseases and Acute Medicine Consultant for the National Health Services and an honorary lecturer at the University of Sheffield. He has held several clinical fellowships to enable him to undertake research alongside his clinical work. His current motivation is to give all patients the opportunity to get involved in clinical research projects, as participation in research improves outcomes. He is also interested in contributing to novel ways of detecting microbial resistance that would allow fast identification of resistance and a faster approach to prescribing to right antibiotics to patients.

Dr Ruth Payne has a dual professional identity as a Consultant Microbiologist for the National Health Services (UK) as well as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Her interest in malaria vaccines may have been the starting point for her research career, but her expertise in vaccines became the corner stone of her ability to contribute to the Covid vaccine development efforts.

Prof. Milica Radisic is a Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (University of Toronto, Canada). Her work sits at the interface of engineering, stem cell biology and chemistry. Her ethos as a PI is to create interdependence between team members to build a collaborative and effective research team.

Dr. Catarina M. Henriques is a Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow at The University of Sheffield. Her journey into a research career was ignited by a TV documentary on telomeres she watched as a teenager, which fueled her enduring interest in the biology of aging. Transitioning from Portugal to the UK to pursue her research ambitions involved numerous daring conversations and bold decisions.

Kristen Brennand is Professor of Psychiatry and Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. She first set up her own research group in 2012 at Mount Sinai, after a Postdoc at the Salk Institute and a PhD at Harvard University. She reflects on balance in research careers.

Dr Dawn Scholey is a Senior Research Fellow at Nottingham Trent University. She never intended to become a researcher. After working for an extended period in industry, she returned to academia as a technician. It was the cheerleading of her manager that convinced her to embark on a PhD.

Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan is a Scientist at the University Health Network and an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. She built her expertise in regenerative medicine in industry and clinical trials before becoming a PI.

Dr Iryna Kuksa is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University. She describes herself as a cross-disciplinary researcher, having studied and worked, in departments as diverse as History of Arts, British Politics and Theatre, Performance & Cultural Studies. The common thread in her research interests is Digital Technologies.

Dr Sara Nunes Vasconcelos is an Associate Professor based at the University of Toronto in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering with a research team in the Toronto General Hospital: University Health Network (UHN). Her research focuses on tissue engineering approaches to address cardiovascular problems. Imagine getting your first grant as a PI and not been able to take it because of visa issues for your partner. That’s the arduous path Sara found herself on, before moving to Canada.

Dr Rebecca Dumbell is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. She is steadily building a research team having gained her academic position just when we entered the Covid pandemic. She has already acquired many valuable practices as a new PI, from practising routine reflection to co-producing agreements on communication approaches with her team.

Prof. Jason King is a research scientist at the University of Sheffield who progressed his career via the fellowship route. He has spent the last 10 years working as a Principal Investigator and building a team with the ebb and flow of PhD students and Postdoc contracts.

Dr Leili Rohani is a research scientist with a specialism in engineering heart tissues for cell therapy. Leili currently works at The University of British Columbia in Canada in the department of Cardiology and cardiovascular surgery.

Leili is now at the threshold of wanting to establish her own research group and shifting towards research independence.Her interest in stem cell therapy may see her move either way to industry or academia.

Dr Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas is a Principal Investigator and archeologist at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Spain. She was previously a recipient of a prestigious European Research Council Starting Grant. She used this success to leverage a permanent position back to her home country after several years of hard work and academic uncertainty.

Dr Mirna Mustapha is an MRC Senior Fellow at the University of Sheffield (UK). Her research through multiple international collaborations has led to the identification of over 15 human genes involved in deafness. She has plenty experience of being the only woman from a Global South country in the room.

Dr. Araceli Venegas-Gomez is Founder and CEO of Qureca, a company that offers support to individuals and businesses in the quantum field. She has experience in both the academic and industrial worlds and has created a space in-between the two to bridge gaps in understanding, communication, and conversations in quantum.

Dr Natasha Chang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. She is one of these academics who has had the challenge of setting her research group during the Covid period. She reflects on the last few years since becoming a PI.

Dr Stephen Aderinto is an early-career scientist working in the Chemistry Department at the University of Sheffield. He is not scared of challenges having left Nigeria for his undergraduate studies in China and a PhD in the UK. Now, he works on a multidisciplinary project to develop DNA probes to be used in cancer R&D.

Dr Amy Wong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at The University of Toronto. She became a PI in 2019 with a lab hosted at the Hospital for Sick Children, 10 years after starting her Postdoc. She is a pioneer in using human stem cells to model lung development and disease.

Dr Jonathan Draper is Vice-President of the Canadian Stem Cell Network and responsible for the strategic design and rollout of the network research and training programs. After a decade of working as a PI, he took the challenging decision of letting go of his identity as a research group leader and not running a lab anymore. He shifted his professional efforts into another role as a stem cell leader working for a stem cell network.

Dr. Nika Shakiba is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at The University of British Columbia (Canada). Her research into the social lives of stem cells aims to answer fundamental biological questions for the development of novel therapies. Her commitment to public engagement has been an important thread in her leadership development.

Dr Samantha Payne is Assistant Professor in Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph (Canada). She has moved quickly from her Postdoc to her first PI role. Interestingly, she has returned to the university where she did her Bachelor's degree and Master.

Dr Vijay Raghavendran is a researcher in microbial biotechnology, who has experienced the tribulations of short-term research contracts. Vijay studied in India before moving to Denmark, USA, Brazil, UK and Sweden…many countries on several continents. Vijay has also worked as a science teacher. His broad ranging interests from science to the humanities have enriched his nomadic research life. Vijay is also a poet and an artist.