PhD student Sophie Schumann has been awarded the 'Young Microbiologist of the year 2013' by the Society for General Microbiology (SGM).
Sophie, who studies in the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds said: “I enjoy presenting my work to other scientists and I’m very excited about my research, which I think carried across in my presentation.”
Sophie was awarded her prize for her work on an oncovirus causing skin cancer, a topic Sophie has been investigating throughout her PhD.
The initial nomination was at the SGM spring conference. Sophie said: “I only gave a short talk on a large four day conference as a PhD student, so I didn’t expect to be nominated for an award at all. To find I’d been nominated was an even bigger surprise; it felt like I’d won a prize already.”
The final took place at the SGM Autumn conference where Sophie presented to an audience including a panel of judges. In total there were six finalists. Sophie said: “The presentation had to be no longer than 10 minutes which in itself was a challenge – explaining the background, results and impact of my research in such a short time.
“I think my main aim with the presentation was to make it as understandable and accessible as possible. I knew there would be judges and a varied audience not only from virology, but people working in completely different areas – on bacteria or algae for example – so I had to explain it very clearly and present only the most relevant results.”
Sophie was presented with a certificate and a £500 cheque as part of her prize. Sophie said: “I think the award will help when I’m applying for jobs after my PhD, and it’s a great addition to my CV. Of course, it was also fantastic for me and my supervisor Ade Whitehouse to get this sort of positive feedback on my project and the work I’m doing here.”
Sophie’s work was funded by a Wellcome Trust funded PhD studentship and is a collaborative project between the laboratories of Professor Ade Whitehouse in the Faculty of Biological Sciences and Dr Richard Foster in the School of Chemistry, both members of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology.
14th October 2013