Awardee profiles

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Placement at Stanford University to work on the development of novel genomic technologies for cancer early detection

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host institution/company
Stanford University

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
I had the opportunity to immerse myself in a new field during the three months. I learned a repertoire of novel techniques while actively contributing to a very interesting project. Moreover, I broadened my professional network and had the pleasure of engaging with remarkably talented researchers. I also greatly enjoyed the environment at the university and attended several of their events. 

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Policy internship with the Medical Research Council

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host institution/company
Imperial College London

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?

• I was involved in projects across the MRC, namely the Policy and Governance teams, as well as the Strategic Engagement team. This allowed me to get an overview of all areas of the MRC, which was incredibly interesting and rewarding. Everyone was very welcoming and willing to talk in introduction meetings – felt incorporated into the MRC community, was able to meet with members of the greater MRC boards as well as observe a grant review board meeting
• Weekly check-ins with my line-manager were fantastic. She was supportive in a mentorship role as well as a line manager, and took into account my areas of interest and arranged meetings to explore those areas further (I.e. science comms chat with comms manager) that were very useful!
• Meeting with the head of EDI at the MRC was also fantastic – I have an interest in EDI, as I’ve been acting as a representative for DTP students and have been discussing these issues with the leadership of the Imperial MRC DTP program, and she was also available for further discussion after. Also invited me to the EDI forum, which was great to see these issues discussed.
• My time with the Strategic Engagement team was excellent - great structure, clear goals, weekly update meeting, interesting & diverse projects. Worked mostly with Sarah Trenfield on the Millennium Medal projects – very inspiring as a research scientist, fantastic insight into the role of the MRC in influencing research culture through initiatives like this, and also gave me a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in science communication, and I drafted the UKRI announcement article and promotional materials for the 2021 prize that were published on the UKRI website and twitter on Jan 7th 2022.
• Working with the Policy and Governance teams were great as well: gave me an insight into policy rollout, and I facilitated break out session and carried out analysis of existing policies to assist the implementation of a new Open Science policy from the MRC. I was also able to work on policy/guidance development, involving EDI, carrying out an extensive analysis of grants submitted to MRC Boards to assess their inclusion of EDI criteria, as preliminary work for creating a new MRC policy. I was also able to work with the MRC Insight Blog team, to write a blog based on an upcoming policy change, as well as creating the template and guidance documents for an internal policy newsletter that will be circulated around the teams of the MRC.
• I also gained experience with the policy & regulation side of MRC work, seeing how the MRC functions with the MHRA and other relevant stakeholders.
• Honestly, my only negative point was that this internship could have been a couple months longer – I think six months would have really allowed some projects to come to fruition? The MRC offered to fund me for an additional 3 months to continue my placement with them; however, I was unable to accept since I had already accepted a position with a start date in January that could not be postponed further.
• Overall, I had a really positive experience, learned a lot about this particular area of policy & governance, and how the MRC fits into the national (& international) policy landscape, as well as the sort of projects and work involved in a career in this sector. I enjoyed the work and found the people I worked with inspiring, and this has definitely encouraged me to look more into the sector as a potential career path later.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Investigation of a novel drug combination using mouse models of ovarian cancer

Which category did your application fall within?
High cost training (in-vivo, imaging, bioinformatics etc)

Name of host institution/company
Imperial College London

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
The MRC supplement scheme provided a valuable opportunity to study the effects of a novel drug combination in vivo, using mouse models of ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma. With the given support, I was able to develop various technical skills necessary for in vivo work, which will be invaluable for future studies and my future career path. This support also provided the opportunity to work within a team and enabled me to develop my own leadership skills as the study lead. The results from this study were highly promising and have significantly influenced the direction of my PhD research.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Summer School on Neurorehabilitation (SSNR)

Which category did your application fall within?
Exceptional training (fieldwork, courses etc)

Name of host institution/company
SSNR 2022 was organised by Imperial College London, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
This was the first time I felt the impact of my work in a wider context and was able to receive feedback on my work and discuss other projects with my peers. It gave me a lot more drive for my PhD because I felt part of a global effort/team and saw how my research was applicable to different neurological conditions which has led to potential collaborations and invitations from other PIs to their labs!

I was given a lot of career advice and learnt from wisdom/experience of other attendees which has impacted my post-PhD plans dramatically and cleared some uncertainty and stress I felt regarding this now that I have more people I can turn to for some mentorship.

There were many workshops where we were able to explore new stimulation and recording techniques such as TMS+Guided EEG, and various types spinal cord stimulation directly from the experts. I also found out about other courses that are being run for people in my field to increase the cross-awareness between clinicians and engineers like myself and improve translational efficacy of our R&D.

This was my first PhD related travel experience and it has allowed me to expand my network and also travelling with lab mates/collaborators and our PI has built a much stronger cohesive lab culture that was hard to build over COVID. This was most definitely the highlight of my PhD to date and I am grateful for the MRC for providing access to this supplementary funding.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
International Conference on Innate Immunity

Which category did your application fall within?
Exceptional training (fieldwork, courses etc)

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
I enjoyed the opportunities not only to hear cutting-edge work that was going on in the innate immunity field, but also how non-traditional disciplines were enriching the work done in the innate immunology space. For example, I was able heard the talk from Ed Chouchani, who focuses translational work through discovery of druggable redox switches on immunological proteins.

I also had the opportunity to chat with Ed and other colleagues from Harvard and MIT over dinner not only about their exciting work, but also advice they had for early career researchers. We also discussed what they as PIs and mentors wanted to see more in their PhD student, information which is critical in having a successful relationship with a PI and making the most out of the PhD years. One of the particularly special aspects of this conference is its facilitation of informal discussion that is incredible for network and collaboration building.

In addition to the opportunity to network with exceptional academics, I also met several scientists working in the industry in companies such as Pfizer, Takeda, and the Boehringer Ingelheim. In particular, I am following up with a connection made at the conference from the Boehringer Ingelheim about potential conversion for my PhD into an iCASE with them in the Lung Regeneration department as they focus on disease such as IPF, asthma, and COPD which I am interested in studying during my PhD. 

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Core Statistics course, University of Cambridge and Metabolomics Data Processing and Data Analysis course, University of Birmingham

Which category did your application fall within?
High cost training (in-vivo, imaging, bioinformatics etc)

Name of host institution/company
University of Cambridge and University of Birmingham

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
Core Statistics course - This course provided me with the basic statistics skills that I did not have and are necessary to process my data during my PhD. It was very straight forward and concise and explained things well.

Metabolomics Data Processing and Data Analysis course - This course goes through challenges encountered when analysing metabolomics data which I am facing now, as well as offering solutions to overcome them.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Travel for internship based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host institution/company
Imperial College London

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
The MRC funding to apply for this internship was extremely valuable; the internship is incredibly relevant to my PhD work, with a focus on computational biology and next-generation sequencing analysis techniques. It is also focused on drug development, and uses the coding language R, which I use for almost all of my PhD work.

Both of these aspects of the internship are very helpful for moving into the final stages of my PhD, which will require production of many figures for my thesis in R, and an understanding of pipelines for drugs to move from pre-clinical to clinical phases. Additionally, the role is in Cambridge, MA, a hub for BioTech industry, which will give me the opportunity to explore potential roles within both the bioinformatics and drug development spheres and provide a strong basis for understanding future career options.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
UKRI Policy Internship

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host/company
Senedd Research

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
I most enjoyed the opportunity to re-locate to Cardiff and complete the internship in-person. Working at the Research office within the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), I attended committee meetings, Plenary (parliamentary sessions), and First Minister’s Questions. This meant I developed a clear understanding of the Welsh policy landscape and the day-to-day experience of working alongside government, and even got to learn some Welsh!   

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Illustration in Science Communication Internship

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host/company
Merlin Evans, Drawn to Medicine

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
I had the most amazing experience on this internship. I learnt different public engagement strategies, the life of a science communicator, different career paths related to this field, and also created several pieces of finished work which would help build my illustration and engagement portfolio. This really opened opportunities for me following my PhD and I cannot recommend the Supplement Scheme enough for enabling students the space and funding to do something like this.

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Mathematical modelling internship at Epicentre

Which category did your application fall within?
Placement or internship

Name of host institution/company
Epicentre (Médecins Sans Frontières)

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
My internship at Epicentre allowed me to utilise the mathematical modelling skills and knowledge of epidemiology and disease intervention that I have gained during my postgraduate studies, in a professional context.

At Epicentre I was tasked with developing a model to assess the impact of the ring-vaccination campaigns that were rolled out during the 2018 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I improved my technical abilities and gained confidence in my problem solving and coding skills, which will help me greatly in my final PhD year during which I will be coding a novel model.

I also learned about the ongoing missions and projects currently underway at MSF and was able to engage in eye-opening discussions with epidemiologists who had experienced missions in the field in countries experiencing conflict. I found this incredibly valuable as this highlighted the importance of the modelling work being performed, and the impact it could potentially have, but also gave me an understanding of challenges in infectious disease control that I had not previously considered.

All in all my experience allowed me to understand what career progression as a field epidemiologist could look like. 

What opportunity was made possible for you by the MRC Supplement Scheme?
Visiting Switzerland to attend postdoctoral interviews

Which category did your application fall within?
PhD to postdoctoral transition fund (travel)

Name of host institution/company
University of Basel, University of Lausanne, and Roche Switzerland

What did you enjoy the most or find most valuable about this opportunity?
Thanks to the MRC supplement scheme I was able to travel to attend interviews and secure a job at University of Basel, starting right after the end of my PhD. It has been a real privilege to have the support of the MRC at this critical moment in my career.