Students scoop top awards for female graduates

Two Imperial PhD students have won prestigious scholarships awarded to female graduates for academic excellence.

Two Imperial PhD students have won prestigious scholarships awarded to female graduates for academic excellence.

Lucy Thorne (Medicine) and Stephanie Walton (Physics) received two of the nine awards given annually by the British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) at the University Women’s Club, Audley Square, Mayfair on 3 November .

Started in 1907, the BFWG was set-up by disgruntled academic women who were not getting promotion to higher status in the universities.

Lucy received the BFWG Centenary Scholarship for £6,000 for her work on the norovirus, better known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’.

Lucy and her team developed a new technique to study the replication of the virus, which is a particular problem in schools and hospitals.

“Ultimately, knowing the function of the essential viral components in infection can reveal how best to design anti-virals against norovirus,” she said.

Meanwhile Stephanie won the BFWG M H Joseph Prize for £3,000 for her work on controlling iron-nickel nanomagnets.

After being shortlisted the students gave a presentation on their work and fielded questions from a panel of five female academics.

Commenting on the awards, Professor Andrew George, Director of the Graduate School said: “Women are under-represented in the academic world, including Imperial, and so it is important that organisations such as the BWFG offer the opportunity to show that the contribution of female doctoral students are valued and recognised.”

 “These are awards given for academic excellence, and so it is a great feat for Lucy and Stephanie to have won such prestigious prizes,” he added.