Science policy magazine founder scoops prestigious research grant

Imperial College London PhD student Neave O'Clery was recently awarded the Fulbright Schuman Scholar Award, a highly competitive, international grant.

The award will fund her research at the Harvard University Kennedy School in Boston, Massachusetts where she will be working with network theory. At Imperial, Neave was a Wellcome Trust doctoral researcher in applied mathematics. She is also the founder and the Editor in Chief of the Imperial-based science policy magazine A Global Village.

Rosemary Peters caught up with Neave before she skipped across the Atlantic to find out more about how her Imperial past has shaped the way for her bright future.

How do you feel about winning the Fulbright Schuman Scholar Award?

I am really excited. I feel like I have been working toward this my whole life. Between my PhD and my work with the magazine my interests have naturally evolved toward global policy with a focus on issues connected to science and technology. The Fulbright Schuman Scholar Award gives me the opportunity to continue moving in this direction.

What sort of research will you be doing at the Kennedy School and how does this relate to your experience from Imperial?

I will be working under Professor Ricardo Hausmann’s research team. He is focusing on understanding the complexity of economies and designing policies to promote economic development and growth. For example, his team is using network science to turn international trade data into “maps” illustrating the labour skills in a specific region. This information is then employed to devise new policy initiatives such as investment in new industries requiring a similar skill set.

This research overlaps nicely with the research I have been doing here at Imperial with my PhD supervisor Professor Mauricio Barahona. In particular, our research group is developing maths-based tools to understand the structure of networks and how small groups within these systems are connected. While we mainly focus on analysing biological networks here at Imperial, these same tools will help me wade through the large amount of data that Hausmann’s team is working with to capture key characteristics that can be transformed into effective economic policy.

While you were completing your PhD at Imperial, you founded the magazine A Global Village. What inspired you to start the publication?

I was involved in Model United Nations (MUN) for many years, and in 2010, I was the Deputy Director-General of Model European Union (MEU), which is a simulation of European politics that gathers around 180 young people from all over Europe to the European Parliament at Strasbourg, France. While I was involved with MUN and MEU, I realised many of the issues we dealt with overlapped with science and technology. This aspect intrigued me, and I wanted to dig deeper into these topics. At the time a friend of mine from Imperial, Cong Sheng, was also interested in these sorts of issues, and these shared interests inspired us to start A Global Village.

What is the purpose of A Global Village?

Originally, the journal was conceived to encourage Imperial students to write articles rooted in international politics and development. Within the past three years, the magazine has gained significant momentum. It now provides an opportunity for the scientific community, policy makers and young researchers to actively participate in dialogue on topics such as energy and environment, agriculture and development, economics, finance and global health.

What will happen to the publication after you move to the US?

Right now the team is in the process of transferring responsibilities. This has been a lengthy process, because we don’t just publish the magazine. We host events such as our 2012 Impact Conference and panel discussions on a range of issues from global health to cyber-security. Over the last six months, I have started to step back into a more supportive role. However, just because I am heading to Boston does not mean that I will stop working on A Global Village. I am not the first person to have moved away for a bit. In fact, we have a couple of other team members who work mainly in a virtual role.

What interests do you pursue outside of your work?

A little over a year ago, I had a physiotherapist suggest I should start taking ballet as therapy for my back. I always liked dancing – I would try to go to the ballet at least once a year. Once I finished my first class, I was hooked. Now, I usually go about three or four times per week. I also love to be out on the water. I was the coach for the Imperial yacht racing team last year. In fact, moving to Boston especially excited me because I will have the opportunity to get out on the water again.