Imperial's early career researchers wow politicians at Westminster

L-R: Yuval Elani, Robert Woodward, Nasrin Al Nasiri, Peter Buchak

The College put in its finest ever performance at the highly competitive SET for Britain poster competition final at Westminster on Monday 9 March.

SET for Britain aims to help politicians understand more about the UK’s thriving science and engineering base and rewards some of the strongest scientific and engineering research being undertaken in the UK.

The prestigious competition attracted entries from over 200 early career researchers and 29 were shortlisted to present their work in front of MPs, peers and scientists.

Imperial researchers claimed gold in four out of five categories – with the physics category champion Robert Woodward also securing the top overall award for his excellent presentation explaining his research work on the development of ultrafast laser technologies and the remarkable optical properties of nanomaterials.

Robert said: “It was a fantastic experience to share my work at Parliament and to see so much fascinating innovation from young UK researchers. I was delighted and honoured to receive the Physics Gold Medal and Westminster Medal for my laser research, especially as this year marks the International Year of Light – a worldwide celebration of the impact of light science and applications, of which laser technologies play a major role.”

The other Imperial gold medal winners who each received a prize of a prize of £3000 were Dr Nasrin Al Nasiri (Materials) in the Engineering category; Dr Peter Buchak (Mathematics) in the Mathematics Category  and Dr Yuval Elani (Chemistry) in the Chemistry category.

Dr Al Nasiri said: "When they announced my name as the gold medal winner in engineering I was speechless, overwhelmed and very proud of what I have achieved. This invaluable recognition to my research and communication abilities will definitely boost my enthusiasm to progress in my career as a researcher in engineering and material science”

The event was run by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in collaboration with the Council for Mathematical Sciences, the Institute of Physics, The Physiological Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Biology and the Society of Chemical Industry.

Andrew Miller MP, who chairs the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said: “This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers. These early career scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.”