Imperial celebrates 2017 Stevenson Fund Scholars

L-R: Viktoria Urland, Priyaben Patel, Professor Simone Buitendijk, Janet @Peet and Sarah Thomas

Celebrations were held for three Imperial scholarships recipients funded by the legacy of pioneering scientist, Dr Greta Stevenson.

The Stevenson Fund, named after its benefactor Dr Greta Stevenson, funds three bursaries of up to £7,500 each year. These bursaries, available to women at the College studying degrees in Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Life Sciences and Geology, are used to fund an international research placement with a leading female scientist at another institution.

Dr Stevenson was a distinguished botanist, mountain climber and adventurer who led the first all-women party to ascend New Zealand’s Mount Earnslaw.

The Stevenson Fund is aimed at supporting the long-term scientific careers and ambitions of women in key scientific disciplines in which there is significant female under-representation. By financing the scholarships for international collaboration, the Fund hopes to encourage reciprocal visits in the future, building up international networks amongst female students and researchers.

Speaking at the event Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Provost (Education), said: “It’s really important that talented young women have the right role models to work with and show them that it is possible to achieve great things in science. I think it is wonderful that Greta Stevenson had that vision and decided to support young women to work with successful academics.

“I hope that this fund that Imperial has created will help its recipients become role models themselves and help inspire future generations to change the world.”

This year’s recipients

Sarah Thomas is a PhD student in the Centre for Doctoral Training on Controlled Quantum Dynamics. Sarah undertook a placement with Professor Pascale Senellart at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. She said: “My research is trying to build quantum memory and about a year ago there were some huge advances from the group in Paris so I decided to go work with them.

“They’re building signal photon sources using semiconductors or quantum dots. I got to see how they build these sources from the clean room all the way through to aligning them and getting results from them. It was a really great experience.”

Viktoria Urland is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry. Viktoria undertook a placement with Professor Jacqueline Barton at the California Institute of Technology. She said: “I was part of a group at Caltech looking at DNA targeting probes. I was supervised by a fourth year PhD student who was very knowledgeable. The greatest thing at Caltech is you get to know interesting people from all around the world. It’s a very small campus so it’s a very close community.”

Janet Peet is an MRes student in the Department of Chemistry studying catalysis. Janet will undertake a placement with Professor Barbara Imperiali at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in summer 2017. She said: “I’m going to MIT in June this year incorporating my placement into my MRes. I’m going to work with Barbra Imperiali a Professor in the Chemistry and Biology departments. At the moment in my MRes I’m using click chemistry and applying it to create inhibiters for an enzyme phosphoglycerol transferase.”

Dr Greta Stevenson

Dr Greta Stevenson was a New Zealand botanist and mycologist. Graduating with an MSc from the University of Otago, she was an accomplished alpine climber and made the first significant climb by an all-woman party with her ascent of   New Zealand’s Mount Earnslaw in 1933.

Arriving at Imperial in 1934, Greta completed her PhD in Mycology and Plant Pathology where she was described as an ‘assertive, independent individual, whose love of plants and enthusiasm for the outdoors made her an inspiring teacher’. Greta went on to enjoy a long career as a botanist, undertaking various research posts in both the UK and abroad.