BSMS > Research > Early Career Researcher Journeys

Early Career Researcher Journeys

Read more about our researchers on this dedicated researcher journeys webpage.

Select a researcher below and read about their journey so far!

Our researchers

Dr Ben Towler

Dr Rich Gorman

Perhaps unusually for a medical school, my background and training is in human geography. I undertook my PhD at Cardiff University, in the School of Planning and Geography. I’m biased, but geographers have a lot to offer in helping to understand the social, cultural, spatial, and economic contexts of health. My thesis explored the social and ethical implications of incorporating animals within various caring and health-promoting practices. Through writing about my work, I came into contact with some wonderful colleagues in Arizona with similar interests, thus beginning a series of collaborative projects around grief and animal-assisted-therapies that continue to this day, and have generated real-world impact informing the creation of a place offering support to bereaved individuals.

I moved to work at the University of Exeter, as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project exploring practices of patient involvement around laboratory animal research. We worked with patients and carers to explore their lived experiences of health and illness and what it means to be ‘involved’ in research that they might find ethically challenging. At Exeter, I also applied for a Wellcome Trust grant of my own to explore the ethics involved in using horseshoe crab blood as part of pharmaceutical endotoxin testing practices. This work was fascinating, and being invited to talk about it at industry conventions made it feel very meaningful.

I joined BSMS in 2020 (mid pandemic!), to work on another Wellcome Trust project focussing on ethical preparedness in genomic medicine, where we have been working with families affected by rare genetic conditions to explore different ways of capturing and sharing important stories and messages about their lives. BSMS has been a great place to work. It has given me a platform to develop my own independent research and enabled collaborations with diverse colleagues and communities.

See my full profile here >

Dr Lisa Quadt

My journey into neuroscience is probably a rather uncommon one. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Mind in Germany in 2016, in which I took an interdisciplinary look at how we can best empirically research and theoretically describe the phenomenon of ‘social cognition’ in humans. Although being immersed in the literature about neuroscientific social cognition research and visiting several neuroscience labs during my PhD in philosophy, I had no formal training in statistics or neuroscience methods. I knew, however, that I wanted to transition into neuroscience after my PhD, because I craved more interaction with a team of colleagues and more tangible outcomes of my work. I considered a second PhD but was hired instead (and to my surprise) as a postdoc on a large clinical trial in the neuroscience department at BSMS. The trial, in which we tested a novel body-based therapy against anxiety in autistic adults, was funded by the charity MQ: Transforming Mental Health. I started at BSMS in 2017 and have been part of the clinical neuroscience team for the past five years.

From day one, I knew that I had found my true passion. I enjoyed all aspects of my new work; the organisational challenges of setting up a large clinical trial, teaching myself (and with a lot of support from my mentors and colleagues!) the relevant skills to conduct experiments and analyse the data, writing up the results and most of all the interaction with participants. To continue my funding after the trial was completed, I was able to secure a Seed Fund from Sussex Neuroscience to look into the associations between complex chronic health conditions and neurodivergence (autism, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc.).

In 2019, I started an MSc in Psychology through a distance learning course to complement my skills and open potential career pathways. I graduated with a Distinction earlier this year and have since been able to make my position as Research Fellow at BSMS permanent.

In my work at BSMS, my research interests revolve around brain-body interactions in neurodivergent populations, and how we as researchers can create truly participatory clinical neuroscience research. I am immensely grateful that I was able to switch from philosophy to neuroscience and would encourage others to follow their passions.

See my full profile here >

Dr Colette Ridehalgh

I started my career as a Physiotherapist specialising in musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and working in London at several hospitals including UCLH, St Mary’s and Chelsea and Westminster hospitals. After completing my MSc in Manipulative Physiotherapy at the University of Brighton, I worked locally at BSUH and various private practices before getting a job at the University of Brighton as a Senior Lecturer in MSK Physiotherapy. I was always interested in nerve related MSK pain particularly radiculopathy and soon started my PhD exploring Straight Leg Raise treatment for individuals with spinally referred leg pain. On completion of my PhD in 2014, I continued teaching and applied for a number of small grants and was successful in receiving the Rising Stars grant from the University of Brighton in 2017. This enabled me to carry out a feasibility study looking at sub-profiling of people with spinally referred leg pain. In the meantime, I became Course leader for the MSc Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy course and supervised many undergraduate and postgraduate students including MRes and PhD students as well as collaborating with academics both internally at the University of Brighton and BSMS and externally at the University of Oxford and Curtin Universities. Additionally, I commenced a Research officer role at the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists and worked collaboratively with HEE looking at governance of a portfolio route to Advanced Clinical Practice for musculoskeletal practitioners.

Despite being shortlisted for a £250,000 grant from the PRF Charitable Trust in 2020 to pursue sub-profiling people with spinally referred leg pain, I was unsuccessful in the final round. Whilst this was disappointing, I was successful in my promotion to Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton that same year. Later that year, I heard about a Versus Arthritis funded study investigating nerve inflammation in people after whiplash injury (see more here) and that the team, led by Professor Andrew Dilley were looking for a Research Fellow. The role required several new skills to me such as taking and analysing blood samples, analysing MRI images and taking skin biopsies. I decided that the opportunity to develop these new skills and be part of the team both at BSMS and University of Oxford was too good an opportunity to miss. I now work part time at both BSMS and University of Brighton and am already starting to apply for additional funding as PI.

Dr Ben Towler

I have been working on various projects within Professor Newbury’s lab where we aim to unpick the molecular features that govern RNA biology. My main project has been to characterise the role of an ancient protein called DIS3L2 in controlling cellular function and aims to understand how mutations in DIS3L2 mutants result in organ overgrowth. I have also been exploring the regulation of a non-coding RNAs such as long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs, which are crucial regulators of gene expression. We are interested in how their levels are controlled and how they act to fine tune gene expression and cellular function. In addition to these projects, I have been collaborating with colleagues at BSMS to use next generation sequencing and molecular approaches to improve our understanding of several diseases and organism development.

I have been a post-doc at BSMS for nearly 6 years and was ECR representative for 2 years. Our ECR community is incredibly diverse, and although we all have different research interests, I think we can all learn from each other’s experiences as researchers. During our time as ECRs, I believe it is crucial to build a collaborative network and gain experience in all the facets required for our career progression including not only our research but also in teaching, student supervision and grant writing. I know there are several processes either in place, or being created, to support ECRs and provide these opportunities to facilitate career progression which is great.

I have recently accepted the role of Lecturer in Biochemistry and Biomedicine in the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex to start my own independent laboratory group which is very exciting. My research will aim to explore the regulation of RNA biology during cellular stress which lies at the centre of numerous diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration and cardiovascular disorders. We aim to understand the interplay between RNA localisation, translation and degradation during stress and how these processes cooperate to allow our cells to adapt to the various stresses they encounter. By unlocking these regulatory mechanisms, we aim to improve our understanding of how a deficient stress response results in disease in addition to therapeutic resistance. I look forward to continuing the many collaborations I have made at BSMS and aim to help build upon the healthy working relationship between researchers at BSMS and in the School of Life Sciences.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Dr Kibur Engdawork

I, Kibur Engdawork (PhD), am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, at Addis Ababa University. I have co-authored articles in reputable peer-reviewed journals. In collaboration with colleagues, I have won a national and international research grants. I have been awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship for Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (5S foundation), a research project jointly implemented by Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), funded through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

As a postdoctoral researcher at the 5S foundation/GHI-BSMS, I have been evaluating the effectiveness of social interventions that aim to improve the lives of individuals affected by Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs). I have conducted my fieldwork activities in rural Ethiopia which is characterized by poor infrastructure. As a person born and raised in urban areas, my research activities have taught me much about human suffering. And this taught me a life lesson: to count my blessings and work hard to make the world a little healthier.

One of the major challenges I have faced in my research journey is in relation to respondents’ expectations. Some patients think that researchers are practitioners. Spending considerable time with affected individuals who perceive researchers as problem solvers i.e., practitioners who administer medicine has made my research journey somehow difficult. This expectation reminds me of one of the basic principles of research ethics: How would studies benefit respondents? NTDs like podoconiosis, a condition that develops due to walking barefoot for a long period of time with a background of genetic sustainability, are not amenable to mass drug administration (MDA). The disease results in the swelling of the lower legs among patients. As it stands, no immediate solution completely reverses the swelling, but the condition can be managed. Treatments can reduce the swelling and wearing shoes can prevent the disease. As patients would always hope to get cured from their conditions, conducting interviews with them, and leaving their homes without meeting their expectations leaves a bad taste in mouths.

However, I realise that fighting NTDs like podoconiosis is very difficult as it requires years of efforts. The 5S foundation equipped me with research knowledge and skills to study NTDs from a social science perspective. Unlike other research projects I have worked on before, 5S foundation improved my knowledge through capacity-building trainings, particularly on concepts and methods of medical anthropology. It further helped me to learn about the contexts in which exposures to NTDs are created and sustained. I have learned about the importance of fighting the structure that creates and sustains the risks of developing the conditions. There is no quick fix for NTDs as the conditions are intertwined with several political, social, and economic factors. The project has helped us unravel the multiple actors across macro, meso and micro levels that should be included to fight NTDs. Put otherwise, we need to engage affected individuals, health workers, local administrators, local organisations such as schools, community leaders, religious institutions, civil societies, the scientific community, media, policymakers and international actors to bring about meaningful changes. It further needs mobilising domestic and international resources.

Social science researchers may not administer oral medicines but ‘social medicines’ that helps to deal with the social environment wherein immediate causes of diseases operate. My colleagues and I from the 5S will be making recommendations to optimise interventions to deal with the social causes of people’s suffering. Our efforts may not be measured clearly but will eventually help improve patients' lives. The journey is very long; and sometimes depressant, but the outcomes of our research activities and anticipated impacts keep me going. Yes, we will eliminate NTDs in our lifetime!

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Dr Deborah Ikhile

My journey into a post-doctoral research fellowship in primary care and public health stems from my multidisciplinary background. I do not have clinical or biomedical experience, and my undergraduate degree was in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management. I always had an interest in health but struggled to find a link to my undergraduate degree, so I did an MSc in Sustainable Planning and Environmental Management. During my MSc, I took online courses and broadened my understanding of the wider determinants. I later enrolled for another master’s degree in 2014, MA in Public Health. I chose an MA rather than MSc as I wanted a course focused on the social determinants rather than the biomedical aspects of health.

After completing my MA in Public Health, I was awarded the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) Vice Chancellor’s studentship to undertake a PhD to examine how to strengthen the primary health system in Uganda to promote early breast cancer detection. My PhD study attracted awards from the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness (2017) and the Barbara Rosenblum award for the best Breast Cancer Dissertation through the Sociologists for Women in Society (2017). I contributed to a WHO technical document entitled Guide to Cancer Early Diagnosis published in 2017. I was also shortlisted for a Junior Fellowship in the Harvard Society of fellows and the World Bank Group Africa Fellowship Program in 2020 but was unsuccessful in the final rounds

Alongside my PhD, I have worked on 14 national and international projects as a Research Assistant in the School of Social Sciences at NTU, focusing on different health topics, including capacity building of community health workers, mental health, antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, and NCDs. I contributed to a REF 2021 impact case study entitled Widening access to healthcare for underserved populations in Uganda through new Community Health Worker training programmes. The case study synthesised the impacts of the international health partnership between Nottingham Trent University and Makerere University in Uganda on the healthcare system in Uganda. In 2020, I co-authored a piece of written evidence submitted to the UK Parliament in response to the 2020 Sub-Saharan Africa inquiry (Available to read here).

I moved to BSMS as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in February 2021. My role is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to undertake and coordinate applied research within the Primary and Community Health Services (PCHS) theme of the Applied Research Collaboration in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (ARC KSS). Through this role, I am building my confidence in working collaboratively and developing my independent research profile.

See my full profile here >

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Dr Eleni Ladikou

What I enjoy about being a doctor is interacting with people and being part of their lives. Helping them during a difficult time is rewarding and generates a feeling of great accomplishment. However, I miss the creativeness and academic challenges that science can provide.

My journey as a junior clinical academic trainee started in Leicester, where I completed the Academic Foundation Programme, which led to being an author in 3 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Following that I moved to Brighton, where I completed my NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Haematology. During my fellowship, I worked 75% clinical at the hospital and 25% in Haemato-oncology research at BSMS. I completed my clinical membership exams (MRCP) and a Master of Research (MRes) early, enabling me to use my remaining laboratory-based time to generate pilot data. During this time, I was awarded the Leukaemia UK "Future of Haematology/Early Career Development" grant (£5000), to cover consumables and we successfully secured 3 years of clinical fellowship and consumable funding from the Sussex Cancer Fund (SCF). I have since also been awarded the British Society of Haematology (BSH) Early-Stage Research start-up grant (£16,500) to cover extra laboratory consumables.

I am now at the final year of my PhD at BSMS with Prof Andrea Pepper and Prof Chris Pepper, working on acute myeloid leukaemia which is an aggressive blood cancer that kills over 2500 people in the UK every year. More specifically I am trying to target AML cells in the bone marrow, where they are protected from chemotherapy. The results of my project will not only be relevant to the field of haemato-oncology but also set the foundations for designing new targeted treatment strategies based on laboratory models of cancer; ‘from bench to bedside’. To date I have already had the opportunity to present my data at conferences including the European Haematology Association (EHA) annual scientific meeting in Vienna, where I won an EHA scholar travel grant, and the London Stem Cell Network meeting. In the duration of my PhD, I have had two first author reviews published (one in the ‘British Journal of Haematology’) and have contributed, and am an author, on two scientific publications in ‘Cancers’. During my PhD I work four days per week in the lab, where I use patient samples and cell lines to test novel drugs trying to disrupt the leukaemia – bone marrow cell adhesion. One day per week I work at the hospital, where I am involved in several clinical trials and clinical research projects. I have also been awarded the BSH Meeting Support Grant (£300 per annum) to fund two patient open days that my research team organised in partnership with SCF. On these open-days patients, and their families/friends, are invited to join the research team at BSMS, have a tour of the labs, and give input into our projects and aims. The feedback we receive highlights that this is a highly constructive and rewarding day for both patients and researchers alike. My PhD has been vital for my personal development. I was involved in promoting the SCF fundraising activities using social media and interviews including one with BBC Sussex, which improved my research dissemination skills. I organised the Haematology Research Group meetings and as the associate director of clinical academic training I inducted and supported more than 15 junior clinical academic trainees through their research placement. Most importantly, I organised the first-ever Brighton Clinical Academic Conference, with more than 50 clinical academics attending.

Over the last few years, I believe I have developed professionally by combining my clinical and scientific knowledge to make me both a better research scientist and clinician.

See my full profile here >