How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?
My interdisciplinary research to understand mechanisms of epigenetic regulation will provide new approaches for controlling stem cell differentiation in regenerative medicine and will open new avenues for targeted therapies in cancer, ultimately improving the quality of life within the society.

What is your proudest career achievement?
Being awarded the VC's Illuminate fellowship to start my independent research group at Queen's University Belfast.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?
Follow your research passion.

Pure: Dr Yaser Atlasi

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?
Living with diabetes has been made easier with insulin pumps and medications. However, the risk of developing complications remains high, and a diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, the most common diabetic complication can be scary and confusing. Our laboratory is interested in the role of circadian rhythms in the progression of diabetic retinopathy and in designing non invasive lifestyle interventions to delay the onset of diabetic retinopathy to empower patients to prevent this debilitating complication from diabetes.

What is your proudest career achievement?
Career achievements were the Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship from JDRF and the Vice Chancellor Fellowship from QUB that enabled starting this independence line of research. The proudest career achievement though is training the new generation of scientists and installing an interest and curiosity in scientific careers.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?
Find your fit and just go for it.

Pure: Dr Eleni Beli

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?

If we better understand the cellular pathways essential to the viral replication cycle we may more rationally design antiviral molecules to interrupt these interactions and impede viral growth.

What is your proudest career achievement?

Receiving the email from the ERC offering me my starting grant. That made all my work over the preceding years in academia worth it and meant that my family and I could finally settle down with the job security that came with it.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?

Be enthusiastic. Try and let your enthusiasm come across in your writing and especially during interviews for fellowships. Panel members will always find it hard to get excited about a project if you're not excited about it.

Pure: Dr David Courtney

Lab website: Dr David Courtney

What is your proudest career achievement?
My career so far has been extremely rewarding. Particularly rewarding are the times when your latest paper is published, when you teach your first class or taking part in public engagement activities, but my proudest moment to date was being awarded a Cancer Research UK Population Research Fellowship.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?
My advice for anyone considering applying for a Vice Chancellor’s fellowship at Queen’s is don’t forget to highlight your unique selling point as a researcher and just go for it! It is a wonderful opportunity!”

What is your proudest career achievement?
Securing the Patrick Johnston Research Fellowship is my proudest career achievement to date.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?
"Explore the existing strengths and expertise at Queen’s and identify and highlight how your skills can complement those."

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?
Resistance to therapy is a major problem for cancer patients as it limits the efficacy of treatment and promotes poor outcomes. By understanding how metabolism can promote resistance, and finding new ways to target these resistance mechanisms, we hope to improve treatment efficacy for cancer patients.

What is your proudest career achievement?
I'm proud of securing a CRUK CDF to establish my research group here at QUB, it has been an incredible support, but I'm most proud of what my team has achieved over the last 3 years, setting up key resources and platforms, and producing some really exciting findings that we're getting ready to publish.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?
Don't be shy - get yourself a good mentor that will be honest with you and can help you establish yourself as an independent researcher, and speak to as many people in your field of choice to strengthen your collaboration opportunities!

Pure: Dr Emma Kerr

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?

This project will provide unprecedented insight into the human endotype-specific biology so much needed to develop personalised therapy for patients. Moreover, I expect opening new avenues for future studies of immune signalling, molecular basis of susceptibility and development of pathology in Acute Lung injury. Therefore my research has strong potential to achieve significant impact to the society.

What is your proudest career achievement?

The Marie Curie Fellowship is one of the proudest career achievement. This fellowship gave me the opportunity to develop my own research project with a large degree of autonomy, to receive multidisciplinary scientific training combining medical research with innovation technologies and thereby an exceptional opportunity to attain professional maturity.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?

Receive a fellowship represents a prestigious type of funding and it undoubtedly will help in further supporting the evolution and fixation of your career to independent investigator and research team leader.

Pure: Dr Johnatas D Silva

What is your proudest career achievement?

Securing a position as an independent researcher and have the opportunity to train the next generation of scientists.

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?

Ultimately, my research has a positive impact on global population health and contributes to the advancement of the knowledge about cellular physiology.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?

Expand your field of expertise, be curious, and think outside the box. Focus on your joy to do science if you feel overwhelmed. Most importantly, use the complementary expertise available in a wide international network of collaborators. Team work is the key!

What is your proudest career achievement?

Securing the Patrick G Johnston fellowship and further external funding which has allowed me to establish and support my independent lab.

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?

Infectious diseases are still responsible for over 6 million deaths worldwide. Understanding the cellular processes behind our immune response can help to design vaccines and therapeutics which induce safe and efficient immune responses. This knowledge also links to cancer research as many of the cellular processes are inappropriately activated in leukaemia and lymphoma.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?

Be bold with your ideas, seek plenty of feedback, and speak to current fellows

What is your proudest career achievement?

Receiving the Jack Fowler award from the Radiation Research Society, given to recognise contribution to the field by young investigators.

How does your research and its outcomes impact on wider society?

This research will be to enable radiation therapy to move away from current approaches, which deliver the same doses to all patients with a particular cancer, to a more personalized approach where treatments are tailored based on individual genetic features. This will help improve outcomes and reduce side effects for radiotherapy patients.

What one piece of advice would you give to those considering applying for a Fellowship?

It’s important to have a clear vision of what your research is about and what its impact will be (both scientifically and in society), as this is an important part of pitching your proposal to the wide audience involved in evaluating most fellowship proposals.