Research Showcase 2026
Celebrating ground-breaking discoveries and life-changing advances
Thank you for joining us for our first-ever Research Showcase, an event to celebrate the discoveries and life-changing advances of our scientists.
The Speakers
Professor Rosalind Eggo
Professor Rosalind Eggo, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, uses mathematical modelling to understand how infectious diseases spread and how outbreaks can be controlled. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her work provided key insights into transmission, contact tracing, household spread and the impact of interventions such as social distancing, helping to inform UK public health policy. Her current research explores COVID-19’s long-term impacts, including effects on vulnerable populations, and examines how the virus may become a lasting feature of the public health landscape.
Dr Cherie Part
Dr Cherie Part (right), from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is collaborating with Professor Adelaide Lusambili (left), from Africa International University, Kenya, to investigate how extreme heat affects mothers and babies in rural communities. Their research in Kilifi measures indoor and outdoor temperatures, as well as women’s personal heat exposure, to understand how rising temperatures influence pregnancy, childbirth and infant care. Working closely with local communities and stakeholders, the team is identifying health risks and developing practical solutions to protect vulnerable families as climate change increases extreme heat.
Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi
Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi, from University College London, uses advanced brain imaging to study how babies experience pain and how the developing brain responds to medical procedures. His research has shown that infants can process pain even when behavioural signs, such as crying, are absent, revealing important differences between neonatal and adult pain. These discoveries have helped create a pain severity scale ranking common procedures in neonatal care, giving clinicians and parents clearer information and supporting improved pain management for premature and vulnerable babies.
Abbie Mason-Woods
Abbie Mason-Woods is an Expert by Lived Experience in pre-term multiple birth and neonatal care, advocating for improved postpartum support and safety netting for families leaving NICU. She is the first Neonatal Voice Lead for the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Trust’s Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership. Abbie also works as a NICU and prematurity awareness trainer, advocate and storyteller, supporting families navigating life after neonatal care. Abbie shared her story with us, in connection to Lorenzo Fabrizi’s research.
The 2025 Emerging Leaders Prize Winners
Dr Gemma Knowles: First place - £100,000
It has already been well established that teenage girls are more likely to experience anxiety and depression than teenage boys. But why is this? Dr Gemma Knowles and her team at King’s College London will investigate these gender inequalities, expanding their current work to explore boys’ experiences of sexism and misogyny, and how this might impact their mental health.
Dr Maria Rogdaki: Joint second place - £80,000
22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a genetic disorder which can lead to a diverse range of symptoms throughout the body. It also comes with an increased risk of autism, ADHD and mental health conditions with serious symptoms like psychosis. Dr Maria Rogdaki and her team at King’s College London will investigate the causes of psychosis in young people with 22q11.2, both through brain imaging and laboratory-grown brain cells, with the ultimate aim of developing personalised treatments.
Dr Eleanor Leigh: Joint second place - £80,000
Anhedonia is defined as experiencing a lack of pleasure or interest in things you would usually enjoy. It’s a common symptom of anxiety and depression, and can be highly distressing, yet it is significantly under-researched. Through her project, Dr Eleanor Leigh and her team at the University of Oxford will develop a new, more accurate and age-specific method for measuring these feelings in children and teenagers.
Dr Josefien Breedvelt: Joint second place - £40,000
Anxiety and depression in young people often worsen over time and can lead to more severe mental health conditions in adulthood. That’s why Dr Josefien Breedvelt and her colleagues at King’s College London study preventative psychological therapies for mental health conditions. The team will now work closely with young people to determine what the driving factors are that make a therapy either effective or not for a particular individual, allowing them to develop tailored preventative support for young people.
Get Involved
Read about our Impact
We recently published a brand new Impact Report, telling the story of the ground-breaking medical research we’ve funded over the years, and the life-changing difference it has made for people with a wide range of health conditions. The stories in this publication showcase just some of the ground-breaking science you’ve made happen, in pain research, mental health, skin disorders, climate change and health, and much more.
Science Seminars
Our Science Seminars are free online talks that give you a chance to hear about some of the cutting-edge medical research that we fund, directly from the world-class scientists working on it. You can find out about our next seminar by following our social media channels, or by signing up to our Newsletter.
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Thank you very much for attending tonight's showcase and for supporting life-changing medical research.