Student achievements

See below our postgraduate student prizes and achievements.

2017

Jatinder Minhas

• Selected as one of only two stroke medicine trainees from the UK to attend the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) Summer School in Larissa, Greece from 10 to 15 September 2017. (May 2017)

Bradley Toghill

• First author paper accepted for publication: Toghill BJ, Saratzis A, Bown MJ, (2017). 'Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm – an independent disease to atherosclerosis?' Cardiovascular Pathology 2017 27:71-75

2016

Razif Abas

• Won the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Biotechnology YES) regional heat (as part of a team), and competed at the national final in London in December. This competition was funded by the University of Nottingham’s Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HGI), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) in an aim to encourage an entrepreneurial culture for the benefit of the UK economy. (October 2016)

Abi Al-Hussaini

• Awarded a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Rare Disease Fellowship. (March 2016)

Ashley Ambrose

• Won a prize at the M5 Flow Cytometry Meeting at the University of Nottingham in December for his poster presentation entitled 'Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles act as an intercellular communication mechanism with monocytes'. (January 2016)

Dimitra Aravani

• Won the runner-up award for the Young Investigator competition at the British Cardiovascular Society annual conference in June. (July 2016)
• Won the first poster prize (among post-docs) of the British Society for Cell Biology at the joint BSCB/BSDB spring meeting in Warwick. (10 to 13 April 2016)

Matthew Charlton

• Awarded £2,312 from the Ernest Leach Fund (small grant from the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA)) for his project 'Establishing normal ranges of microcirculatory function as determined by CytoCam-IDF imaging.' (January 2017)
• Awarded a grant of £6,511 from the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA) for his project entitled 'Can infrared thermal imaging be used to quantify abnormal skin perfusion in sepsis?' (February 2016)

Sameer Kurmani

• Won the Young Research Workers' Prize at the British Atherosclerosis Society. This award was part of the Binks Trust Award. (September 2016)

Laki Liyanage

• Was part of the winning team for 'Best Overall Application' at the NIHR Summer Training Camp, held at Ashridge. (6 to 8 July 2016)

Richard Mbasu

• Successfully formed and registered the University of Leicester Postgraduate Research Society and became President, with an aim to promote research student events and improve research students' social and academic lives. (September 2016)
• Awarded a travel grant of £300 by the Biochemical Society to attend the American Mass Spectrometry Society (ASMS) 64th Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas in June. (July 2016)
• Won the University of Leicester Student Award 2016 Prize for course representative of the year. (July 2016)

Ben Richards

• Appointed as Vice President of the University of Leicester Postgraduate Research Society. (September 2016)

David Sidloff

• Won the College Lauder Prize for best MD degree candidate for 2015/16. (July 2016)

Anvesha Singh

• Won the 2016 Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) 'Early Career Award (Clinical)' at their annual meeting in LA for an oral presentation on 'Myocardial Perfusion Reserve but not fibrosis predicts outcomes in initially asymptomatic patients with moderate to severe aortic stenosis. The Prognostic Importance of Microvascular Dysfunction in AS study - PRIMID AS'. (March 2016)

Meetal Solanki

• Won the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Biotechnology YES) regional heat (as part of a team) and competed at the national final in London in December. This competition was funded by the University of Nottingham’s Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HGI), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), with an aim to encourage an entrepreneurial culture for the benefit of the UK economy. (October 2016)

2015

Ashley Ambrose

• Awarded best poster prize at the 15th UK Platelet Meeting held in Leicester on 15 and 16 September for his presentation on 'Platelet-derived Extracellular Vesicles act as an intercellular communication mechanism with monocytes'. (September 2015)
• Awarded a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) and a Travel Bursary from the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis (BSHT) to attend the ISTH Congress in Toronto in June to give an oral presentation. (May 2015)

Thong Cao Huy

• Abstract published in The Lancet, 26 February, 2015 Volume 385 Special Issue S1-S102, Spring Meeting for Clinician Scientists in Training 2015. (February 2015)

Gavin Chu

• Shortlisted for the Young Investigator of the Year Award 2015 at the Heart Rhythm Congress UK in Birmingham. (October 2015)

Nawshin Dastagir

• Has had 3 abstracts accepted: Computing in Cardiology (CinC) Conference from 6 to 10 September in France; Heart Rhythm Congress (HRC) conference from 6 October in Birmingham; American Heart Association (AHA) conference from 21 to 25 October in Germany. (September 2015)
• Was runner-up in the University of Leicester's three-minutes-thesis competition and consequently chosen to represent the University of Leicester at the East Midlands University Association (EMUA) Conference held at the University of Lincoln. (September 2015)

Jamal Khan

• Won the British Society of Cardiac MRI (BSCMR) Young Investigator Award at their annual conference in London. (April 2015)
• Voted best UK abstract at American College of Cardiology 2015 congress. The title was 'The Complete versus Lesion Only Primary PCI Trial-Cardiovascular MRI Substudy (CvLPRIT-CMR)'. (March 2015)
• Awarded a European Regional Scholarship in Cardiac MRI by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) at their annual conference in Nice, France. (February 2015)

Richard Mbasu

• Awarded a travel grant of £250 by the British Mass Spectrometry Society to attend their conference in September to display his work. (August 2015)

Nikil Patel

• Article featured on the front cover of the March issue of the Stroke journal, reporting on the results of a research study funded by the BHF and Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit quantifying brain injury before and after heart surgery. (February 2015)

Anvesha Singh

• Awarded the British Heart Valve Society Young Investigator Award for her PhD work on PRIMID AS. (October 2015)

Bradley Toghill

• Selected to present his work on 'Genome-wide DNA methylation is associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm' at the Vascular Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2015 in Bournemouth. (November 2015)
• Published his first paper: Bradley J. Toghill, Athanasios Saratzis, Seamus C. Harrison, Ana R. Verissimo, Eamonn B. Mallon, Matthew J. Bown. 'The potential role of DNA methylation in the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysm'. Atherosclerosis 2015 241 (1) 121–129. (June 2015)

Zhanhan Tu

• Awarded a travel grant by the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV) to attend the 53rd ISCEV International Symposium in Ljubljana, Slovenia in June to present her work. (April 2015)

Rob Turnbull

• Awarded a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) and a travel bursary from the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis (BSHT) to attend the ISTH Congress in Toronto in June to present three posters. (May 2015)

2014

Samira Anwar

• Awarded a £1,469 Bayer Educational Grant for travel and to present her work at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Florida. (October 2014)

Nawshin Dastagir

• Selected to present her work on 'Spatiotemporal Behaviour of High Dominant Frequency during Persistent Atrial Fibrillation' at the Computing in Cardiology (CinC) 2014 Conference in Boston, USA. (June 2014)
• Presented a paper at the Heart Rhythm Congress in Birmingham: 'Ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation shrinks left atrial high dominant frequency areas'. N Dastagir, GS Chu, FJ Vanheusden, JL Salinet, TP Almeida, X Li, PJ Staff ord, AJ Sandilands, FS Schlindwein, GA Ng. (October 2014)

Nikesh Dattani

• Won the Vascular Society British Journal of Surgery Prize in November for the work he did at Leicester. (November 2014)
• Awarded €505 for winning the 2014 Multidisciplinary European Endovascular Therapy (MEET) congress youth competition prize. (May 2014)

Vimal Gokani

• Awarded the Royal College of Surgeons of England Stefan and Anna Galeski Fellowship. (September 2014)

Lisa Manning

• Selected to present at the European Stroke Conference in Nice in May 2014 and, in addition, due to the exceptional and excellent rating of her work by several members of the scientific committee, invited to join the 'Highlight' session for awards presentation. (May 2014)
• Presented at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego. (February 2014)
• Published a paper in Lancet Neurology, 'Blood pressure variability and outcome after acute intracerebral haemorrhage: a post-hoc analysis of INTERACT2, a randomised controlled trial'. (February 2014)

Sarim Mohammad

• Awarded a $1,100 international travel grant by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) for his poster presentation at the ARVO Annual Meeting in Orlando. (May 2014)

Will Nicolson

• Won one of the College PhD Prizes for 2014

Damian Roland

• Won the NICE 2014 Shared Learning Award for his PhD work on 'Engagement of health care professionals with interventions that change practice: It's about the heart – but also requires a little soul'. (May 2014)

Abi Sanusi

• Selected to present her research at the 2014 East Midlands Universities Research Student Conference held at the University of Leicester. (September 2014)
• Selected to act as a research student representative on the College Academic Committee and the College Research Degrees Committee. (September 2014)

David Sidloff

• Awarded £300 by Vascutec for winning the Vascular Trainee Prize at the Charing Cross international symposium in London on 5 April 2014 for an oral presentation. (April 2014)

Anvesha Singh

• Won a prize for the best PPI plan at the NIHR Research Training Camp. (July 2014)

Robert Turnbull

• Selected to act as a research student representative on the University's Research Policy Committee. (October 2014)

Ben Wigley

• Won the Ian Lauder Prize for 2014. (July 2014)

2013

Mohammed Alsahi

• Awarded a bursary of £400 from the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis to attend the Congress of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis in Amsterdam in June 2013 to give an oral presentation and present his poster. (April 2013)
• Selected to present his paper at the 'Scientist in Training' Symposium at the Annual Meeting of the British Society for Thrombosis in Nottingham. (October 2013)
• Awarded one of the 'Distinguished Saudi Students in the UK' prizes by the Saudi Cultural Bureau in London
• Invited by HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, Saudi Ambassador in the UK, to attend the honorary ceremony on 23 September at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. (September 2013)
• Shortlisted to present at the Early Career Award session at the Joint Meeting of the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis and the Belgian Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis in Nottingham. (October 2013)

Charlotte Daly

• Won best poster prize at the East Midlands Proteomic Workshop. (October 2013)
• Awarded a travel grant by the British Mass Spectrometry Society to present her work at the Human Proteome Organisation World Congress in Yokohama, Japan. (October 2013)
• Successful application to the Roche Continents Workshop in Salzburg in August. (June 2013)

Vimal Gokani

• Awarded a £1,000 annual bursary by the Leverhulme Trade Trust Charities for 2013, 2014 and 2015. (December 2013)
• Awarded the Margaret Witt Scholarship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. (October 2013)

Emmanouil Katsogridakis

• Doctoral Inaugural Lecture. (November 2013)
• Awarded one of the College Prizes for 2012/13 for excellent PhD performance. (August 2013)

Helena Lee

• Won the Vernon Trophy for Ophthalmological Research for her oral presentation at the Nottingham Eye Symposium. (January 2013)

Damian Roland

• One of the winners of the HBR/McKensey M-Prize for Management Innovation 'Leaders Everywhere Challenge'. (August 2013)
• Awarded the Graduate Dean's Prize at the Festival of Postgraduate Research. (May 2013)
• Won the International Forum of Quality and Safety in Health Care 2013: Winner of the Million Pound Challenge. (April 2013)

Nazia Saeed

• Awarded a scholarship for foreign PhD students as an academic visitor by the University of Sao Paulo, Faculty of Medicine of Sao Paulo, Brazil for a project to investigate cerebral autoregulation in acute ischaemic stroke population. (May 2013)

Philip Stather

• Awarded the British Journal of Surgery prize at the Vascular Society Annual General Meeting for his presentation. (November 2013)
• Awarded up to £10,000 from the Biomedical Research Unit for 'The Differential Expression of MicroRNA in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.' (April 2013)

Robert Turnbull

• Awarded a bursary of £400 from the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis to attend the Congress of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis in Amsterdam in June 2013 to present his poster. (April 2013)

Emma Wilmot

• Doctoral Inaugural Lecture. (November 2013)
• Awarded one of the College Prizes for 2012/13 for excellent PhD performance. (August 2013)

2012

Lisa Bloomer

• Won the Stuart Spencer Award for her oral presentation at the International Society of Hypertension. (September 2012)

Paraskevi Christofidou

• Won the American Heart Association Mentorship Award for her oral presentation. (November 2012)
• Awarded the International Society of Hypertension's New Investigator of the Month. (April 2012)

Saima Ehsan

• Won the Poster Presentation Award at the First East Midlands Training in Clinical Research Show Case, held at Holywell Park, Loughborough. (September 2012)

Kate Beaumont

• Won best poster prize in the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology (now the College of Life Sciences) at the Festival of Postgraduate Research. (May 2012)

Frederique van Heusen

• Won best poster prize in the College of Science and Engineering at the Festival of Postgraduate Research. (May 2012)

Victoria Haunton

• Awarded a Young Neurologist in Training Grant by the European Neurological Society. (May 2012)

Helena Lee

• Won a poster presentation award at the East Midlands Training in Clinical Research Showcase. (September 2012)

Baris Kanber

• Awarded a support package of £5,000 by The Careers Service's Enterprise Inc. for his 'Research Assistant' software, designed to assist researchers in the management of research activities and literature. (December 2012)

Jeremy Newman

• Awarded a travel grant of €500 by the European Society of Vascular Surgery to present his work at the November meeting in Bologna, Italy. (November 2012)

Nikil Patel

• Awarded a travel grant by the Santander Group for collaborative work on 'embolus characterisation' with a stroke research group in Brazil. (November 2012)

Murtaza Salem

• Awarded a travel grant of €500 by the European Society of Vascular Surgery to present his work at the November meeting in Bologna, Italy. (November 2012)

Philip Stather

• Awarded a travel grant of €500 by the European Society of Vascular Surgery to present his work at the November meeting in Bologna, Italy. (November 2012)

Mervyn Thomas

• Doctoral Inaugural Lecture. (November 2012)
• Won one of the College PhD Prizes. (August 2012)

Robert Turnbull

• Nominated as a session Chair for EMUA Conference for Postgraduate Researchers

Andrew Vanezis

• Represented Leicester in the regional final of the East Midlands Engineering and Science Professionals (EMESP) masters prize and chosen as overall winner. (June 2012)

Badri Vijaynagar

• Won the Raymond Limet Young Investigator Prize for his presentation at the 3rd International Meeting on Aortic Diseases, in Liege. (October 2012)