Unemployment Heart Disease prevention fingerprints and babyfarming among research showcased at Festival of Postgraduate Research
Research into youth unemployment in the East Midlands and unemployment amongst the elderly and unskilled, how manipulations in genetic ‘switches’ can help prevent heart disease, creating new algorithms for fingerprint identification and a re-evaluation of ‘baby-farming’ during the Victorian period are among the many projects to be showcased by University of Leicester research students.
Fifty-five outstanding research students at the University of Leicester will be revealing their work at the Festival of Postgraduate Research on Thursday 7 July 2016, which is free to the public between 11am and 2pm in the Charles Wilson Building on the main University campus.
The fifty-five students were selected from the 1,700 member postgraduate research community at the University and will present their work in the form of a poster to high profile judges from research funding bodies, government and industry.
Research showcased at the event spans multiple periods of time, from literature to space, and explores topics such as agriculture satellites, the aesthetics of light in literature, salmonella, cancer and the UK’s shale gas potential.
For those taking part, the Festival, which is hosted by the Graduate School for the twelfth time this year, offers an opportunity to meet employers and others in their fields and develop their own profiles as researchers. For the University, it is an opportunity to celebrate the strength of its postgraduate research community.
The Festival concludes with an awards ceremony - with winners for the best presentation in four broad discipline areas, a number of specialist prizes, the Graduate Dean's prize for the best presentation overall, as well as prizes for the winners of this year’s Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) and PhDepictions competitions.
The Graduate School has secured sponsorship for prizes being presented at the Festival. Sponsors include eThos (British Library), Leicester Mercury, Leicester City Council and the University of Leicester Alumni Association.
As well as the annual poster competition, the festival will showcase this year’s entries to the PhDepictions photography competition. PhDepictions requires entrants to create an image that communicates their research, their findings, and their passion for their subject.
The Festival will host a keynote address by entrepreneur, scientist, innovator, and businessman, Dr Adrian Parton. This celebrated Cambridge microbiologist’s rapid detection systems have saved many hundreds of thousands of lives globally, and he was awarded an MBE for services to microbiology in 2011.
The twelfth Festival of Postgraduate Research takes place on Thursday 7 July 2016 in the Charles Wilson Building at the University of Leicester.
Visitors can view the posters between 11am and 2pm and there will be live-tweeting throughout the Festival using the hashtag #PGRfest . There is no admittance fee and everyone is welcome between 11am and 2pm.