University of Leicester announces winners of Images of Research competition
Judges’ Prize Winner: Martha Papadopoulou, One Picture Two Worlds
Four prizes were awarded at this year’s exhibition and competition
A moment of reflection and calm belying a dark truth, a juxtaposition of hope and hopelessness, a symbol of struggle and resistance, and a collision of microscopic worlds.
These were the winners of the University of Leicester’s Doctoral College Images of Research exhibition, held on Tuesday 4 December 2018. The brief was simple: communicate your research in a single image. Entries took on different forms - traditional photos, a digital photo of data, or a piece of artwork.
The event showcased 25 images taken by researchers and contextualised with a short description on how the image tells a story about their research. The 25 were shortlisted from over 70 entries.
More than 100 members of staff, students and the public visited the exhibition in Fraser Noble Hall. Over 170 votes were cast at the exhibition, as well as online by distance-learning postgraduate researchers, for the coveted People's Choice Award. This year, for the first time, the award included a cup and prize money, sponsored by Frank May on behalf of his late wife Katherine May.
Professor Dave Lambert, Director of the Doctoral College said: “Every year I am amazed at the thoughtfulness and creativity of Leicester researchers, depicted through these images.”
The prize winners were:
- Judges’ Prize Winner: Martha Papadopoulou, One Picture - Two Worlds
- Judges’ Prize Runner-up: Olga Yegorova, #NiUnaMenosBolivia - We Want Us Alive
- Katherine May People’s Choice Winner: Mandi Jamalian Hamedani, In Search for Inner Peace
- People’s Choice Runner-up: Kate Gooch and Georgina Barkham-Perry, Finding Hope in a Hopeless Place
Catherine Rogers, Creative Leicestershire Manager and one of the three judges at the competition, said: “Judging the Images of Research competition this year was both a joy and a challenge, as there was an exceptionally high standard of exhibits and a number of gifted artists and storytellers amongst them.
“The 25 images gave those viewing a snapshot not only into the work of the talented researchers but into the workings of our planet, the animals living on it and even the stars beyond it. Particularly impressive were those who were able to give the viewer a story of research encapsulated in one single image, and only a few lines that gave you the beginning of a story and left you itching to find out what might happen next.”
The two other judges were commercial and industrial photographer Keith Cooper, and filmmaker Leah Kharibian.