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StepWideStepWide showcases the profiles of early career cis and trans women researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK.



You can perform a query by List View, Categories and Keywords. You can click in any of the research categories and subcategories below to retrieve
a subset of researchers with expertise on the field. The List View will show you a list of the researchers in the website and the researcher categories
linked to each one of them. Alternatively, view all the keywords linked to the researchers by looking into the Keywords.
Click on any of the researchers to see a full description of their profiles.

Abigail Mountford

Abigail Mountford

am2833@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Chemistry and St Edmunds College

Keywords

High-throughput Experimentation, Machine Learning

My research involves miniaturising and automating chemistry in order to carry out hundreds of reactions in a day, rather than weeks or months for larger scale reactions.

Amber Ruigrok

Amber Ruigrok

ar560@cam.ac.uk @AmberRuigrok

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry; Lucy Cavendish College

Keywords

sex/gender differences, mental health, autism, neuroscience, neuroendocrinology

I am a cognitive neuroscientist with experience in neuroendocrinology and neuroimaging and am currently based in the Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry.

Ana Vujic

Ana Vujic

av335@cam.ac.uk @AnaVujic5

Position

Career Development Fellow

Affiliation

Medicine

Keywords

Heart Failure, Cardiometabolic Disease, Exercise, Diet

I study how and why the heart functions the way it does and why heart diseases are the number one cause of death in the world.

Angie Burnett

Angie Burnett

acb219@cam.ac.uk @AngelaClaireW

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Plant Sciences and Darwin College

Keywords

Plants, Crops, Food Security, Environmental Stress, Genetics

My research focuses on understanding the response of maize plants to high light and cold temperature stresses.

Annabel Sorby-Adams

Annabel Sorby-Adams

ajs335@cam.ac.uk @asorby_adams

Position

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Affiliation

MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit and Cambridge Clinical School

Keywords

Neuroscience, Stroke, Ischemia, Reperfusion, Translation

I am a neuroscientist with a passion for stroke and translational research. In particular, I am interested in elucidating the mechanisms underlying secondary injury following stroke to enable the development of targeted treatments.

Anuradha Kaistha

Anuradha Kaistha

ak2140@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Medicine

Keywords

Atherosclerosis, ageing, cardiovascular pathologies, cellular senescence

I am a molecular biologist working in the field of cardiovascular diseases.

Anuradha Kaistha

Anuradha Kaistha

ak2140@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Medicine

Keywords

Atherosclerosis, ageing, cardiovascular pathologies, cellular senescence

I am a molecular biologist working in the field of cardiovascular diseases.

Arlie McCarthy

Arlie McCarthy

ahm43@cam.ac.uk @ArlieMcCarthy

Position

College Teaching Associate

Affiliation

Zoology and Downing College

Keywords

marine ecology, Antarctica, invasive species, biofouling

I am a marine ecologist and my research focuses on how human activity impacts marine environments and the animals and other organisms that live there.

Bronagh McCoy

Bronagh McCoy

bm551@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Psychology

Keywords

Cognitive Neuroscience, Reinforcement Learning, Computational Psychiatry, Decision Making, Vision

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Prediction and Learning lab, led by principal investigator Dr. Rebecca Lawson.

Carla Casadevall

Carla Casadevall

cc2036@cam.ac.uk @CasadevallCarla

Position

Marie Curie Fellow

Affiliation

Chemistry

Keywords

Semiartificial Photosynthesis, Solar Fuels and Chemicals, Material Science, Chemical Biology, Enzymatic Catalysis

I am a Marie Curie Fellow at Reisner Lab at the University of Cambridge. I am working towards the production of fuels and chemicals using water and carbon dioxide

Carla Jones

Carla Jones

cjb@sanger.ac.uk @carlajonesbio

Position

Senior Staff Scientist

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

T Cells, Mucosal Immunology, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, CRISPR/Cas9

I am an immunologist interested in finding out how our DNA affect our likelihood of developing certain diseases.

Carmina Santa Cruz Mateos

Carmina Santa Cruz Mateos

cs2122@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Physiology, Development and Neuroscience Department

Keywords

Development, Gene expression, Transcription, Drosophila, Live imaging

I am a biologist trained at the University of Malaga (Spain), where I became fascinated by developmental biology or, in other words, how a whole organism is built from a single cell.

Chiara Bortoluzzi

Chiara Bortoluzzi

cb2160@cam.ac.uk @c_bortoluzzi2

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Genetics

Keywords

Comparative genomics, epigenetics, conservation genomics

I am a computational biologist fascinated by the evolution of conserved DNA sequences. In particular, I am intrigued by the questions: where do they come from, how do they evolve, and what is their function.

Danièle Stalder

Danièle Stalder

ds891@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Cambridge Institute for Medical Research

Keywords

Membrane Traffic, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Microscopy

I’m a research associate at the University of Cambridge and I’m passionate about membrane trafficking. In other words, I try to understand how proteins travel through the cell.

Elena Salvi

Elena Salvi

@elenas94060732

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Sainsbury Laboratory

Keywords

Plant development, flower, developmental boundaries, pattern formation, morphogenesis

I am a plant developmental biologist, with a background in molecular biology and genetics (Msc) and a PhD in Life Sciences – specialization in plant development (La Sapienza, University of Rome).

Eleni Sofianopoulou

Eleni Sofianopoulou

es630@medschl.cam.ac.uk @ESofianopoulou

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Medical Genetics and Public Health and Primary Care

Keywords

Epidemiology of Chronic Disease, Genetic Susceptibility, Environmental Factors

I have worked for several years in chronic noncommunicable disease epidemiology, and I am particularly interested in understanding the impact of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors on chronic disease, as well as to examine their interplay.

Elham Shirazi

Elham Shirazi

elham.shirazi@cruk.cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

CRUK Cambridge Institute

Keywords

Pre-clinical Studies, Drug Development, Bioassay Development, in vitro Pharmacology, Consultancy

I have been at the forefront of research participating in a broad range of global initiatives within bioassay development, cancer research, environmental biology and bacterial quorum sensing, genetics and the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).

Ellen Cameron

Ellen Cameron

escameron@ebi.ac.uk

Position

ESPOD Fellow

Affiliation

EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

Phycology, Metagenomics, Bioinformatics, Symbiosis, Community ecology

I am an ecologist interested in applying modern molecular techniques to characterize ecological community structures and species interactions.

Eva Pillai

Eva Pillai

ep467@cam.ac.uk @EvaPillai

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

Keywords

Tissue Mechanics, Developmental Biology, Axon Guidance, Biophysics, Neuroscience

I am interested in how neurons (a type of cell in the nervous system) know how to grow and ‘wire’ correctly during development.

Farah Alimagham

Farah Alimagham

fca21@cam.ac.uk @farahalimagham

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Clinical Neurosciences

Keywords

Optical Chemical Sensors, Neurochemical Monitoring, Mid-infrared Spectroscopy

My interests lie in developing novel optical chemical sensors for industrial, environmental and medical applications.

Grace Blackwell

Grace Blackwell

gblackwell@ebi.ac.uk @graceblackwel1

Position

ESPOD Fellow

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

Microbiology, Genomics, Mobile Genetic Elements, Plasmids, Antibiotic Resistance

I am especially interested in elements that are involved in the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. These include transposons that are able to move within a cell and plasmids that are able to transfer between different bacterial cells.

Iris Hardege

Iris Hardege

ihardege@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk @IHardege

Position

Investigator Scientist

Affiliation

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Keywords

Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Nematodes

I am a neuroscientist and molecular biologist who is interested in understanding the molecular machinery that allows neurons to communicate with each other.

Kadi Saar

Kadi Saar

kls78@cam.ac.uk @KadiLiisSaar

Position

Research Fellow and Schmidt Science Fellow

Affiliation

Chemistry, Physics and St John's College

Keywords

Biophysical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Computational Biology, Molecular Machine Learning

I am a Meres Research Fellow at St John’s College and a Schmidt Science Fellow working between the Centre for Misfolding Diseases at the Department of Chemistry and the Maxwell Centre at the Department of Physics.

Kamila Jozwik

Kamila Jozwik

kj287@cam.ac.uk @KamilaJozwik

Position

Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow

Affiliation

Psychology

Keywords

Neuroscience, Object Recognition, Dimensions, Deep Learning

I am a Sir Henry Wellcome fellow currently working with Jim DiCarlo and Nancy Kanwisher at MIT and Zoe Kourtzi at the University of Cambridge.

Kate Kincaid

Kate Kincaid

kk744@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Hughes Hall College

Keywords

People and Nature, Conservation, Sustainable Livelihoods, Mangroves, Restoration

I am a marine conservation scientist, working at the Conservation Science Group in the Department of Zoology. I am broadly interested in biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, human-nature connections, ecosystem restoration,

Katy Brown

Katy Brown

kab84@cam.ac.uk @thekatybrown1

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Virology Division, Department of Pathology

Keywords

Genomics, bioinformatics, virology, microbiology

I am a postdoc in the Division of Virology, Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, working with Dr Andrew Firth.

Lakshmi Balasubramaniam

Lakshmi Balasubramaniam

lb935@cam.ac.uk @lakshmib02

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Gurdon Institute/ Darwin College

Keywords

Mechanobiology, mechanical force, embryonic development, cell migration

I am a current Herchel Smith/ EMBO Postdoctoral fellow at the Gurdon Institute working in the team of Dr. Fegnzhu Xiong since April 2022. I am interested in understanding how mechanical forces and external environment impact early embryonic development.

Lalanti Venkatasubramanian

Lalanti Venkatasubramanian

lv347@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Zoology

Keywords

Drosophila, Neuroscience, Behaviour, Learning and Memory

I am a Research Associate working in the Zlatic Lab at the University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology as well as the UKRI MRC-LMB since September 2019.

Laura Fachal

Laura Fachal

laura.fachal@sanger.ac.uk @FachalLaura

Position

Senior Staff Scientist

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute and Lucy Cavendish College

Keywords

Genetic Epidemiology, Genetics, Bioinformatics

I am particularly interested in understanding how common variation in the DNA contributes to the development of common diseases.

Leah Roberts

Leah Roberts

leah@ebi.ac.uk @loolibear

Position

EBPOD Postdoctoral Fellow

Affiliation

EMBL-EBI and Medicine

Keywords

Transmission, Bacteria, Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Resistance, Bioinformatics

Bacterial infections are at risk of becoming complicated or untreatable as a result of increasing antimicrobial resistance. My research interests are focused on understanding bacterial transmission dynamics and broader epidemiological trends

Leila Dorling

Leila Dorling

ld429@medschl.cam.ac.uk @LeilaDorling

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Public Health and Primary Care

Keywords

Genetic Epidemiology, Cancer Genetics, Statistics

I am a Post-Doc in Doug Easton’s group at the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology within the University of Cambridge. Our group’s focus is evaluating how genetic variation contributes to the risk of female breast cancer.

Liisa Loog

Liisa Loog

ll438@cam.ac.uk @liisaloog

Position

Research Fellow

Affiliation

Genetics

Keywords

Human Evolution, Genetics, Population Genetics, Quantitative Genetics, Human Variation

My research is focussed the evolution of complex human traits.

Lina Massou

Lina Massou

em716@medschl.cam.ac.uk @lina_massou

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Public Health and Primary Care

Keywords

Data Analysis, Routine Data, Social Sciences, Economic Evaluations, Health Research

I have studied Applied Mathematics and I hold a PhD in Applied Statistics and Data Mining in Social Sciences.

Livia Tomova

Livia Tomova

lt503@cam.ac.uk @livia_tomova

Position

College Research Fellow

Affiliation

Hughes Hall College

Keywords

Loneliness, Brain, Neuroimaging, Stress, Motivation

I am interested in how stress, loneliness and social isolation affect the brain and mind, especially during adolescence.

Lorena Boquete Vilarino

Lorena Boquete Vilarino

lorenabv@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

Position

Postdoctoral Researcher

Affiliation

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Keywords

Immuno-oncology, Dendritic Cells, Immunity in Cancer, Cancer Microenvironment

Cancer cells can be detected and eliminated by our immune system, but this function is commonly disrupted in tumours. I am interested in understanding this disfunction and how we can help our immune system fight cancer.

M. Cemre Manav

M. Cemre Manav

cemremnv@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk @mcemremnv

Position

Postdoctoral Researcher

Affiliation

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Keywords

Structural Biology, RNA, mRNA Processing, Cryo-EM, Microscopy, Crystallography

I am a molecular and structural biologist, interested in modelling 3D structures of protein-nucleic acid complexes.

M. Cemre Ustunkaya

M. Cemre Ustunkaya

mcu22@cam.ac.uk @mcemreustunkaya

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and Newnham College

Keywords

Archaeological Science, Climate Change in the Past, Plant Isotope Analyses, Archaeobotany

I am an archaeobotanist who works on climate change and its impact on past human societies.

Magdalena Strauss

Magdalena Strauss

magdas@ebi.ac.uk

Position

Research Fellow

Affiliation

European Bioinformatics Institute

Keywords

biotech, cancer, embryonic development, CRISPR, mathematics

I am a mathematician and computational biologist fascinated by genomics and biotechnology.

Marcella Montagnese

Marcella Montagnese

mm2075@cam.ac.uk @m_montagnese

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Neurosciences

Keywords

artificial intelligence, dementia, psychosis, brain networks, connectomics

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Clinical Neuroinformatics at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (University of Cambridge).

Maria Neofytou

Maria Neofytou

maria.neofytou@cruk.cam.ac.uk @MCNeofytou

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

CRUK Cambridge Institute

Keywords

Cancer, Research, Liquid Biopsy, Early Detection, Screening

My name is Maria and I come from Cyprus, a sunny island in the Mediterranean. I moved abroad after finishing my PhD in Medical Genetics, to work on Cancer research.

Marta Costa

Marta Costa

mmc46@cam.ac.uk @martamcosta2

Position

Senior Research Associate

Affiliation

Zoology and Lucy Cavendish College

Keywords

Neuroscience, Connectomics, Brain Mapping, Fruit Flies, Olfaction

I am interested in how animal behaviour is encoded in circuits, with a particular focus on olfaction,and what mechanisms are used to generate both flexibility and redundancy, allowing animals to adapt to their environments.

Mary Murphy

Mary Murphy

mm2324@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Faculty of Education and Lucy Cavendish College

Keywords

Environmental, Sustainability, Climate Change, Education

My doctoral research in environmental education arose out of many years as an environmental, entrepreneur, activist, author and educator, primarily based in South Africa where I have lived for 24 years.

Michela Leonardi

Michela Leonardi

ml897@cam.ac.uk @MikLeonardi

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Zoology

Keywords

Ancient DNA, Palaeoecology, Population Biology

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Evolutionary Ecology Group, in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. I am an evolutionary biologist trying to understand the process that shaped the populations through time

Michelle Westerlaken

Michelle Westerlaken

mw833@cam.ac.uk @colombinary

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Sociology

Keywords

Smart Forests, Multispecies Design, Participatory Research, Interaction Design

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the Smart Forests project at the department of Sociology.

Miranda Robbins

Miranda Robbins

mrobbins@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

Position

MRC Career Development Fellow

Affiliation

Zoology and Trinity College

Keywords

Memory, Learning, Plasticity, Drosophila, Imaging

My research interests surround how memories are formed, and how this is impaired in neurological disorders.

Myra Hosmillo

Myra Hosmillo

mh749@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Pathology

Keywords

Human Norovirus, Organoids, Gastroenteritis, Filipino, Woman, Public Health

I am a woman, a proud Filipino and, I love Public Health. I am a keen scientist who is passionate at understanding the molecular mechanisms of “why” and “how” virus evades the host and replicate productively.

Nana-Jane Chipampe

Nana-Jane Chipampe

nc15@sanger.ac.uk @enjywenjy

Position

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

Spatial Genomics, Human Gonad Developmental Cell Atlas, in situ Sequencing, Transcriptomics

I am a Postdoctoral research fellow and registered Biomedical Scientist who works on human gonadal development and immuno-oncology multiplex staining on human tissue samples.

Nayra Martin-Key

Nayra Martin-Key

nam57@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology

Keywords

Behaviour Change, Digital Technologies, Medical Devices, Patient and Public Involvement, Psychiatry

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research, led by principal investigator Professor Sabine Bahn.

Nicola Moloney

Nicola Moloney

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Biochemistry

Keywords

Microbiology, Proteomics, Biotechnology

My research so far has focused on the study of infectious diseases, with a particular interest in understanding and exploiting the adaptations of microorganisms.

Nicole Wheeler

Nicole Wheeler

n.wheeler@bham.ac.uk

Position

Data Scientist, Bioinformatician

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

Machine Learning, Bacterial Evolution, Antimicrobial Resistance, Genomics

I work as a data scientist, taking large amounts of data from the real world, and using it to discover rules about how the world works.

Sandra Petrus-Reurer

Sandra Petrus-Reurer

sp2016@cam.ac.uk

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Surgery and Darwin College

Keywords

Regenerative Medicine, Cellular Therapy, Stem Cells, Immune-Rejection, Immune-Modulation

I am a stem cell scientist particularly interested in understanding mechanisms of allogeneic graft rejection and how to modulate them for the success of cellular therapies for regenerative medicine.

Sara Lopez-Gomollon

Sara Lopez-Gomollon

sl750@cam.ac.uk @GomollonSara

Position

Broodbank Senior Research Fellow

Affiliation

Plant Sciences

Keywords

Plant Biology, Epigenetics, Gene Regulation, sRNA, DNA Methylation, Hybrids

I am a Broodbank Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Plant Sciences. I joined the Department as a postdoc in the group of Sir David Baulcombe, working on tomato hybrids.

Sarah Lloyd-Fox

Sarah Lloyd-Fox

sl868@cam.ac.uk

Position

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow

Affiliation

Psychology

Keywords

Developmental Neuroscience, Global Health, Poverty, Infancy

I am lead investigator on the inter-disciplinary Brain Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) Project. My research focuses on the investigation of core early cognitive and neural mechanisms in infancy by pioneering the use of functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan

sem91@cam.ac.uk @Sarah_Morgan_UK

Position

Senior Research Associate

Affiliation

Computer Science and Technology

Keywords

Network Science, Machine Learning, MRI, Schizophrenia, Mental Health

My research applies machine learning, network science and Natural Language Processing to better understand and predict mental health conditions.

Sina Krokowski

Sina Krokowski

sinak@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk @KrokowskiSina

Position

Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow

Affiliation

Medicine and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Keywords

Bacterial Infection, Cell-autonomous Immunity, Autophagy, Cellular Microbiology, Microscopy

I am a cellular microbiologist, passionate about understanding host-pathogen interactions and how we can harness insights gained from biological research to treat bacterial infection.

Sophia C Cooke

Sophia C Cooke

sc647@cam.ac.uk @sophiacooke

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Geography and King's College

Keywords

Collaboration, Sustainable Development, Galapagos, Conservation, Policy

My interests focus on conservation and sustainable development. More specifically I am interested in how communities, scientists and politicians can collaborate more efficiently to improve human wellbeing and protect the environment simultaneously.

Soudabeh Imanikia

Soudabeh Imanikia

si341@cam.ac.uk @DrLysoGirl

Position

Girton College Bye-Fellow

Affiliation

Girton College

Keywords

Molecular Biology, Genetics, Cell Biology, Neurodegenerative diseases, Ageing

I am most curious about what happens to our brains when we age. I combine model organism, tissue culture and primary neurons studies to understand what are the key regulators of ageing.

Soudabeh Imanikia

Soudabeh Imanikia

si341@cam.ac.uk @DrLysoGirl

Position

Girton College Bye-Fellow

Affiliation

Girton College

Keywords

Molecular Biology, Genetics, Cell Biology, Neurodegenerative diseases, Ageing

I am most curious about what happens to our brains when we age. I combine model organism, tissue culture and primary neurons studies to understand what are the key regulators of ageing.

Sunay Usluer

Sunay Usluer

su1@sanger.ac.uk @usluersunay

Position

Postdoctoral Fellow

Affiliation

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Keywords

Functional Genomics, CRISPR, iPSC, Neurodevelopment

My research focus on functional genomics to understand function of human genes in large scale. For this purpose, I silence all the genes in human induced pluripotent cells (hIPSC) by CRISPR-inhibition technique,

Áine Ní Choisdealbha

Áine Ní Choisdealbha

an552@cam.ac.uk @nichoisa

Position

Research Associate

Affiliation

Psychology and Trinity Hall College

Keywords

Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, EEG, Infancy, Language

I am a developmental cognitive neuroscientist. I study the neural signatures and processes that underlie changes in infants’ behaviour and cognitive skills.

© 2024 StepWide

avatar

StepWideStepWide showcases the profiles of early career cis and trans women researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK.



You can perform a query by List View, Categories and Keywords. You can click in any of the research categories and subcategories below to retrieve
a subset of researchers with expertise on the field. The List View will show you a list of the researchers in the website and the researcher categories
linked to each one of them. Alternatively, view all the keywords linked to the researchers by looking into the Keywords.
Click on any of the researchers to see a full description of their profiles.

Contact

Add your profile to the site

If you are an early career cis and trans woman researcher from the University of Cambridge or affiliated institutes, you can add your profile to the site. Fill in this form and we will be in touch.

For anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing us stepwide.cam@gmail.com.

About

This website

This website showcases the profiles of early career cis and trans women researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, and affiliated institutions. It originated as part of StepWide, a leadership programme that aims to support the next generation of female researchers.

We hope that by making the expertise and stories of early career women researchers more visible (and searchable!), will highlight how much they contribute to the research that is done in the University and affiliated institutions.

Who is it for

This website is designed for a wide audience, be it other researchers looking for particular expertise for a collaboration; the media looking for experts; those that are simply curious about what type of research is done in Cambridge, or those trying to get a clearer idea of what a ‘typical’ woman researcher in this years old institution does (there is no ‘typical’!).

The StepWide programme

StepWide was designed by 3 postdocs at Cambridge (see below for more on Marta, Laura and Cemre). It aims to support female postdoctoral researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, from any discipline, who feel that taking a step into leadership is not for them. The programme is designed to suit both early and more senior postdocs, providing them with the skills to challenge the current ideas of what a leader is, learn how to raise their public profiles, as well as a close and supportive network of peer-to-peer female postdocs.

StepWide ran for the first time in 2019/2021, and we are currently running a new series of workshops in 2022/2023. We will post updates here when applications open for its next run.

Founders

Laura, Marta and Cemre (left to right on the photo) met at The Postdocs of Cambridge (PdOC) Society, at the University of Cambridge, UK. When the Researcher Development (RD) Pitch Competition was announced in late 2018, they felt this provided the ideal opportunity to work together to develop a leadership programme for women postdocs. They saw a gap in the current leadership RD provision, with a lack of opportunities that challenge current leadership views. Their proposal was successful and obtained funding for a one year pilot, giving rise to the StepWide programme.

Laura Fachal is a Senior Staff Scientist at Wellcome Sanger Institute. She earned her BS in Veterinary, MSc in Biotechnology and PhD from University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She completed her postdoc at the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, University of Cambridge. She is also a Research Associate at Lucy Cavendish College.

Marta Costa is a Senior Research Associate at the Department of Zoology. She did her undergrad in Biology in Lisbon, Portugal, followed by an MSc in Neuroscience at UCL in London. She then moved to Cambridge for her PhD, followed by a postdoc. She is also a Research Associate at Lucy Cavendish College.

Cemre Ustunkaya was a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. She earned her BSc in Biological Science, followed by an MSc in Archaeometry at Middle East Technical University, Turkey. She later moved to Australia for her PhD in Archaeology at The University of Queensland. She is also a postdoc affiliate at Newnham College.

Funding

Thanks and funding

StepWide was funded by the Researcher Development Pitch Competition which included support from the Researcher Development Programme, The Postdocs of Cambridge (PdOC) Society, the Postdoc Academy, the Postdoc Chairs’ Network and the Careers Service at the University of Cambridge. We are very thankful for their support. We would also like to thank Alba Gómez for her expert support with the first version of the website, and to Arian Jamasb for redesigning and implementing the newest version of this website. Finally, we thank Natacha Wilson and Rebecca Nestor for the advice and support they provided for the development of the workshops.

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