A North East student has achieved second place in a prestigious national competition to find the UK’s finest young academic speakers.
The 2015 National Final of the Young Persons’ Lecture Competition was held at the Armourers’ Hall in London, with University of Sunderland PhD student Rachel Wong claiming the runner-up prize.
For the final each one of the six participants, already regional winners, gave 15 minute presentations to judges, followed by questions. Rachel spoke about her research into hydrogels to optimise drug delivery via the skin.
She said: “Joining the Young Persons Lecture Competition was definitely a very rewarding experience to me. I felt privileged to be able to present my PhD work on hydrogels to an audience coming from various backgrounds. It is always encouraging to know that there is someone out there interested in my research.”
Rachel’s PhD research is supervised by Dr Kalliopi Dodou, a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Sunderland.
She said: “I am delighted with the result and also with the positive feedback we received on Rachel’s lecture. The formulation optimisation of transdermal drug delivery systems is one of the themes of my research group at the University. The purpose of Rachel’s research is to design hydrophilic polymer (hydrogel) films for skin application.
“Hydrogel films have good skin tolerability and the potential to enhance drug permeation via the skin. It is an innovative area of research and it was great to have it recognised at the Young Persons’ Lecture Competition.”
The Young Persons’ Lecture Competition is sponsored by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, with support from The Worshipful Company of Armourers & Brasiers. The annual competition invites students and professionals up to the age of 28 to deliver a short lecture on a subject relating to materials, minerals, mining, packaging, clay technology or wood science.
For more information on the Young Person Lecture Competition visit: www.iom3.org/young-persons-lecture-competition