15 May 2026
Aspiring Leadership Symposium for ECRs 2026
The Aspiring Leadership Symposium for ECRs, organised by the School People & Culture (P&C) committee, was held at the Guy’s campus on the Friday the 15th of May.
The Aspiring Leadership Symposium for ECRs, organised by the School People & Culture (P&C) committee, was held at the Guy’s campus on the Friday the 15th of May. The Symposium that was introduced by Anna Zampetaki (SCMMS-P&C Lead) brought together all groups of our School, academics, professional services and students to celebrate the rich diversity in the people that contribute to Research and Innovation.
In the first part of the Symposium, invited speakers from different backgrounds and expertise, (Colin Murdoch an experimental biologist, John Broad an academic educator, Vicky Aerts an administration manager, Vanessa Dewhurst a clinical diagnostics scientist and Sara Romeo a consultant in clinical trials) talked about their career path and discussed the opportunities and challenges for ECRs entering their field.
In the second part of the Symposium, ECRs took centre stage in an Elevator Talks competition and discussed their ongoing work in 3-minute presentations. We were really pleased to have a wide range of topics and to hear thoughtful questions from the audience. The talks were judged by Rekha Bassi, Mark Holt and Monica Stollery. This year, the audience also had a chance to vote for their favourite Elevator talk.
We would like to congratulate our Elevator talks winners:
- Winner: Louise Keehn: Arterial stiffening in children and young adults with primary hypertension
- Runner-up: Adya Lonsane: Stem cell-derived islet transplantation for Type 1 Diabetes
- People’s choice winner: Cindy S Y Gao Vascular calcification: likening soft tissue to bone
We would like to thank all our speakers for the high-quality presentations and everyone attending the Symposium for the lively discussions.