Communicating the impact and day-to-day relevance of scientific research to the public is an important skill to develop and an something to consider as postgraduate research students train to become a well-rounded researcher. Public engagement can provide fresh perspectives on the research, increase a researcher's profile, and in some cases can help to foster new research collaborations.

The Health Sciences Doctoral Training Centre (HSDTC) Public Engagement Competitions aim to encourage and reward Health Sciences PGR Students for communicating their research in an engaging and accessible way to the general public. We run two annual competitions that aim to encourage this:

• Science Communication Competition - write a short ‘newspaper style’ article on your research topic

• Science Image Competition - submit an image which tells your research story

You can find out more and see previous entries for both competitions below. More information about the 2024 competition can be found on our SharePoint page (King's credentials required).

Congratulations to the winners and shortlisted entries for the 2023 HSDTC Public Engagement Competitions.

Science Communication Prize

Doctoral students at King’s doing research in a Health Sciences-related subject were invited to submit entries to the HSDTC Science Communication Prize. First Prize: £300; Second Prize: £150.

We invited doctoral researchers to submit a short ‘newspaper style’ article on their research topic. The article had to be based on the research they were currently engaged with, or that their group was doing, whether that be the whole project or one aspect of it. The article had to be aimed at a non-specialist audience and be understandable to an interested member of the public.

The 2023 Prize winners are:

• Winner: Rosie Barrows (Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences)
• Runner Up: Gemma Deegan (Neuroimaging)

Science Image Prize

Doctoral research students at King’s doing research in a Health Sciences-related subject were invited to submit entries for the HSDTC Science Image Prize. First Prize: £300; Second Prize: £150.

We invited doctoral researchers to submit an image which tells their research story. Submitted images had to convey the totality or an aspect of the research. Images could show, for example, the subject matter of their research, such as an image of cells or the brain, or research in action, for example the methods, equipment or facilities used in their research.

The 2023 Prize winners are:

• Winner: Uxio Hermida (Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences)
• Runner Up: Katie-Marie Case (Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Congratulations to the winners and shortlisted entries for the 2022 HSDTC Public Engagement Competitions. View all the shortlisted entries on the Centre for Doctoral Studies Blog.

Science Communication Prize

The 2022 Prize winners were:

• Winner: Lea Lortal (Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences)
• Runner Up: Oscar James MacCormac (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine)

Science Image Prize

The 2022 Prize winners were:

• Winner: Antzela Tsavou (Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences)
• Runner Up: Natalie Sanford (Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care)