Research Fellows Showcase 2026

The Research Fellows Showcase 2026 will take place on Tuesday 12th May 2026 in the Cathedral Crypts on central campus.

Hear about ground-breaking research happening across the University, connect with other researchers and develop your collaboration and leadership skills.

Register for the Research Fellows Showcase 2026

The Showcase programme is designed to support our researchers to contribute to the delivery of Liverpool 2031, supporting the development of future research leaders, highlighting their ambitious and innovative research and nurturing future interdisciplinary collaborations. The Showcase includes:

  • Presentations from Fellows and Research Staff – Discover cutting-edge research happening across the University with over 30 presentations from all three Faculties. 
  • Keynote Panel: Responsible Research – Hear from experienced University of Liverpool academics who will share successes and pitfalls to avoid when conducting research responsibly.
  • Hear from Senior Leaders Professors from each Faculty will share their experiences and advice for successful careers in research and academia.
  • Research Support – Stands by representatives from central research-related professional services teams, enabling attendees to identify who to talk to when looking for support across their research journeys, building attendees professional and personal development.
  • Connections – Opportunities throughout the day to make connections with researchers and research-related professional services staff from across the University.

Research Fellows Showcase 2026 Programme

Time Activity
9.30am Registration and refreshments
10am Welcome
10.05am Professor Alex Lord, Deputy Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact, Faculty of Science and Engineering
10:15am

Research talks:

  • From ‘Unexplained’ to Immune-Mediated: A New Biology of Fibromyalgia - Dr Richard Berwick, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • Understanding Ethnic Inequalities in School Readiness: The Role of Family Environment - Dr Laura Bozicevic, Institute of Population Health
  • Natural hydrogen: A cost-effective way to accelerate the UK towards net zero? - Dr Ritabrata Dobe, School of Environmental Sciences
  • Decoding cellular stress to drive next‑generation therapies - Professor Ian Copple, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
11am Connections, refreshments and poster viewing
11:25am Professor Louise Kenny, Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
11:35am

Research talks:

  • Optimisation of an analytical strategy for small molecule profiling of vaginal tampons in the pursuit of biomarkers for the early detection of endometrial cancer - Dr Andrew Davison, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • Bringing microgravity to Earth: the REMORA project and Liverpool’s new Zero-G Astro laboratory - Dr Stefania Soldini, School of Engineering
  • Potential for epidemiology of pregnancy-associated mortality using administrative data in the UK - Dr Christopher Grollman, Institute of Population Health
  • A novel histone-nanofiber dressing (HIST-CEL) for rapid haemostatic control in trauma - Dr Jun Yong, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
12:20pm Lunch and connections
12:50pm

Poster viewing (see below for the programme of posters)

1.20pm

Flash talks:

  • Bridging the Gap Between Circadian Rhythms and Chronotherapy Through Combining Computationally Predicted Optimal Time of Day - Dr Sibel Cal Kayitmazbatir, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • Adversarial Attacks Against Deep Learning-Based Radio Frequency Fingerprint Identification - Dr Jie Ma, School of Computer Science and Informatics
  • Beyond single-drug delivery: Combination particles in long-acting therapeutics - Dr Catherine Unsworth, School of Physical Sciences
  • Climate, Culture and Meaning: Rethinking Time, Place and Knowledge in Congo Rainforest Fiction - Dr Bonaventure Munganga, School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
  • Systematic analysis of gene regulatory network topologies provides insights into the robustness of early symmetry breaking events in mouse gastruloids - Dr Amruta Vasudevan, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • High-intensity laser-driven relativistic surface plasmons for wakefield acceleration and coherent radiation generation - Dr Bifeng Lei, School of Physical Sciences
  • Transforming endometriosis pain care: evaluating NHS pain management programmes and developing psychologically informed physiotherapy - Dr Selina Johnson, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • Towards Planetary Defence and Science: Small-body Dynamics and Mission Design - Dr Xiaoyu Fu, School of Engineering
2pm

Keynote Panel: Responsible Research

2:45pm Connections, refreshments and poster viewing
3pm

Research Integrity Power Talk

Dr Roberto Ferrero, Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering

3:10pm Professor Farida Vis, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
3:20pm

Research talks:

  • Making clinical trials more inclusive by using behavioural science to improve communication (COMMCLUSIVE) - Dr Frances Sherratt, Institute of Population Health
  • Performing the Future of Work? How Practitioners Interpret the Impacts of AI - Dr Joshua Hurwitz, University of Liverpool Management School
  • Bridging Physics and Healthcare: How Academic-Industry Partnerships Accelerate MedTech Innovation - Dr Alexander Hill, School of Physical Sciences
3:55pm

Closing remarks and prizes

Posters:

  • Incidence and Survival of Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis following Blood Cancer diagnosis in England, 2014-2022 - Dr Nurunnahar Akter, Institute of Population Health
  • Mapping the Beat: Building a Music Data Observatory for the Liverpool City Region - Dr Richard Anderson, School of the Arts
  • Glecaprevir and Pibrentasvir Combination Within Individual Particles Drives Optimal Long Acting Injectable Performance - Dr Usman Arshad, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
  • Proteomic characterisation of the bidirectional crosstalk between uveal melanoma and hepatic stellate cells - Dr Karen Aughton, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
  • Onboard Autonomy for Small-Body Science Missions - Dr Anirudh Chhabra, School of Engineering
  • Immunophenotyping of HSV-1 Encephalitis cases - Dr Cordelia Dunai, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
  • Understanding the impact of COVID in people with blood cancer - Mr Temitope Erinfolami, Institute of Population Health
  • Assessment of creatine kinase in rat plasma as indicator of tissue damage after intramuscular administration of approved long-acting injectable medicines - Dr Eduardo Gallardo-Toledo, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
  • Effect of influenza vaccination on post-admission outcomes for influenza patients in England: a population-based cohort study - Dr Caroline Jeffery, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
  • Can verbal cues enhance respiratory-swallow coordination for individuals following head and neck cancer? - Dr Andrew Moran, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
  • Probing the interfaces of electrocatalytic lithium-mediated nitrogen reduction: revealing a route to sustainable, localised ammonia production - Dr Alex Neale, School of Physical Sciences
  • Preclinical development of long-acting therapeutics for the treatment of infectious diseases – the LONGEVITY project - Dr Alison Savage, School of Physical Sciences
  • Closing the Loop in AI-Driven Materials Discovery: From Chemical Space Mapping to Experimental Validation - Dr Andrij Vasylenko, School of Physical Sciences

Register for the Research Fellows Showcase 2026 here

Call for Abstracts - Now closed for 2026

Call for Abstracts 2026

The call for abstracts to present at the Research Fellows Showcase 2026 closed at 5pm on Thursday 29th January 2026.

Abstracts are invited for: 

Research Talks – Open to research fellows, these 10-minute talks provide an opportunity to showcase your research, key findings and future plans. 

Flash Talks – Open to all research staff (e.g. fellows, postdocs), these 3-minute talks provide an opportunity to introduce yourself and your research. 

Posters – Open to all research staff (e.g. fellows, postdocs), posters will be viewable throughout the day and will increase the visibility of your research. 

The deadline for submitting abstracts to present is 5pm, Thursday 29th January 2026. Decisions will be announced on mid-late February 2026.

There will also be prizes awarded for the best Flash Talks and Posters so don't miss out on entering to stand a chance of winning!

Submit your abstract for the Research Fellows Showcase 2026 here 

See below for general abstract guidance and information about the research talks, flash talks and posters.

Eligibility: Abstracts are welcome from all research staff (e.g. fellows, postdoctoral researchers) at the University of Liverpool, but only research fellows and Academic Clinical Lecturers can submit an abstract for a Research Talk. Whilst there are different types of fellowship, in this instance fellows are broadly defined as individuals who spend the majority of their time conducting their own research via independent funding that they have obtained themselves from internal or external sources (for example, UKRI Future Leader Fellows, University of Liverpool Research Fellows, Royal Society University Research Fellowships, etc.).

Postdoctoral researchers and other research staff are eligible to submit an abstract for a Flash Talk or Poster. If you are unsure of your eligibility then please contact us and we'll be happy to discuss it with you: Researcher@liverpool.ac.uk.

General abstract guidance

Talks and posters will be selected anonymously by the selection panel based on the submitted title, abstract and short statement of consideration only. All co-authors should have knowledge about the abstract ahead of submission. The title of the abstract should be clear and present the content of the abstract description. Abstracts should be 300 words maximum (references are included in the wordcount) and should only contain text, no figures or tables.

For suggestions about writing a strong conference abstract, visit the Outputs Hub.

Guidance for Research talks

Talks should be 8 minutes long, which allows for 2 minutes for questions and discussion (the total time of each slot is 10 minutes). The presentations will be hosted on a Windows computer and slides should be saved in PowerPoint or PDF and sent to Researcher@liverpool.ac.uk by 17:00, 8th May. 

Some suggested (though not required) prompts for the content of your talk are: 

  • A brief introduction to yourself and your previous experience prior to starting your fellowship
  • An overview of your research area for a non-specialist audience
  • Any key research findings you've made so far during your fellowship
  • Your plans, directions and goals for your research during the rest of your fellowship
  • Where you see yourself complementing research at the University and any areas where you might look for interdisciplinary collaboration with others at Liverpool 

Guidance for Flash talks

Flash talks should be 3 minutes long. There will be no questions as the flash talk acts as an advertisement and overview of you and your research. The presentations will be hosted on a Windows computer and slides should be saved in PowerPoint or PDF and sent to Researcher@liverpool.ac.uk by 17:00, 8th May. Presentations should be a maximum of 3 slides. 

The aim of the flash talks is to introduce yourself and your research. Three minutes is not long enough to go into details on specific issues of methodology or lots of results. The talks are designed to provide you with an opportunity to raise your profile and awareness of your research within the University and help you connect with other fellows and attendees. 

Guidance for Posters

Posters can be A1 or A0 size in portrait orientation. You must provide your own printout of the poster (there is no funding provided to print posters). You will be required to set up your poster in the morning of the Showcase and remove it at the end of the session. Poster fixings will be provided. 

Posters will be on display in the Showcase room throughout the day and participants will be invited to view them during breaks in the programme. There will be a specific poster viewing session (12:45-13:10, immediately following lunch) where you will be expected to be present and available for discussion. 

“I was thrilled by the many interests, comments, suggestions and questions from the audience. Two participants talked to me about a similar project they are working on, and I am hoping to connect with them shortly.”

Fellow who presented at the 2025 Research Fellows Showcase

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