Postgraduate student in Computing Infrastructure Group shines at STEM for Britain

Organised by the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, STEM for BRITAIN is a major scientific poster competition and exhibition, held annually at the Houses of Parliament. This year, the event involved 120 early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematicians, shortlisted from hundreds of applicants. Finalists presented their research to dozens of politicians and a panel of expert judges, with prizes awarded for the posters that best communicated high level science, engineering, or mathematics to a lay audience.

Stephen Metcalfe MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said: "This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers. These early career engineers, mathematicians, and scientists are the architects of our future and STEM for BRITAIN is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work."

Sawsan El Zahr won 1st prize in the Dyson Sustainability Award for her poster, 'Exploring the benefits of carbon-aware routing'. The research is a collaborative effort with BT in the Department's Computing Infrastructure Group. She says, "The main challenge was to simplify the technical content and communicate it with a general audience. I am so honoured to participate and win the first prize and I hope that the discussions we had about sustainability can impact policy making".

Sawsan’s supervisor, Professor Noa Zilberman, adds: “Making the Internet sustainable is essential, especially with the growing use of AI, cloud computing and video streaming. Sawsan’s research is an important step towards a more sustainable Internet, and I am excited to see her work recognised by such an esteemed award.”

Judging for the competition took place on Monday 4th March at the Houses of Parliament, with Sawsan speaking to Members about her poster during a 2-hour period. Having received first prize in the Dyson Sustainability Award, Sawsan will now be considered for the highly prestigious Westminster Medal, alongside the winners in the other five categories.

Engineering DPhil students Fenglin Liu, and Alvaro Martinez Pechero, were finalists in the competition's Biological and Biomedical Sciences and Engineering categories, respectively. 

Fenglin Liu, a student in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, submitted a poster entitled 'Proactive Large Medical AI Models to combat Future Pandemics', detailing how a Hospital GPT can be deployed with limited resources and within 2 weeks, to help reduce the adverse impacts of future pandemics by supporting clinical note generation, disease diagnosis and health management.

Álvaro Martinez Pechero, a student in the Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering group, submitted the poster 'Modelling Materials to withstand the extreme conditions of future Nuclear Fusion Power Reactors'. Materials within these reactors are exposed to a combination of high temperatures and intense radiation. Developing materials capable of withstanding these hard conditions for long periods is a fundamental objective for the industry.

The full list of Oxford finalists are:

• Katherine Benjamin, DPhil student in the Mathematical Institute.
• Deborah Cotton, DPhil student in the Department of Physics.
• Sawsan El Zahr, DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science.
• Jennifer Clara Herrmann, DPhil student in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine
• Fenglin Liu, a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science.
• Alvaro Martinez Pechero, DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science
• Grace Meaker, DPhil student in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine
• Calum Patel, DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry
• Leto Riebel, DPhil student in the Department of Computer Science
• Anna Rose, Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics
• Ana Stuhec, DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry
• Chloe Tubman, DPhil student in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics.
• Xingzao Wang, DPhil student in the Department of Chemistry.

You can find more information about the competition and view all the finalists’ posters on the STEM for BRITAIN website.