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University of East Anglia researcher takes her science to Parliament

Mon, 11 Mar 2013

Amy McDougall, a postgraduate research student at the University of East Anglia (UEA) will attend Parliament to present her science to a range of politicians and a panel of expert judges as part of SET for Britain on March 18.

Amy’s poster on research about predicting the impact of climate change on species will be judged against dozens of other scientists’ research in the only national competition of its kind.

The student from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences was shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to appear in Parliament.

Amy said: “I am excited to share my passion for my research with an esteemed audience and to be flying the banner for environmental sciences research at UEA."

Andrew Miller 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 scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and understand their work.”

Amy’s research has been entered into the Biological and Biomedical Sciences session of the competition, which will end in a gold, silver and bronze prize-giving ceremony.

Judged by leading academics, the gold medalist receives £3,000, while silver and bronze receive £2,000 and £1,000 respectively.

John Pierce, Chief Bioscientist at BP, sponsors of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Gold award, said: “BP has supported SET for Britain for several years now and we continue to be impressed by the ingenuity and dedication of the UK’s young scientists.

“As a biologist, I am delighted that BP is sponsoring this particular award - traditionally, engineering, physics, geology and chemistry have been the backbones of energy production, but we are increasingly seeing how biology impacts that.

“As a major UK recruiter and investor in research and development, we believe that we need to nurture the best technical talent to meet the world’s challenges.”

The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee run the event in collaboration with the Institute of Physics, The Physiological Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Biology and the Society of Chemical Industry, with financial support from BP, Airbus/EADS, INEOS, AgChemAccess, Essar, the Institute of Biomedical Science, GAMBICA and WMG.
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