Early Career Researcher Image Competition 2023

First Place

Intergenerational storytelling game

An intergenerational group of people playing the game

Simon Williams, Media, Arts and Humanities

The UK's ageing population is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. This game helps isolated older people to take part in structured social interaction. It provides socialisation, goal achievement, and narrative construction and increases wellbeing scores.

Second Place

Aerosol artistry - cascade impactor stage reveals delicate droplet arrangement

An ELPI collects aerosol droplets

Henry Dore, Engineering and Informatics

The ELPI (Electrical Low-Pressure Impactor) sorts and collects aerosol particles. We can study the size distribution of particle emissions in real-time and collect samples for chemical analysis, enabling advancements in fields such as air quality monitoring and combustion research.

People's Choice

Exploring ‘unsayable’ intersectional and trauma-related experiences in reproductive/maternal healthcare

Artwork from the session

Ulla McKnight, Law, Politics and Sociology

The image is from a ‘slow stitch’ workshop with women of colour that had experiences of reproductive/maternal healthcare trauma. The workshop, run by Saj Fareed, piloted this arts-based mode of engagement as a way to enable articulation and exploration.

Neutrinos Trip the Light Fantastic

Scintillator detector tracking neutrino particles through light

Wilf Shorrock, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in the universe and can tell us about the origins of our universe. We are developing a new scintillator detector technology. The picture shows a light being shone at the scintillator, allowing tracking of particles.

Experiencing the Itch

Wearing the Scabies Experiential Garment

Gemma Aellah, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

A social worker tries on the Scabies Experiential Garment. This itchy item, by Vikki Haffenden, encourages empathy and understanding. I have seen that empathy has motivated those in policy advocacy, creating a humanistic narrative approach to understanding how policy happens.

Please protect our coastal wetlands

Household rubbish in wetland grass

Shuijian Zhai, Global Studies

Coastal wetland is fragile and sensitive to external changes. Rubbish is swept to shore by the waves. During the decomposition of rubbish, nutrients and toxic substances are released, disturbing the stability of the wetland ecosystem.

What do you mean you don't understand? It's easy - let's write it on the board.

Mathematical work on a whiteboard

Paul Kinghorn, Engineering and Informatics

At Sussex, people are investigating Artificial Intelligence models to try and explain how the brain works and vice versa. The work is very interdisciplinary, many people have a mathematical background and this whiteboard shows some of their thoughts.

Intersectionality of gender and podoconiosis

Group of people, one of them has no shoes

Jean Paul Bikorimana, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

This photo symbolises the intersection of gender and poverty in relation to podoconiosis and shoe wearing. Shoes are important for prevention and management. The ability to buy shoes can be shaped by the intersection of gender and poverty. Therefore, gender-tailored intervention should be recommended.

Illuminating Synaptic Efficiency in the Retina

Bipolar cells (blue), photoreceptors (red) and retinal ganglion cells (yellow)

Elliot Birkett, Life Sciences

Bipolar cells (blue) serve as a bridge between the photoreceptors (red) and retinal ganglion cells (yellow), which transmit visual signals to the brain. For the first time we detected iGluSnFR in all five major retinal cell types in a single fish. Our research holds promise for advancing understanding of early visual processing.

Testing nanomaterials for ultracold atoms experiments

A vacuum chamber with electrode samples

Julia Fekete, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Ultra-high vacuum compatibility and electrical tests are informing the development of a quantum magnetic microscope with ultracold atoms and nanomaterials. Here are nanowire based transparent electrode samples on a printed circuit board, placed inside a vacuum chamber where conductivity, temperature and pressure are monitored.

The simultaneously dark and colourful visual world of frogs

Frogs and their reflections in the water

Carola Yovanovich, Life Sciences

Frogs have a unique ability to discriminate colours at night. Frogs can tell the difference between green and blue even when a human would have difficulty seeing. My research looks at how the neuronal circuits in their eyes are wired and function.

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