Heidi Gardner, a final year PhD student at HSRU, has been selected as a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT) 2018 Fellow.
The prestigious Fellowship program funds UK citizens to investigate inspiring practice in other countries, and return with innovative ideas for the benefit of people across the UK. This year the trust received over 1,000 applications, ultimately resulting in 150 Fellows that will receive grants totalling over £1 million, enabling travel to 48 countries across six continents.
Heidi applied in the ‘Science, Technology and Innovation’ category with a project aiming to explore creative communication methods that can be incorporated within the UK’s science blogging community.
Her Fellowship will involve travel to Canada (Toronto), the USA (Louisiana, New York, New Hampshire and Washington DC), Singapore and Hong Kong over a period of 6 weeks, where she will be meeting with scientists, communication experts, creatives and bloggers to discuss how to develop and improve the way that scientists in the UK communicate their research through online platforms.
Sara Canullo, Fellowship Director at the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, said, “WCMT’s Science, Technology and Innovation category has a strong focus on ensuring the public is more aware of scientific matters. Heidi’s passion for sci-blogging really shone through in her interview and the panel were impressed with the extent to which she had developed her blogging.”
Heidi is delighted to be taking part in the Fellowship program. She said: “This is such an exciting opportunity, and I feel incredibly lucky to have secured a Fellowship with WCMT. I’ll be travelling in the early part of 2019 after completing my PhD – and what a brilliant way to mark the occasion!”
The motto of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is ‘travel to learn, return to inspire’, and we are certainly looking forward to hearing all about Heidi’s research when she returns from her travels.
She added, “I’d love to see more health services researchers and early career researchers applying for the Fellowships; they offer a brilliant way to develop independent research skills, meet potential future collaborators, and of course explore the world at the same time.”
You can read more about Heidi and her WCMT Fellowship journey here.