Dr Terry has been recognised for her outstanding outreach work
Dr Samantha Terry has won one of two Royal Society of Biology (RSB) Outreach and Engagement 2018 Awards. The award aims to acknowledge and celebrate public engagement by biosciences researchers who educate, encourage and engage with audiences about their field of study.
Dr Terry, a lecturer and researcher from the Centre for Medical Engineering, has organised several events about her work on radiation biology, including an exhibit called Hot Stuff at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2018 on how radioactivity is used in early cancer diagnosis and targeted treatments. You can watch this video about her work on YouTube. In addition to arranging training for over fifty research volunteers on how to engage with the public that visited the exhibition, Dr Terry has also spoken to primary school children about her work and its role in society.
“I have been an advocate for public engagement and outreach since first realising we could influence policy, public opinion and make a difference to patients’ lives,” said Dr Terry of receiving the award. “Public engagement can be a scary and vast concept to someone whose research is fairly removed from the clinic and who spends the majority of the time in the lab or speaking to fellow scientists.
Winning this award has been made possible by not only a dedicated and supportive public engagement team here at the Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering at King’s College London, but also by the encouraging stance of my mentor and Head of Department, Professor Philip Blower.”
Dr Steve Cross, the chair of the award’s judging panel, said, “The key to being a leader in public engagement is being willing to challenge your institution and change it. Samantha is a great example of a biologist doing just that.”
Dr Samantha Terry will present her work at this year’s Biology Week Annual Awards Ceremony.