The event, which is held annually, provided a platform to showcase cutting-edge research and foster cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Attendees said the day had a positive feel, with a good range of speakers and participants to showcase the breadth of science taking place in RDM.
Professor Keith Channon, Head of Department, opened the day with reflections on successes within the department over the last year.
The day comprised three main science sessions based on the department’s Cross-Cutting Research Themes:
- Metabolism and Molecular Medicine: Talks by Svetlana Reilly, James Grist and Daniela Nasteska showcased new insights into metabolic regulation and disease mechanisms.
- Cell and Gene Therapy: This session featured work from Deborah Gill, Sumana Sharma, Siyu Liu and Abhimanyu Gowda on cutting-edge therapeutic strategies.
- AI & Medical Big Data: Speakers including Hashem Koohy, Daniel Royston and Elizabeth Wahome highlighted data-driven approaches to complex biomedical questions.
A new set of parallel sessions covered practical skills and career development, including:
- Next steps with ChatGPT: A speaker from the University’s AI Competency Centre presented practical insights on leveraging AI.
- Grants: hints and tips: David Hodson chaired this panel session offering expert advice on strengthening grant applications.
- Enabling career transition: Chairs Emma Engel and Manjiri Gokhale Joshi delivered this session on diverse career paths for staff already working in, or interested in working in, research-adjacent roles.
This year, we were delighted to welcome Professor Sadaf Farooqi, who delivered a thought-provoking keynote on Obesity: causes, consequences and treatments. Professor Farooqi is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. She is an internationally leading clinician scientist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie obesity and its complications. Alongside her team, Professor Farooqi’s work has altered the understanding of how body weight is regulated.
An attendee described the keynote speech as a ’masterclass in how to present a lot of science in an accessible and engaging way.’
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Poster prizes
The event featured extended poster sessions, enabling lively discussions across disciplines. More than 40 posters were presented by students and postdocs. The judging panel commented on the high quality of the posters and enjoyed seeing the breadth of science across the department
After much deliberation, judges awarded prizes to:
Student posters
Winner: Rosemary Kirk, for the poster: Divergent functional consequences of different TTN truncating variants in dilated cardiomyopathy
Runner-up: Kexin Xu, for the poster: Predicting spatial transcriptomics from histology images of inflammatory bowel disease
Postdoc / Research Fellow posters
Winner: Charlotte Hooper, for the poster: Generation of VCAM-1 expressing bioengineered extracellular vesicles for immune cell targeting
Runner-up: Dagmara Korona, for the poster: Using iPSC and mouse models to investigate causality of structural variants in craniofacial disorders
Prize-giving
RDM Day concluded with a prize-giving from Head of Department, Professor Keith Channon, to recognise the outstanding work of colleagues and students.
RDM Graduate Prize
Lauren Murphy was awarded the RDM Graduate Prize 2025. The prize is awarded annually to current or recently graduated students of RDM supervisors on the basis of exceptional achievement in their research. You can read more about Lauren in the RDM Graduate Prize announcement.
RDM Graduate Citizenship Award
The Graduate Citizenship Award recognises students who have contributed significantly to the RDM community, fostering a culture of support and wellbeing beyond the normal expectation of a student member. This year, the award went to Casey Johnson and Alexander Redmond.
Awards for Excellent Supervision
The Awards for Excellent Supervision recognise exceptional contribution to education and excellence in teaching and learning support and mentorship of students.
The winners are Nikki Curry and Ladislav Valkovič who were nominated by their mentees for their outstanding commitment to the development and wellbeing of their students.
Thank you for all who took time to complete the RDM Day feedback survey. If you have any comments or ideas for next year's event, please email communications@rdm.ox.ac.uk.