2026 Researcher Development Event

The current cohort of PhD Students gathered in Perthshire in March 2026 for a busy two days of presentations, networking, socialising, an outdoor activity and the annual ceilidh!  We were delighted to be joined by Dr Katherine Brown, Programme Lead, Sense about Science; Professor Ross Cagan, Regius Chair of Precision Medicine, University of Glasgow; and Dr Lois Paton, Business Development Manager, Kyowa Kirin International. Katherine’s informative talk highlighted to the students the importance of communicating their research, Lois shared her experience of work from the business perspective of industry and Ross shared examples of his fascinating research utilising ‘fly avatars’. All of the talks were well received and we are very grateful to the speakers. It was also great to see Lois, who was one of our first PhD Students when the scheme started in 2012.

The excellent standard of the 4^th year students’ oral presentations meant we had great difficulty in deciding on the winner for this year’s best presentation. Huge congratulations to Tamsin Baxter (University of Edinburgh), the winner, and Muriel Chaudhri (Edinburgh Napier University), who was awarded runner-up.

As respite from the academic aspects of the event, the students braved the cold to compete in a Highland Games, with students excelling at tossing cabers, pitching hay bags, hunting for haggis and the final tug of war decided on the winning team. We are also incredibly grateful to Alba Ceilidh Band, who provided another fun-filled evening for the students.