On Saturday 11^th September 2021, ABTA proudly organised the 10^th national Doctoral Research Awards (DRA) to award and celebrate the achievements of the young researchers. Through DRA, ABTA aims to cultivate junior academic research in the UK and encourage young academics by acknowledging their contribution to the academic's world.

The programme began with an insightful talk led by Dr Derrick Roberts, one of the finalists of DRA 2015, about his journey into academia after the DRA, how the DRA impacted him, and the lessons he learned.

Next, the finalist from the categories of Natural & Life Sciences, Management & Social Sciences and Engineering Sciences delivered their presentations and showed an outstanding performance in presenting their PhD research which drew an infinite number of questions from the audience.

During the poster session, the participants viewed the posters of their fellow researchers and had an opportunity to ask questions about the details of their study.

In the second part of the ceremony, we were honoured to have Professor Duncan Haldane, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Physics as our keynote speaker. He delivered a talk on how he found his area of interest in Physics and how he won the Nobel prize in Physics.

In the last part of the program, the DRA awards were given out, including a social media award was given to one member of the audience for being an active Twitter follower of ABTA during the ceremony.

The ceremony ended with ABTA Director Dr Emre Esenturk's closing remarks and Dr Nastaran Ranjbar on the ABTA and Springer Nature partnership, allowing DRA awardees to publish a mini-review in the SNAS journal.

Finally, we would like to thank all of our guests of honour and our generous sponsors for their continued support of the 2021 ABTA Doctoral Researcher Awards, congratulate all winners and wish them the best in their academic careers.


Natural and Life Sciences

1^st Pedro Vianez – University of Cambridge

2^nd Alec Christie – University of Cambridge

3^rd Sascha Feldmann – University of Cambridge



Management and Social Sciences

1^st Cristina Douglas – University of Aberdeen

2^nd Victoria Charlton – Kings College London

3^rd Jerica Radez – University of Oxford



Engineering Sciences

1^st Serkan Dikici – University of Sheffield

2^nd Irene Yang – University of Oxford; Siming Zuo – University of Glasgow

3^rd Prateek Gupta – University of Oxford



Honourable Mentions


Natural and Life Sciences

Holly Keir* – University of Dundee

Benjamin Moss* – Imperial College London

Matthew William Bidwell – Imperial College London

Thomas Evan O'Shea – University of Bristol

Jake Brooks – University of Warwick

Christopher W. Ashling – University of Cambridge

Carolin Schulte – University of Oxford

Thomas Oliver Butler – University of Sheffield

Luis Lanzetta – Imperial College London

Carlota Bozal Ginesta – Imperial College London

Joshua Nicks – University of Sheffield

Kirsty Smitten – University of Sheffield

Iago Grobas – University of Warwick

Stefan Stein – University of Warwick

Alexander Patrick Walker – University of Oxford

Elpida Vounzoulaki – University of Leicester

Azul Zorzoli – University of Dundee

Alan Bowman – University of Cambridge

Helen Currie – University of Southampton

Holly Pacey – University of Cambridge

Joanna Symonowicz – University of Cambridge

Nicolas Shiaelis – University of Oxford



Management and Social Sciences

Mariana Pinto Da Costa* – Queen Mary University of London

Iain Ferguson* – University of Strathclyde

Boniface Oyugi – University of Kent

Bernardo Ferro – University of Warwick

Marfri-Jay Gambal – Aston Business School

Kira Gruenewald – Coventry University

Théo Aiolfi – University of Warwick

Arletta Gorecka – University of Strathclyde

Antonio Montanes Jimenez – University of St Andrews



Engineering Sciences

Samuel Gabra* – University of Cambridge

Eman Omairey – Aston University

Oliver Burton – University of Cambridge

Amthal Al-Gailani – University of Leed

Ferhat Yarkin – University of Oxford

Felix Utama Kosasih – University of Cambridge

Innes McClelland – University of Sheffield

Pak Hei Yeung – University of Oxford

Carlos Cueto – Imperial College London

Mehrdad Vasheghani Farahani – Heriot-Watt University

Dhinesh Thanganadar – Cranfield University

Mohammad Salehian – Heriot-Watt University



Recognition Awards


Natural and Life Sciences

Qiao He – Imperial College London

Alex Diana – University of Kent

Kamran Pentland – University of Warwick

Gordon Williamson – University of Strathclyde

Craig J. Dedman – University of Warwick

David A. King – University of Cambridge

Lewis Hill – University of Strathclyde

Matthew C Thornton – University of St Andrews

Sara Esetecha Querol – University of Warwick



Management and Social Sciences

Fatima Abubakre – University of Kent

Evanthia Thanou – Aston University

Henny Gunawan – Heriot-Watt University



Engineering Sciences

Hydra Rodrigues – Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering

Hassan Saad Ifti – University of Oxford

Damla Kilic – University of Nottingham

Michele Win Tai Mak – University of Cambridge

Olly Styles – University of Warwick


* Who were the finalists


ABTA is immensely grateful to DRA 2021's committee members, 23 respected academics who played a key role in evaluating and reviewing a great number of applications on the basis of academic excellence.


Natural & Life Sciences

Giampaolo Pitruzzello - University of York

Tochukwu Ozulumba - University of Virginia

Jason Potticary - University of Bristol

Guanjie He - University of Lincoln

Katerina Hristova - University of Lincoln


Management & Social Sciences

Usame Yakutcan - University of Hertfordshire

Rahul Jalil - Birmingham City University

Kasturi Hazarika - University of York

Tana Licsandru - Queen Mary University of London

Xiangming Tao - Royal Holloway University of London


Engineering Sciences


Maria Pregnolato - University of Bristol

Timothy Harrell - University of Southampton

Tu Bui - University of Surrey

Fatih Gulec - University of Nottingham

Yu Wu - University College London

Sadik Omairey - Brunel University London

Adarsh Ganesan - University of Cambridge

Ebubekir Avci - Massey University

Claudio Angione - Teesside University

Guanjie He - Lincoln University

Peiyu Chen - University of Sheffield

Fabien Massabuau - University of Strathclyde

Emre Esenturk - University of Warwick