Three Daphne Jackson Trust Fellows secure posts at the University

Three Fellows from the Daphne Jackson Trust have been working at UCLan for the past three years and have now secured positions at the University.

Nicola Jones, Yogita Patil-Sen and Xutao Deng have secured Fellowships from the Daphne Jackson Trust.
Nicola Jones, Yogita Patil-Sen and Xutao Deng have secured Fellowships from the Daphne Jackson Trust.

Three academics who secured Fellowships from the Daphne Jackson Trust have been working at UCLan for the past three years and have now found positions at the University. The Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowships enable talented scientists and researchers to retrain and return to research after a break of two or more years taken for family, caring or health reasons. This provides the opportunity to balance a personalised retraining programme with a challenging research project, held in a supportive UK university or research establishment.

Yogita Patil-Sen - Research in nanomaterials for drug delivery and hyperthermia cancer therapy

Yogita Patil-Sen, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences; Xutao Deng, School of Medicine; and Nicola Jones, School of Physical Sciences and Computing secured the Fellowship between 2015 and 2018 to work at the University with some of our Research groups and leaders. Having now completed their Fellowships, they have all secured posts at UCLan.

Yogita did research into the preparation of nanomaterials for drug delivery and hyperthermia cancer therapy, supported by funding from UCLan and The Royal Society of Chemistry. She is now a Research Associate working on a project involving developing a drug delivery system for nose-to-brain and lung delivery. She says: “Working at UCLan through the funding I received through the Daphne Jackson Trust helped me to retrain on some of the previously acquired techniques and enabled me to develop new research skills, boosting my confidence professionally and personally.”

Xutao Deng - Research in Non-thermal Atmospheric Pressure (NAPP) application in dentistry

Xutao works in the cross-disciplinary fields of engineering, biochemistry and healthcare. Her individual research from 2016-2018 was in Non-thermal Atmospheric Pressure (NAPP) application in dentistry, supported by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and The Royal Society of Chemistry. She is currently an Associate Lecturer (SPH) in the School of Engineering and Computing as well as being an outreach assistant for our ‘Future Engineers’ project . She says: “The Daphne Jackson Fellowship gave me an invaluable opportunity to return to work after a career break, and re-establishing myself as an independent, confident and competent staff member in Higher Education. I am continually striving to improve my skills so that I become an outstanding HE staff member.”

Nicola Jones - Research in fires at waste and recycling centres

Nicola received funding from UCLan and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). She worked in the Centre for Fire and Hazards Science, carrying out research into fires at waste and recycling centresNon-thermal Atmospheric Pressure (NAPP) application in dentistry. She is now a Research Associate researching the smoke toxicity of building facades and smoke toxicity of upholstered furniture. She has also taken on some lecturing responsibility which is enabling her to develop her career at UCLan. Reflecting on her experience she says: “I have found the whole experience very positive, working with an excellent research group and a very supportive supervisor. The Daphne Jackson Fellowship enabled me to find my way back into research after a long career break of 11 years, helping me to regain my confidence and get my career back on track.”

Dr. Alexis Holden, Director of Research Services added ‘The University is very keen to support STEM researchers to retrain and return to work after a period of absence and have welcomed these 3 talented academics. We are thrilled that they have all been able to secure positions and wish them all the best in their future research careers at UCLan, where they can be assured they will receive continuing support from our Research Services to further develop and grow their research profiles.

‘We recognise that the Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship provides research professionals with the opportunity to balance an individually tailored retraining programme with a challenging research project in a suitably supportive environment.’

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