UCL researchers among latest round of UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships

A total of 68 researchers across many of the UK’s leading universities will benefit from a funding package of £104 million that will facilitate research into some of the most pressing global issues.

UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships programme gives early career researchers and innovators a platform to expand the scope of their ground-breaking research. The three UCL academics who have received awards work on a range of subjects from child mental health to the fundamental laws of physics.

The fellowships are awarded to:

Dr Joanne Littlefair (UCL Biosciences)

Dr Littlefair is a researcher interested in the intersection between biodiversity, technology and society at the People and Nature Lab at UCL East.

She researches new ways to monitor and understand biodiversity, and is particularly interested in studying habitats that have been heavily altered by human activity, and how these areas can be managed to benefit nature.

With a background in freshwater ecosystems and fisheries, Dr Littlefair’s team have now been transferring this method to the terrestrial biome by developing airborne environmental DNA sampling. One of her main interests is exploring ways to connect people with nature in their daily lives and how we can make access to nature more frequent, particularly for underrepresented groups in the UK.

Dr Littlefair said: “I am thrilled to receive a Future Leaders Fellowship worth £1.9million to create and lead a research group pursuing new genetic technologies to monitor nature. We will be investigating the use of existing environmental infrastructure – air quality networks – for the novel purpose of monitoring biodiversity using filtered fragments of DNA

“Thank you to UKRI and all of my project partners for supporting an ambitious project which will see us develop this technology across several countries. I look forward to being part of a fantastic cohort of FLF fellows.”

Dr Jessie Baldwin (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences)

Dr Baldwin is a psychiatric epidemiologist working in child mental health. Her research programme will help to understand how to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of mental health problems. This will involve identifying modifiable environmental factors that mitigate or exacerbate the impact of parental mental health problems on children’s mental health

To do so, Dr Baldwin will use innovative causal inference methods that can disentangle causal influences on intergenerational transmission from other risk factors. She will also collaborate with young people with lived experience, policymakers, clinicians, and charities to maximise the societal impact of her research.

Dr Baldwin said: “I am delighted to have been awarded a Future Leaders Fellowship to understand how to break the intergenerational cycle of mental health problems.

"This research will help to inform the design of interventions to prevent future generations of children from developing debilitating mental health problems. I would like to thank the UKRI for funding this research and supporting my career development.”

Dr Luke Caldwell (UCL Physics & Astronomy)

Dr Caldwell is a lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is interested in building tabletop experiments - using the techniques of atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics - to test the fundamental laws of physics. In particular, he aims to build experiments that can shed light on why the universe is made of matter rather than antimatter.

Outside of work, Dr Caldwell is an accomplished long-distance runner having competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m for Scotland. He also came 14th in the 2023 London Marathon.

Dr Caldwell said: “I am thrilled to be awarded the Future Leaders Fellowship. The programme will support what I think is a very exciting and ambitious research program whilst providing the opportunity to interact with a diverse and stimulating cohort of researchers from across disciplines and regions of the country.”

UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said: “UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to develop ambitious, transformative ideas.

“The programme supports the research and innovation leaders of the future to transcend disciplinary and sector boundaries, bridging the gap between academia and business. The fellows announced today demonstrate how these awards continue to drive excellence, and to shorten the distance from discovery to prosperity and public good.”

Professor Geraint Rees (UCL Vice-Provost, Research, Innovation and Global Engagement) said: "I’d like to congratulate my exceptional colleagues who have been recognised within this intensely competitive programme.

"Universities are crucial in driving societal and economic impact through research and innovation partnerships, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes and solutions found as a result of this funding in future.”

Links

• Dr Joanne Littlefair's academic profile
• Dr Jessie Baldwin's academic profile
• Dr Luke Caldwell's academic profile
• UCL Biosciences
• UCL Psychology and Language Sciences
• UCL Physics & Astronomy
• UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships

Image

• From left to right: Dr Luke Caldwell, Dr Jessie Baldwin and Dr Joanne Littlefair

Media contact

Tom Cramp

E: t.cramp@ucl.ac.uk