Funding boost for UCL academics named as UKRI Future Leaders Fellows

Five UCL academics are set to receive a major funding boost after being awarded UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships in recognition of the groundbreaking nature of their research. Dr Christina Anderson (UCL School of European Languages, Culture & Society), Dr Emily Kostas (UCL Biochemical Engineering), Dr Jonathan Fisher (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), Dr Lucy van Dorp (UCL Biosciences) and Dr Hossein Heidari (UCL Institute for Materials Discovery) are among 75 promising research professionals that will benefit from £101 million to tackle major global issues. UKRI's flagship Future Leaders Fellowships programme allows universities and businesses to develop their most talented early career researchers and innovators, providing long-term support to enable fellows to tackle ambitious programmes or multidisciplinary questions, and new or emerging research and innovation areas and partnerships. UCL-s five selected researchers span a range of disciplines including infectious diseases, biosciences, immunology, bioengineering and European history. The fellowships are awarded to: Dr Jonathan Fisher Dr Fisher is a clinician scientist focused on designing new ways of harnessing the immune system to fight cancer. His team investigates novel engineering approaches in gdT cells, and by harnessing and enhancing their innate anti-cancer properties, they hope to improve their efficacy against a range of tumour types. He said: -I firmly believe that these technologies should be designed to be more accessible to patients.