Biomedicine hosts research day

Smooth talkers: Prof Marian Jacobs, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (middle), awards the prize for the best overall oral presentation to MSc student Ann Kerrigan (left) of the Division of Immunology. On the right is Assoc Prof Arieh Katz of the Research Day organising committee.

The School of Biomedical Sciences hosted its second Research Day on September 13. The school hosts the event every two years to, firstly, give its postgraduate students an opportunity to present their work to an audience, since communication is an integral part of research, says Associate Professor Arieh Katz. In addition, the day is designed to expose student researchers to the diverse research conducted elsewhere in the school and, in that way, promote collaboration between researchers of different disciplines. The research day was open to MSc, MMed and PhD students. In total, there were 28 oral and 30 poster presentations on the day. The first prize for oral presentations (PhD) was shared by Janine Scholefield and Bruce Spottiswoode. Third prize went to Courtney Jennings. Ann Kerrigan won the first prize for oral presentations in the MSc category, while Nonhlanhla Knwanyana received second prize. The first prize for oral presentation (MMed) was won by George van der Watt. Kerrigan walked off with the best overall prize for oral presentations. Dheshnie Govender, Widaad Zemanay and Jaqui Friedling took first, second and third places, respectively, for poster presentations for PhD students. The first prize for poster presentation (MSc/MMed) was awarded to Andreia Soares, with Claire Hoving and Maurice Itoe taking second and third positions, respectively. "The standard of presentation and science was exceptionally high," said Katz, "making it difficult for the judges to identify winners in the various categories."