Karen El Asmar

American University of Beirut
Architecture & Design

Jun Yan Chua

Yale University
Art History & Theory

Brian Heffernan

Dublin Institute of Technology
Business

Li Ling Tan

Nanyang Technological University
Chemical & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Amelia Halls

University of Manchester
Classical Studies & Archaeology

Cristian Bodnar

University of Manchester
Computer Science

Lyndsay Walsh

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
Earth & Environmental
Sciences

Shamus Lee

University of Exeter
Economics

Sylvia Lee

National Institute of Education
Education

Michaela Taylor-Williams

University of Western Australia
Engineering

Matthew Barton

Australian National University
History

Melany Toombs

Australian National University
Law

Pascale Wehr

University of Queensland
Life Sciences

Jessica Ramos-Sanchez

Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
Linguistics

Patrick Lillie

Durham University
Literature

Alexander Zagajewski

University of St Andrews
Mathematics & Physics

Tiffany Ni

Western University
Medical Sciences

Rosalind Moran

Australian National University
Music, Theatre & Film Studies

Emily Morrison

Toronto Metropolitan University
Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Healthcare

James Monaghan

University of Sydney
Philosophy

Laura Trad

University of St Andrews
Politics & International Relations

Natalya Jia Yu Wickramisuriya

National University of Singapore
Psychology

Isobel Howlett

University of Glasgow
Social Science: Sociology & Social Policy

Istifaa Ahmed

University of California Berkeley
Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies

Yi Xian Issa Sng

Nanyang Technological University

Visual Arts

 

Karen El Asmar

Architecture & Design

American University of Beirut

Winning Paper: Beyond Rigging – Infrastructure as Architecture

Karen is an Architecture graduate from the American University of Beirut and is currently pursuing an MFA in Design and Technology at Parsons School of Design in New York. Driven by the uncertainty and the transitional state of our world, Karen is eager today to move beyond the traditional boundaries of her discipline to use the power of design to address challenging issues and reveal opportunities. Her work today falls at the intersection of art, science, design and technology.

Jun Yan Chua

Art History & Theory
Yale University

Winning Paper: Make Tea, Not War: Imagining Informal Empire in William Daniell’s “A View in China”

Jun Yan Chua is a graduate of Yale University

Brian Heffernan

Business
Dublin Institute of Technology

Winning Paper: An Exploration into Online Impression Management and the Selective Self-Presentation Strategies of Generation Z on Instagram

A BSc Marketing graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology, currently working as a marketing executive in DHL Express Ireland. Brian is passionate about all things marketing, with a particular interest in social media and the immense impact that it has in business performance and consumer behavior. He is fascinated by the increasing involvement of social media platforms in identity formation.

Li Ling Tan

Chemical & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: Use of a microfluidic platform for polymersomes fabrication

Li Ling is a Renaissance Engineering Programme student at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She dreams of a world with less ailments and pain, and strives to contribute with her passion in biomaterial research.

Amelia Halls

Classical Studies & Archaeology
University of Manchester

Winning Paper: Alternative Approaches to Animal Artwork: A Relational Ecology approach to Upper Palaeolithic Human-Animal relationships, with focus on the Non-Human, and Human-Non-Human Hybrid Cave Paintings from Les Trois Frères

Amelia is an Archaeology student at the University of Manchester, whose research focuses on human-animal relationships in prehistoric Europe. She is currently Vice Chair of the UoM Archaeology Society, and hopes to further her research through postgraduate studies after graduating.

Cristian Bodnar

Computer Science
University of Manchester

Winning Paper: Text to Image Synthesis Using Generative Adversarial Networks

Cristian graduated this summer from the University of Manchester with a degree in BSc Computer Science. He has just finished his second internship at the London startup Improbable. Now he is an MPhil student in Advanced Computer Science at The University of Cambridge where he is doing research about learning in multi-agent environments.

Lyndsay Walsh

Earth & Environmental Sciences
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

Winning Paper: Investigating how habitat influences bird abundance, diversity and feeding guilds in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Lyndsay is a graduate of Zoology and is currently pursuing a Masters in Development Practice in Trinity College Dublin. With a passion for the natural environment, her research interests include sustainable development of cities, climate change and effects on lower income communities, and education and development.

Shamus Lee

Economics
University of Exeter

Winning Paper: Does degree class matter? The effects of degree classification on graduate earnings

Shamus completed his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Exeter, and went on to read a Master’s degree in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Like any economist, Shamus enjoys fiddling with economic models, running regressions and spending time to unravel the mysteries in dynamic programming. Outside of economics, he is a foodie with a passion for travelling to explore the world!

Sylvia Lee

Education

National Institute of Education

Winning Paper: The Role of ICT in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

Sylvia is an aspiring teacher who seeks the best practices in the teaching of Mathematics, English and Science. She also believes in striving for personal growth and learning from life’s circumstances.

Michaela Taylor-Williams

Engineering

University of Western Australia

Winning Paper: Hollow-core Photonic Crystal Fibre-based Needle Probes for Raman Spectroscopy of Biological Tissue

Michaela completed her Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Electrical Engineering and Economics with First Class Honours at the University of Western Australia and plans to pursue a PhD. She is developing optical techniques for cellular imaging and researching optical fibre probes for cancer diagnosis. She wants to inspire more engineers to solve medical challenges.

Matthew Barton

History
Australian National University

Winning Paper: Pattern of the National Type: Australians, the Beach, and the Rise of the Lifesaver in the Interwar Period

Matthew is a BA(Hons)/LLB(Hons) student at the Australian National University. Originally from all over rural New South Wales, Matthew came to the ANU after being awarded the prestigious Tuckwell Scholarship. He has just finished his Honours thesis on the history of swimming pools in Australia. In addition to his love of history, Matthew has also directed and acted in numerous theatrical productions at university.

Winning Paper: Architecture and Authority: Legal Spaces in Al-Andalus

Melany is a final year Law (Honours) and International Relations student who loves thinking and writing about the law using creative, interdisciplinary approaches. Throughout her studies she has been both dismayed and encouraged by how the law can affect particular population groups such as women, migrants and Australia’s indigenous population.

Migara Jayasinghe

Life Sciences

National University of Singapore

Winning Paper: A Novel Enzyme-mediated Method for Generating Engineered Extracellular Vesicles for Targeted Drug Delivery

Migara is a final year undergraduate from the City University of Hong Kong. His research in the past three years has focused on oncology and extracellular vesicles. During his exchange program at the National University of Singapore, Migara worked on developing a platform for engineering extracellular vesicles for safe and efficient drug delivery. He is currently finishing up his undergraduate studies while working on improving this drug delivery platform for the treatment of a range of conditions. Migara is interested in gene therapy and cancer immunotherapy and plans to pursue a PhD in a related field.

Jessica Ramos-Sanchez

Linguistics
Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico

Winning Paper: Phonological Priming Effects in Children with Down Syndrome: Evidence of a Phonologically Based Lexical Organization

Jessica obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2017 with a dissertation on lexical phonological networks in children with Down Syndrome. She was a research assistant from 2015 to 2017 at the Psycholinguistics Lab, UNAM. She is now a student at the European Master’s in Clinical Linguistics (EMCL+) at the University of Groningen.

Patrick Lillie

Literature
Durham University

Winning Paper: Chapbook Ballads and the Social Imagination

Patrick studied for a BA in English Literature at Durham University and graduated in 2018 after completing a dissertation on Middle English ‘crusade literature’. He is currently completing an MPhil at the University of Cambridge, where his interests include the relationship between English and Italian texts, medieval manuscripts, and vernacular religious poetry.

Alexander Zagajewski

Mathematics and Physics
University of St Andrews

Winning Paper: Modelling the Properties of Intracellular Microlasers

Alexander is a recent Physics graduate from the University of St Andrews, specialising in biomedical imaging research at the interface of Physics and the Life Science. In his spare time, he enjoys a healthy mixture of outdoors activities and travelling. He is currently a doctoral student at the University of Oxford.

Tiffany Ni

Medical Sciences
Western University

Winning Paper: The Targeted Antioxidant, Catalase-SKL, Protects Against Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity in HEI-OC1 Cells

Tiffany recently graduated from Western University with a Bachelors of Medical Science (Honours Specialization in Physiology) and is currently pursuing an MSc at the University of Toronto in the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology program. She has a strong passion for translational research and aims to become a clinician scientist in the future.

Rosalind Moran

Music, Film and Theatre

Australian National University

Winning Paper: Speaking Through Her: Christine Jeffs’s Sylvia and the ongoing misinterpretation of Sylvia Plath

Rosalind studied a PhB Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) and a Diploma of Languages (Mandarin) at the Australian National University. She specialised in literature and languages, and is particularly interested in comparative literature, etymology, and diversification of the publishing market.

Outside of academia, Rosalind’s writing has been published in short story anthologies, literary journals, and online.

Emily Morrison

Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Healthcare

Toronto Metropolitan University

Winning Paper: The Missing Ingredient: Food Safety Messages on Popular Recipe Blogs

Emily Morrison is a recent graduate of the Public Health and Safety program at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. She blends her interest in digital communications with her passion for public health to study food safety messaging in the online world. She currently works as a public health inspector in Chatham, Ontario.

James Monaghan

Philosophy
University of Sydney

Winning Paper: Becoming Philosophers: Plato’s Challenge in the Crito

James studied philosophy and law and the University of Sydney, where he earned a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons I and the University Medal). He currently researches Australian migration law, and loves finding new places to snorkel in Sydney – reliably followed by a banana smoothie in the sun.

Laura Trad

Politics & International Relations

University of St Andrews

Winning Paper: The role of violence in the political order of colonial regimes: British rule in Iraq and French Rule in Algeria

Laura Trad recently graduated from the University of St. Andrews in International Relations and Film Studies. She is currently back in her city of Beirut where she interns at the Issam Fares Institute with a research team on civil society actors in the Middle-East. She’s also involved in the organization of the Lebanese Film Festival!

Natalya Jia Yu Wickramisuriya

Psychology

National University of Singapore

Winning Paper: Development of the Sensitivity to Instructor Criticism Scale (SICS)

Natalya is a final-year Psychology student at the National University of Singapore, concurrently enrolled in the University Scholars Programme. Her interests include organisational and forensic psychology, having conducted research on domestic violence. She is currently investigating work passion strategies, and hopes to pursue Clinical Forensic Psychology upon graduation. For leisure, Natalya enjoys traveling and softball.

Isobel Howlett

Social Science: Sociology & Social Policy

University of Glasgow

Winning Paper: A Descriptive Study of The Documents Presented to Patients Following Down Syndrome Screening.

Isobel graduated from the University of Glasgow, obtaining a first class degree in Philosophy and Sociology. Working in disability, health and education sparked an interest in learning disability, leading to numerous projects including designing a communication aid for individuals with complex needs. Following this, she wrote “A descriptive study of the documents presented to patients following Down syndrome screening”. Isobel hopes to pursue a career in health policy.

Istifaa Ahmed

Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies

University of California Berkeley

Winning Paper: mY [blOOd] bOdY: Examining Racialized Sexual Violence Against Black Women through Performance Art

Istifaa Ahmed analyzes sexual violence through performance art. She examines how various women of color performance artists use performance art as a political platform to contest the secrecy of violence – committed against them in private and hidden spaces – through the use of their bodies and its inhabitation, exhibition, and control over public space and audience. She centers the flesh as a site of political violence indicative of the sociopolitical conditions that permit the literal, intimate markings and brandings against targeted bodies.

Yi Xian Issa Sng

Visual Arts

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: Cabinet of Ludicrosity

Issa is an aspiring artist and researcher who recently graduated from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She seeks to create playful interactive experiences, often exploring the ludicrous, impractical and irreverent in everyday life. She plans to pursue graduate studies in Southeast Asian art history.