Sir Howard Dalton Early Career Microbiologist of the Year
Preparation for the finals
Finalists are notified in early summer if they have been selected and invited to give a presentation at the final at our Annual General Meeting and Society Showcase.
The presentations are judged by a panel, chaired by the Chair of the Sustainability Committee and comprising Division members. The award criteria can be found in the section below.
The winner and two runners up are chosen and the following awards are made.
All finalists will also receive a year's free Society membership.
Award criteria
Selection stage
Ahead of the Society's Annual Conference or Irish Division meeting, the competition judges will receive a list of the eligible entrants and the times of their poster, or oral presentation. Poster entrants are also identified in the abstract book for the reference of all delegates.
During the event, competition judges will assess poster and oral presentations against the following criteria:
- Scientific content and structure of presentation
- Defence of presentation
- Delivery and visual aids (oral presentations only)
- Layout (poster presentations only)
Following the event, the competition judges will collate their entrant assessments and work together to shortlist two finalists per Division.
Finalists are notified by May if they have been selected and invited to give a presentation at the final at our Society Showcase each year.
Finals
The final will take place at the Society’s Showcase and Annual General Meeting each year, and each finalist will deliver a 10-minute oral presentation on their research and there will be an additional 5 minutes for questions.
The presentations are judged by a panel of Division members which is chaired by the Chair of the Sustainability Committee. The presentation judging criteria can be found in the document below.
Sir Howard Dalton Early Career Microbiologist of the Year: Finalist judging form
Previous winners:
2022:
1st Prize: Aisling Brady, Imperial College London, UK
2nd Prize: Ailish McCafferty, University of Leeds, UK
3rd Prize: Zihan Zhu, University of Oxford, UK
2021:
1st Prize: Emma Banks, University of Nottingham, UK
2nd Prize: Danielle Nader, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
3rd Prize: Mary Turley, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
2020:
1st Prize: Aisling Towell, from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
2nd Prize: Thomas O’Brien, University of Cambridge, UK
3rd Prize: Emily Warman, University of Birmingham UK
2019
1st Prize: Davis Laundon, Marine Biological Association, University of East Anglia, UK
2nd Prize: Sarah Worsley, University of East Anglia, UK
3rd Prize: Michaela Conley, University of Glasgow, UK
2018
1st Prize: Courtney Kousser, University of Birmingham, UK
2nd Prize: Rute Maria Pinto, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK
3rd Prize: Stephen Dolan, University of Cambridge, UK
2017
1st Prize: Daniel Hurdiss, University of Leeds, UK
2nd Prize: Andrew O'Connor, University College Dublin, Ireland
3rd Prize: Rebecca Hall, University of York, UK
2016
1st Prize: Lindsay Broadbent, Queen's University Belfast, UK
2nd Prize: Mariya Goncheva, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK
Joint 3rd Prize: Andrew Frey, University of Sheffield, UK; Ethan Morgan, University of Leeds, UK
2015
1st Prize: Joseph Kirk, University of Sheffield, UK
2nd Prize: Samantha Chui Sang Lee, National University Ireland, Ireland
3rd Prize: Christopher Miller, University of Kent, UK
2014
1st Prize: Ali Hussein, University of Bath, UK
2nd Prize: Maitreyi Shivkumar, University of Cambridge, UK
3rd Prize: Lauren Ames, University of Exeter, UK
2013
1st Prize: Sophie Schumann, University of Leeds, UK
2nd Prize: Alyson Murray, University College Dublin, Ireland
3rd Prize: Aline Tabib-Salazar, University of Sussex, UK
2012
1st Prize: Lucy Thorne, Imperial College London, UK
2nd Prize: Rebecca Handley, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK
3rd Prize: Elaine Waters, University College Dublin, Ireland