Dr Jane Hirst receives Future Leaders Fellowship from UK Research and Innovation
Research Fellow Dr Jane Hirst has been awarded a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship.
Dr Hirst is Senior Research Associate at The George Institute for Global Health and Senior Fellow in Perinatal Health at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford.
Her research looks at global perinatal health and, in particular, gestational diabetes mellitus, preterm birth and stillbirth.
Dr Hirst said: “I am proud to be a 2020 recipient of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and continue working to improve women’s lifelong health after high risk pregnancy.”
She added: “I will be working with partners in India, Australia and the UK testing practical solutions to integrate non-communicable disease prevention into pregnancy and post-partum care worldwide. This work will build upon the SMARThealth Pregnancy programme and GDm-Health.”
The 101 fellows, who are based at UK universities and businesses, will be supported through an investment of £109 million, designed to help establish the careers of global research and innovation leaders in the UK.
Each fellow will receive between £400,000 and £1.5 million over an initial four years. In addition to supporting career development, the investment will aid challenging and novel projects and can be used for other needs such as supporting team members and their development, and equipment costs.
The fellowships were announced by Science Minister Amanda Solloway on 15 October.
She said: “By backing these inspirational Future Leaders Fellows, we will ensure that their brilliant ideas can be transferred straight from the lab into vital everyday products and services that will help to change all our lives for the better.”
The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme, which will provide £900 million in funding overall, was announced by the Secretary of State in 2018.
