Daniela visiting the ATLAS experiment, CERN

Daniela Koeck, a 3rd-year physics PhD student working in the ATLAS group of the Department of Physics & Astronomy, has been awarded the prestigious 2020 British Federation of Women Graduates Margaret K. B. Day Prize. 

The British Federation of Women Graduates awards prizes to female PhD students working in British universities who are in their third year of studies. The prizes, which are awarded on a competitive basis in recognition of the excellence of the PhD work being conducted, have been given out for the past 107 years to acknowledge the academic merit of PhD researchers. This year there were 185 applicants for the prizes, with 11 being awarded.

The award includes a cash prize to support the candidates in their final year of PhD.

Daniela, supervised by Professor Fabrizio Salvatore, works on the search for new physics beyond the standard model at the ATLAS experiment. In particular, Daniela is searching for new particles being produced in the proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider which could be candidates for the ever elusive ‘Dark Matter’ in the Universe.

Following the announcement of the prize, Daniela said: “It was great to share my excitement and enthusiasm for the research project I’m working on with academics from different subjects in the selection committee. I could show them how my research connects our understanding of the smallest scales of fundamental particles with large-scale phenomena of galaxies and galaxy clusters!”

After hearing about the award, Professor Salvatore said: "I'm really happy to see Daniela's hard work, commitment, and careful planning of her research project being recognised with such a prestigious award. Well done Dani!"