Dina Abdelhafez (Media, Arts and Humanities): Dina’s innovative work applies a cultural history lens to the study of modern Egypt of the 1950s and 60s, looking at the production of domestic interiors as a way of understanding societal transformation. Through oral history interviews, magazines, family photographs and films, and in collaboration with galleries in Egypt and the UK, she examines a critical era of pan-Arab post-colonial culture through the lived experience of the domestic home.   

Sunisha Neupane (Social Sciences – Institute of Development Studies): Sunisha has taken an innovative participatory approach to the study of maternal health inequalities in remote communities in Nepal. She applies novel interdisciplinary methods such as storytelling and poetry to the global health field, and centres the lived experiences of women and caregivers at the heart of her thesis. Sunisha’s research sheds light on how structures such as geography, migration, gendered expectations and health systems constrain agency, and shape pregnancy and childbirth experiences.   

Laura Steege (Science, Engineering and Medicine – Brighton and Sussex Medical School): Laura is undertaking vital research into Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) species in hospitals, which pose a risk of respiratory infection but are not routinely tested for. Laura developed a new, practical method for sampling the bacteria, trialling it in 11 hospitals, and offering the first snapshot of NTM in the built environment in the UK. This method has been cited in NHS guidance and is recommended as the gold standard for new-builds, making hospitals safer for at-risk patients.  

University of Sussex Business School: No nominations received.