Photo competition highlights Canada-UK science collaboration
From cosmically large to microscopically small, winning entries showcase how researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are working together.
The British High Commission is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural ‘Images of Research’ photography competition. The winners, entitled ‘Astronomy, 120,000 feet over Ontario’ and ‘Thrombosis Can Be Art’, will receive funding to help further their innovative work in the UK and Canada.
‘Astronomy, 120,000 feet over Ontario’ brilliantly illustrates how the universities of Durham and Toronto are working together to map the dark matter clusters of the galaxy with the ‘Balloon Imaging Telescope’- an ingenious apparatus able to take pictures from above the Earth’s atmosphere and launching for its next flight in 2016.
Dr. Richard Massey of the University of Durham, upon hearing of the team’s successful submission, was happy to announce that “We’re excited on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the Durham engineers had a good idea to upgrade our balloon and the prize will let him install it in Toronto before our next flight.”
'Astronomy, 120,000 feet over Ontario'
‘Thrombosis Can Be Art’ captures the almost otherworldly beauty of megakaryocyte producing platelets. Working with the University of Toronto and the Hospital For Sick Children, researchers at the University of Reading hope to make strides in understanding how enzymes carried to the surface of platelets can be inhibited in efforts to prevent the creation of dangerous blood clots known medically as thrombosis.
“To work in Professor Walter Kahr’s group (Hospital for Sick Children) and, in particular, with Dr Fred Pluthero (University of Toronto), with whom I produced this amazing picture, has been inspirational for my research. I’m extremely excited that this prize will allow the continuation of the collaboration between our groups and hopefully to make discoveries that can help to cure cardiovascular diseases,” said Dr. Marilena Crescente of the University of Reading.
'Thrombosis Can Be Art'
The competition was open to researchers in the UK and Canada who are working together in the fields of energy and environment, life sciences and medical research, advanced engineering and aerospace, agriculture, and social innovation. Submissions were judged on originality, focus and overall impression.
More information
Media enquiries
Tom Walsh
80 Elgin Street
Ottawa Ontario K1P 5K7
Canada
Email tom.walsh@fcdo.gov.uk
Office +1 613 868 9296