Emerging Leaders Prize recognises future leaders in climate change & health research
Two exceptional researchers have been announced today as winners of the Medical Research Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Prize.
Now in its eighth year, our Emerging Leaders Prize recognises scientists who are on an exciting upward trajectory to lead unique and innovative research in their field. This year, funded by a generous gift in Will from Johanna Alicia Ménage and Professor Victor Louis Ménage, the 2024 prize awards a total of £110,000 to researchers from the University of Bristol and University of Exeter.
It is thought that over 40 per cent of the world’s population – that’s over 3.3 billion people – are highly vulnerable to climate change. The science is clear: climate change is a real and rapidly growing threat to all of us. As global temperatures continue to rise, we can expect to see an increase in the scale and severity of natural disasters, leading to death, injury and displacement of entire communities.
We are already witnessing the catastrophic impacts of climate change on health, from changing and unpredictable patterns of infectious disease to heat-related illnesses and deaths. The warming climate is also affecting food security and heightening the threat of malnutrition, as well as worsening maternal and child health outcomes.
That’s why we are focusing more of our funding on the impact of climate change on health. So far, we have invested over £4 million into partnerships between researchers in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, prioritising research that will have a real, tangible impact on people’s lives.
Through the Emerging Leaders Prize, we are building on this support, helping future science leaders in the UK to advance their research and careers.
Our 2024 winners are both making a significant impact in climate and health research. By investigating the human health impacts of extreme weather events and how microbial communities are affected, their studies could lead to much-needed new approaches to mitigating climate change.
Over 40%
of the world’s population are highly vulnerable to climate change.
1st Place Winner, £100,000: Dr Daniel Padfield, Research Fellow, University of Exeter
Dr Daniel Padfield is an evolutionary ecologist, whose research has led to breakthroughs in understanding how rising temperatures affect microbial communities. These groups of microorganisms have a profound impact on the planet through carbon and nutrient cycling. They also affect human health through bacterial infections and our own microbiomes.
Dr Padfield’s most recent work has focused on understanding bacterial evolution in natural communities in Cornwall. He has also used his expertise in programming to help compile a list of over 1,500 bacteria capable of infecting humans.
Now, Dr Padfield is exploring whether a warming climate will exacerbate the selection and spread of antibiotic resistance – another urgent threat to our health. The Emerging Leaders Prize will allow Dr Padfield to run controlled lab experiments to explore exactly how rising temperatures will affect the spread of antibiotic resistance, which will make future predictions around the phenomenon more accurate.
Ultimately, Dr Padfield hopes to uncover vital information about how environmental change impacts microbes and the key global functions they control. The prize funding will help him to lead an open, creative research group specialising in climate change ecology and health research, so that he can achieve these goals.
Highly Commended, £10,000: Dr Eunice Lo, Research Fellow, University of Bristol
Dr Eunice Lo leads a team of interdisciplinary researchers to understand extreme weather impacts on illnesses and aspects of daily life.
Over the last few years, Dr Lo has been studying changes in extreme weather events - such as heatwaves and cold spells - to understand how these changes translate to negative health outcomes.
Her research has had real-world impact, providing vital evidence for climate change mitigation, both in the UK and abroad. Her work has highlighted the serious consequences of extreme temperatures to UK policymakers, and improved the way that public health agencies monitor temperature-related deaths.
Now, Dr Lo will use the prize funding to expand her collaborative network of health researchers, data providers, and policymakers.
This evening, we are taking our commitment [to climate change and health] a step further, supporting future science leaders here in the UK with the early funding they need to advance their research and their careers.Professor Paul Moss OBE
Chair of the Medical Research Foundation
At the Emerging Leaders Prize award ceremony, Professor Paul Moss OBE, Chair of the Medical Research Foundation, said:
“Tonight’s ceremony takes place against a backdrop of record-breaking temperatures, devastating storms, flooding, heatwaves, and droughts around the world.
At a time of geopolitical crisis, with world leaders gathering just last week for COP29 – it could hardly be more relevant.
Climate change is already costing lives and livelihoods in all corners of the world. As a charity whose very mission is to improve human health, we cannot sit back and watch as the planet’s health declines, and we cannot make matters worse by our own actions.
This evening, we are taking our commitment a step further, supporting future science leaders here in the UK, with the early funding they need to advance their research and their careers.”
The prize-winners received their awards at a ceremony in London on Thursday 28 November 2024.
This is the eighth year of our Emerging Leaders Prize. In previous years, we have recognised researchers working in lupus, adolescent mental health, hepatitis, antimicrobial resistance, pain and COVID-19.