Sophie Covington

At UCL we are surrounded by world-class medical research - I would like to empower students to get involved in incredible projects and start a research journey of their own.

Research can take so many different forms, whether that be hands-on innovation, a literature review or a project harnessing computational science.

My research experience includes building a multi-trust database to analyse pregnancy outcomes for those with rheumatic disease, using machine learning to model Parkinson’s disease progression, as well as being invited to present my hospital ward audit at a national conference.

Most recently, my project using weather balloons to analyse the effects of lockdown on air pollution and consequent respiratory health was featured on BBC Radio 4.

I have been lucky to receive advice from students in older years about how to get involved in research, and without them, I do not think I would have become nearly as involved as I am now.

As Academic Medicine Chair, I would increase access to medical research by:

• Creating and maintaining an opportunities bank advertising all research opportunities in one place
• Creating a new mentorship scheme, pairing preclinical students with clinical students involved with research, so that they can receive advice about partaking in research from their first year at university
• Encouraging members to test-run a presentation informally to our members before presenting at a conference

Vote Sophie to introduce these ideas to Med Soc!