Dr Claire Mercer and Dr Lucy Walton in the Directorate of Radiography at the University of Salford have both recently been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Research Scholarship; this one-year scheme offers focussed support to promising early career researchers joining the University. Both researchers are using their scholarships to progress research into breast research within the University of Salford’s developing research portfolio.
Claire’s research will seek to extend her PhD work on practitioner variation in breast compression and provide a standardised pressure controlled positioning protocol for use within breast services. Claire states, “The scholarship will enable me to network and share expertise with scholars and reflect on my developing research area. The scholarship offers a tailored training programme and support for bid writing activities and I am certain that this will prove invaluable for me as an early researcher and assist me to develop my career to the next level. I am very much looking forward to the mentorship and support of Prof David Howard, a researcher in Mechanical Engineering and progressing onto the next stage of my career which has been enabled by this VC ECR scholarship”.
Lucy’s research will be used to support the development of her research project characterising breast arterial calcification within mammography images collected during the NHS Breast Screening Programme. The project main aims are to (1) evaluate the use of breast arterial calcification measured from mammography images to establish cardio vascular risk in asymptomatic women within the pre-existing NHS Breast Screening Programme and (2) identify the important modifiers of breast arterial calcification over time. Lucy states, “I am delighted to have been awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Early Career Research Scholarship 2016-17. I will use the funds to support my attendance to NHS sites to collect my data and to present my research at the European Congress of Radiology. I am looking forward to attending the development workshops as part of this programme and gaining support from my mentor Prof Penny Cook (a researcher in public health)”.
L-R: Dr Claire Mercer and Dr Lucy Walton