Speakers
Dr Faith Uwadiae
Plenary Session
Opening the final day of the conference, Faith Uwadiae will share insights on building inclusive research cultures. Drawing from her extensive role at Wellcome Trust, she will highlight the significance of developing supportive environments that promote diversity within the scientific community.
Faith Uwadiae is an influential leader in the scientific community, with a deep commitment to advancing research, advocacy, and communication to promote scientific excellence and literacy. As a Research Culture & Communities Specialist at Wellcome Trust, she works passionately to improve research environments, ensuring that they are inclusive and beneficial for all researchers.
Faith's leadership extends to spearheading major projects, such as the multimillion-pound initiative to support Black-led grassroots networks and Wellcome’s flagship Accelerator Awards. With a strong academic background, including a PhD focused on chronic allergic airway disease from Imperial College London, Faith’s career is marked by her dedication to mentoring, diversity in STEM, and community engagement. Her work at the British Society for Immunology as a forum early career representative and her involvement with the PRISM Network as co-chair highlight her dedication to building an inclusive academic sphere. Faith's resilience and openness about her career challenges and milestones, including her candid reflections on setbacks and achievements, inspire many in her field.
We are delighted to have Merisha Stevenson guiding our conference. As a celebrated presenter from BBC Radio WM and an experienced broadcaster, Merisha has a profound knack for engaging audiences and steering conversations that touch on pivotal issues. Her extensive background in financial strategy and risk management, coupled with her passionate advocacy for empowering underrepresented voices, makes her the perfect host for our event.
Merisha is sure to leave a lasting impact on our conference, inspiring us all to embrace change and drive forward the cause of inclusivity in the scientific community, and ensure that every participant's voice is heard and valued.