Dr Sophie Miller Memorial Prize Lecture
Background
The Dr. Sophie Miller Memorial Prize is an annual protected opportunity for early career members to present their own promising unpublished or early published anatomical research at the summer scientific meeting of the Society. The prize provides a career development platform dedicated to young researchers through supported attendance at the meeting, early experience in academic presentation (written abstract and extended oral presentation time), senior feedback, and publicity on the Society's website, social media outlets and newsletter.
Early career members are encouraged to submit an abstract (application form submission details below) for a short (20 minutes) lecture, to be presented by the winning applicant at the summer meeting in the same year. The abstract should detail the promise and early results of their research area, the relevance to the anatomy community and the future potential impact of the project. Applications should also describe how the prize will be of benefit to the applicant.
Dr Sophie Miller was an Anatomical Society funded PhD student from 2011-2014 at the University of Cambridge. She investigated olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and their potential for transplant-mediated repair of the central nervous system. During this time, she presented at many Anatomical Society meetings, with one of the publications from her PhD work appearing in the September 2016 issue of the Journal of Anatomy. Sophie was particularly supportive to her other early career researchers and colleagues in scientific and career development. She passed away in December 2016. In her memory, her family have generously provided support for young and aspiring anatomical researchers through the Anatomical Society.
Eligibility
Early Career Members must be society members within 5 years of graduation from a primary university undergraduate degree pertinent to anatomy, or current undergraduates.
Award
Annually, with £300 and a prize certificate. The prize winner will give their lecture at the summer scientific meeting of the society. THIS ROUND HAS NOW CLOSED.
The award will be judged by the Prizes and Awards Committee and publicised on the Society's website, Anastomosis and social media outlets.
The prize winner may apply for the Barclay-Smith Travelling Fund for up to £400 towards the costs of meeting registration (and travel expenses and appropriate accommodation, if the meeting is in person). An application will be expected for Barclay-Smith Funding Round 4 in anticipation of the summer scientific meeting.
Application Entry Form Submission
Applications will open for the next round on 22nd January 2025. THIS ROUND HAS NOW CLOSED.
Applications require completion and return of the application form (Click here to download Sophie Miller Memorial Prize Application Form) a 1 page CV and a supporting paragraph from your supervisor or senior collaborator. All three parts of the application should be returned to the Society's Executive Administrator at maryanne.piggott@kcl.ac.uk.
Deadline for applications: 6th March 2025. Revised deadline 11.59pm Sunday 16th March 2025. Revised deadline 11.59pm Sunday 16th March 2025.
Queries
For further information please contact the Executive Administrator at: maryanne.piggott@kcl.ac.uk
Ms Orla Mitchell, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
'Early Life Adversity & Brain Structure: A Longitudinal Structural MRI Study'
Talk to be given at the Anatomical Society Summer Meeting, 14th to 16th July 2025, hosted by the University of Oxford.
Mr Benjamin Davies, University of Cambridge.
'Exploring mammary terminal duct labular unit (TDLU) development using ovine and rabbit models.'
Talk to be given at the Anatomical Society Summer Meeting, 24th to 26th July 2024, hosted by the University of Edinburgh.
REPORT
Ms Ciara Walsh, University College Dublin, Ireland.
"An in vitro and ex vivo analysis of the potential of GeIMA hydrogels as a therapeutic platform for preclinical spinal cord injury"
Talk to be given at the Anatomical Society Summer Meeting, 25th to 27th July 2023, hosted by the University of Bangor.
REPORT
PHOTO
Mr Cian O'Connor, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
"Development of biomimetic stem cell scaffold for spinal cord repair"
Talk to be given at the Anatomical Society Summer Meeting, 4th to 6th July 2022, hosted by the University of Dublin
REPORT
Miss Christina Loukopoulou, University of Edinburgh
"Amalgamating anatomy with tissue engineering to produce an anatomically and clinically relevant in vitro bone-tendon construct for flexor tendon repair"
Congratulations to Christina Loukopoulou, PhD student at The University of Edinburgh, as the winner of the 2021 Dr Sophie Miller Memorial Prize for early career members.
We look forward to listening to Christina's talk which will be presented at the virtual summer meeting in Glasgow 7-9th July 2021
entitled:
'Amalgamating anatomy with tissue engineering to produce an anatomically and clinically relevant in vitro bone-tendon construct for flexor tendon repair'.
Dr. Kevin Byrnes, University of Limerick
"The mesentery: a new model of abdominal compartmentalisation?
The Anatomical Society is delighted to announce the first recipient of the Dr Sophie Miller Memorial Prize: Dr Kevin Byrnes, a PhD Student based in the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick.
Dr Byrnes will present his lecture “The mesentery: a new model of abdominal compartmentalisation?”, which we hope will be delivered at the Winter Meeting of the Anatomical Society in Newcastle, January 6th-8th 2021.
Regius Professor Simon Parson, President of the Anatomical Society highlighted the exceptional quality of the applications to this new prize, and the challenge in choosing a winner. We are delighted to be able to support Dr Sophie Miller’s parents who are kindly funding the Prize, in memory of their daughter.
Dr Sophie Miller’s parents commented "As Sophie's parents we are very proud of her research work and the passion and enthusiasm that she had for science. She would like nothing better than to encourage fellow scientists and we are delighted to celebrate her memory in this way and very grateful to the Anatomical Society for arranging it."
Dr Sophie Miller was an Anatomical Society funded PhD student from 2011-2014 at Cambridge University. She investigated olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and their potential for transplant-mediated repair of the central nervous system. During this time she presented at many Anatomical Society meetings, with one of the publications from her PhD work appearing in the September 2016 issue of The Journal of Anatomy.
She passed away in December 2016 and her family have generously provided support for young and aspiring scientists through the Anatomical Society in her memory.