Infection Science Award

The aim of the Award is to support the exchange of ideas between the two meetings and the career development of early career researchers and trainee scientists and doctors by exposing them to new audiences and networks.
The awardees will be offered registration for the reciprocal meeting and invited to submit a publication to Access Microbiology.
Eligibility
All self-defining early career and trainee presenters are eligible for the scheme. As a guide, the Microbiology Society’s ECM Forum considers you an early career microbiologist if you’re an undergraduate or postgraduate student, or within five years of appointment to your first position after your highest degree earned. However, if this doesn’t fit your situation and you consider yourself an early career researcher, you are welcome to participate.
Applicants must be a member of a FIS organising society*.
*FIS organising societies include: the British Infection Association (BIA), British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), Healthcare Infection Society (HIS), and Microbiology Society.
How to enter
To enter the competition, submit your abstract to the Infection Forum (Microbiology Society Annual Conference) or Infectious Disease Futures session (FIS conference - indicating that you are eligible to enter), and provide an additional statement about how the award will benefit your professional development.
The awardees will be offered registration for the reciprocal meeting and invited to submit a publication to Access Microbiology.
Award criteria
Abstract shortlisting
The abstracts submitted by eligible entrants will be shortlisted against the following criteria:
For the FIS Infectious Disease Futures session
- Essential:
1. coherent and well written abstract
2. rationale, data collected, interpretation and conclusions clearly stated
3. clear relevance of clinical/medical topic to infectious disease
- Desirable:
4. topic of potential interest to basic scientist
5. clinical/medical topic lacking in basic scientific infection research
6. topic that would potentially benefit from interaction with basic infection scientists and Microbiology Society Annual Conference attendees
For the Microbiology Society Infection Forum
- Essential:
1. coherent and well written abstract
2. rationale, data collected, interpretation and conclusions clearly stated
3. clear relevance of topic to the microbiology of infection
- Desirable:
4. topic of potential interest to clinicians and medical/biomedical related FIS attendees
5. basic scientific infection research topic lacking in translation to clinical/medical/biomedical and related practice
6. topic that would potentially benefit from interaction with clinicians and medical/biomedical related FIS attendees
Session presentations
A judging panel will attend the session to judge the entrants and select the awardees for announcement in the weeks following FIS or the Microbiology Society Annual Conference. The judges will focus on scientific content and communication and criteria related to the translation potential of research outlined in presentations. The full judging criteria can be found below:

2023 winners
- Amber Barton, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
- James Larkin, University College Cork, Ireland
- Blanca Perez-Sepulveda, University of Liverpool, UK
Previous Winners
Event | Winner(s) |
FIS 2022 |
Eve Laycock, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Dowan Kwon, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Joshua Nazareth, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK
Ho Kwong Li, Imperial College London, UK
|
Annual Conference 2022
|
Eleanor Marshall, Imperial College London, UK
Rebecca McHugh, University of Strathclyde, UK
Matthew McKracken, University of Plymouth, UK
|
FIS 2021
|
Matthew Beaumont
Luke Mair
Luke Turner
|
Annual Conference Online 2021
|
Srishti Baid
Alyson Hockenberry
Brenda Morris
Ann-Kathrin
Johannes Westman
|
FIS/HIS 2020
|
Sarita Mohapatra
Mariya Molai
Anna Wild
Ioannis Baltas
|
FIS 2019
|
Abigail Walker-Jacobs
Christopher Rooney
Jordan Skittrall
Vivien Price
|