Dr Helena Fisk has been honoured with The Nutrition Society STEM4Britain Award.
The award recognises scientific excellence at an early career stage in nutritional science.
She was presented the award in the Houses of Parliament at the annual STEM4Britain poster competition on Monday 4th March.
Investigating omega-3 and obesity
Dr Fisk’s research focuses on understanding associations between the immune system, inflammation and disease, particularly in relation to ageing and obesity.
She is looking at the effects of consuming nutrients such as omega-3, probiotics and vitamin D in these areas of human health. Omega-3 is found in some nuts, seeds and fish.
Dr Fisk is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. Her research forms part of the Nutrition, Lifestyle and Metabolism theme at our NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.
She received the award for her research on obesity and omega-3. The title of her poster was ‘Profiling the inflammatory status of adipose tissue and evaluating the actions of omega-3 fatty acids in obesity’.
Sharing her research with MPs
STEM4Britain highlights ground-breaking and frontier UK research to Members of both Houses of Parliament. The awards encourage dialogue and engagement between early-stage researchers and MPs. It also raises the profile of Britain’s early-stage research scientists and engineers.
Hundreds of applicants were shortlisted to just 30 finalists within the biology and biomedical sciences theme. These finalists were invited to present at the event. Dr Fisk was selected for her award out of eight finalists presenting work in the field of nutrition.
She said: “I am delighted to receive The Nutrition Society STEM4Britain Award 2024. I was honoured to share my research with Members of Parliament, academic researchers across a variety of themes, and industry professionals.
“The event was an excellent showcase of ground-breaking research across a wide range of biology and biomedical themes. It was also an excellent opportunity to communicate the importance of my research to individuals outside of research and my field of interest.
“With the event occurring on World Obesity Day and the day after Global Omega-3 Day, it was the perfect time to highlight the importance of my research, and what this means for public health within the UK and globally.”
Image credit: The Nutrition Society
Pictured left to right: Stephen Metcalfe MP, Chair of the Parliamentary and Scientific committee; Dr Helena Fisk, University of Southampton and NIHR Southampton BRC research fellow; Prof Wendy Hall, Honorary Programmes Officer for The Nutrition Society, King’s College London.