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Rising Stars

Dr Loanda Cumba

Assistant Professor (Chemistry with Artificial Intelligence) | School of Chemical Sciences | Dublin City University

Dr Loanda Cumba is currently an Assistant Professor in Chemistry with AI within the School of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University. She was awarded a PhD in Materials Science in 2016 by UNESP (Brazil).
Her research interest lies in the development of novel strategies for the development of 2D and 3D printable multi-responsive (polymer and nano) materials to explore their attractive properties, versatility, and applicability as electrochemical (wearable)sensor platforms. Her idea is to design intelligent data analysis that combines electrochemical sensing with machine learning (ML) to solve complicated, non-linear and dynamic problems in (bio)sensing and electrode development.

Dr. Anais Colibaba

Postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Vladimir Lobaskin's computational bionano group | University College Dublin

Anais graduated with a Bsc in Physics from Jacobs University, Bremen in 2015. In 2016 she started her PhD with Prof. Sanvito in Trinity College Dublin where she focused on screening for novel 2D materials for solar energy harvesting applications using density functional theory. Since 2021 Anais has been a postdoctoral researcher in University College Dublin in Prof. Lobaskin's bionano computational group. In her postdoctoral programme she has been using first principles and molecular dynamics calculations to characterise nanomaterials' behaviour in biological environments.

Dr Jane Coons

Supernumerary Teaching Fellow | St John’s College | University of Oxford Affiliate Researcher | Mathematical Institute | University of Oxford

Dr. Jemima M. Tabeart

Hooke Fellow | Mathematical Institute | University of Oxford Fulford Junior Research Fellow | Somerville College

Dr Jemima M. Tabeart is a Hooke Fellow in Numerical Analysis at the University of Oxford and a Fulford Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College. Her research involves designing and using numerical linear algebra methods for extremely high dimensional industrial problems, including meteorology, engineering and materials science.
Jemima completed her PhD in 2019 at the University of Reading, and before arriving in Oxford was a postdoctoral researcher at ICERM at Brown University (2020) and the University of Edinburgh (2019-2022). Outside work she enjoys hiking, cycling and crafting.

Dr Karmel-Sofia Gkika

Postdoctoral Fellow | Keyes Research Group | School of Chemical Sciences, National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) Dublin City University

Dr Karmel Sofia Gkika is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Dublin City University (Prof. Tia Keyes research group). She received a BSc degree in Analytical Science from DCU in 2016 and was awarded a PhD in the field of Bioinorganic Chemistry in 2021.
Her current research interests lie in developing novel probes for luminescence cellular imaging and sensing and extending their application toward tissue imaging. More recently, she has been involved in collaborative projects which involve exploring the phototherapeutic prospects of analogous probes in cells and tissue models.
She was highly commended by the Irish Biological Inorganic Chemistry Society (IBICS) for the postgraduate IBICS gold medal award. Additionally, she has received the Colin Barnes and Diamond Researcher awards for research excellence by the School of Chemical Sciences and National Centre for Sensor Research in DCU.
On top of her research activities, Karmel has contributed toward undergraduate teaching and has been involved in STEMM outreach activities aiming to convey science to a diverse audience.

Dr Margaret McCaul

Assistant Professor in Analytical Chemistry | School of Chemical Sciences | Dublin City University

Margaret is currently an Assistant Professor in Analytical Chemistry at Dublin City University, PI at National Centre for Sensor Research and Funded Investigator at the INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics. Margaret received her BSc in Analytical Chemistry at the Limerick Institute of Technology and her PhD in Analytical Geochemistry from Dublin City University. She has over ten years industrial experience in the area of analytical chemistry and has held postdoctoral positions in science education and geochemistry, before taking a senior position as team leader in sensor integration and microfluidics in the adaptive sensors group at DCU. Her current research focuses on novel sensor development from functional materials to innovative devices which comprises several distinct strands of research including: Analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, 3D (micro-)fabrication technologies, materials chemistry, data analytics and remote sensing.

Dr. Anastasiia Vasylchenkova

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow | Optical Networks Group | Electronic & Electrical Engineering | University College London

Dr Evgeniya Kovalska

Faculty of Environment | Science and Economy Department of Engineering | University of Exeter

Dafni Roumba

University of Oxford

Dafni Roumba is an MPhys graduate from the University of Oxford. Currently located in Switzerland where she has been working at EPFL in the Laboratory of Experimental Biophysics where she developed an algorithm for Phase Contrast Image Analysis using Deep Learning. A few things about her: She is from Cyprus, loves drawing, She uses cooking and baking to deal with stress, and she loves music so much, she listens to it 24/7. Any suggestions for a good tune?? Let her know!