On Friday 9 May 2025, research degree students and academic judges came together to showcase their presentations at Rising Scientist Day – an annual event designed to showcase the talent and hard work of our postgraduate research students.
The day featured two parts: a PhD poster competition and a three-minute thesis competition which allowed students to win prizes based on their clarity and communication of scientific ideas.
For the poster competition, students presented their research and assessed the originality and quality of their research, poster content and design and presentation and communication skills. The judges then reviewed the posters and agreed on the winners.
For the three-minute thesis, judges scored the presentations out of ten using the same criteria to then determine the prize winners for first, second, and third place.
Beyond the prizes, Rising Scientist Day offered students a valuable platform to share their scientific ideas, engage with peers and experts, and sharpen their presentation skills. Here’s what some of the participants had to say about their experience:
Sorcha O’Conner
I’m a final-year PhD student at the Centre for Psychedelic Research in Brain Sciences. During the Rising Scientist Day, I presented my poster on PsilOCD, a clinical trial exploring low-to-moderate doses of psilocybin for OCD. Our data showed a significant drop in symptoms that held up for two weeks after dosing, compared with placebo – an effect that wasn’t seen in participants’ co-occurring depression symptoms. It was nice to be able to converse with the other PhD students, and refreshing to see posters on proteomics for Alzheimer’s and gene-editing approaches in neurodevelopment when I’m usually surrounded by clinical psychiatric research.
The judges moved among the poster sessions, offering practical feedback that helped me refine my methods description and clarify statistical details. Their comments will definitely improve how I present my findings in future conferences.
We wrapped up with drinks and snacks, and the best moments were the informal conversations—sharing challenges, milestones and our next steps. I left feeling energised and ready to apply the new ideas I picked up.