CREATE fellows meeting - London, UK - November 2025

At the end of November 2025 the CREATE PhD Programme welcomed its fellows, supervisors, PMG members, invited speakers and guests to a fellows meeting, held this year at The Wellcome Collection in London, UK.  Our meeting days were Wednesday the 26^th and Friday the 27^th and the fellows attended a Wellcome meeting for Wellcome Trust PhD fellows from Programmes around the nation.

27 fellows attended our meeting days in person and gave lightning and extended presentations, according to how far they are in their PhD fellowship – on topics such as dementia, neonatal sepsis, TB, Strep A, and community peer support groups, to name a few.

Even though all the fellow presentations were excellent, there were a handful of prizes awarded for the best ones. They were given to Flora Dangwa, and Omar B. Forge Risk for their lightning presentations, and Lydia Davidson and Sarah Sturrock (who gave a double act presentation as they have similar research topics), Sam Gnanapragasam, Kate Mattick, and Racheal Alinaitwe for their extended presentations.

Seye Abimbola gave a thought provoking talk about his book and the concept of ‘The Foreign Gaze’, and there were panel discussions on: the use of AI-driven health tools and digital systems in Africa, academic career planning post-fellowship, funder opportunities for post-docs, public engagement, and pharmacy and industry.

We held a drinks and buffet reception on the Thursday evening at The Marquis Cornwallis in Central London.  CREATE colleagues were invited, including PhD fellows from the previous Programme and it was great to be in a more relaxed atmosphere away from presentations and work!

The meeting days were very packed and intense but it was ultimately rewarding to have face to face reunions and meetings with our colleagues from around the world.

We look forward to seeing everyone together again in the future.