Meet our PGRs of the Year
21 Aug 2025
Three postgraduate students were awarded the University’s Distinguished Achievement Award for their vital contribution to our research community and our institution’s success.
From prompting an NHS evaluation of HPV sampling to delivering in-person hostile environment surgical training to doctors in conflict zones; from reducing waste and energy use to transform industrial practices to creating the International Women’s Day graphic for chemistry; from supporting postgraduate and early career academics to informing internal BBC practices on AI-generated images in UK political contexts.
Dr Jennifer Davies, from the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health; Gillian McArthur, Faculty of Science and Engineering; and Niamh Cashell, Faculty of Humanities, have made incredible and inspiring starts to their careers.
Dr Jennifer Davies
Dr Jennifer Davies is committed to improving the lives of women minority groups through clinical practice and research.
Jen, a Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) Clinical Research Fellow, sits on the UK National Screening Committee and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Coalition, which aims to eliminate HPV-related cancers in the UK and globally.
Her research has demonstrated that urine HPV testing is an acceptable and clinically-effective alternative to routine cervical screening – pioneering and novel worldwide. She showed that urine self-sampling can reduce carbon emissions from cervical screening and demonstrated its potential to reduce cervical cancer deaths in Kenya, while encouraging people from a LGBTQ+ and ethnically diverse backgrounds to be screened.
Her work led to a large-scale NHS evaluation of self- sampling with the potential to change clinical practice.
Jen – who has won four national prizes for her work – has lobbied Parliament, published commentaries, blogs, podcasts and talked at national and international events on cervical cancer elimination.
She is a Faculty Member of the David Nott Foundation, delivering in-person hostile environment surgical training to doctors in conflict zones in 2022/3, including Palestine, Moldova and Djibouti. She also delivers teaching on LGBT research and healthcare to students at the University of Manchester, University College London, Royal Marsden and Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Associate Vice-President for Research, Professor Melissa Westwood said: “Jen's leadership skills are remarkable and she works tirelessly to improve the lives of patients, seeking additional funding and coming up with new research ideas to further improve women's health.”
Gillian McArthur
Gillian McArthur, at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, is an outstanding PhD student whose innovative work has led to developments in sustainable industry practices. She has developed a new class of ruthenium-catalyst that displays very high reactivity while maintaining stability at ambient conditions – an unprecedented feat in the area.
Her research, published in Nature Chemistry and validated by industry leaders, could transform industrial practices by reducing waste and energy use.
Gillian is an outstanding communicator who has won ten prizes for presentations of her work, upholding the high reputation of the University. She is passionate about outreach, taking part in events for women in science and releasing her research highlights through a well-known chemistry YouTube channel with over 10k subscribers. Gillian is also an artist – her artwork was chosen for the cover of the Chem Rev issue where her review was published and this year, she helped to make the International Women’s Day graphic for chemistry.
Gillian, chosen to represent the University at the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting, mentors younger students while also driving efforts to bring her discoveries to real-world applications by securing grants to support commercialisation.
Professor Westwood said: “Gillian’s passion, leadership, and groundbreaking achievements make her an exceptional ambassador for the University.”
Niamh Cashell
Niamh Cashell, at the Faculty of Humanities, served as Secretary of the Political Studies Association’s Early Career Network, a UK-based initiative supporting postgraduate and early career academics in political studies.
In this role, Niamh provided strategic leadership and administrative coordination, while also spearheading initiatives that fostered academic development and community building. She further demonstrated innovation through events like a blog-writing workshop in collaboration with the University’s PGR journal – Political Perspectives, and a media engagement workshop ahead of the UK General Election.
Niamh’s commitment to research impact extended beyond academia and last year, she completed a competitive (Economic and Social Research Council) ESRC-funded internship with the BBC’s Responsible Innovation Centre, producing a report on AI-generated images in UK political contexts.
Her findings informed internal BBC practices and were shared with both technical and editorial teams.
She further disseminated her research through the UK General Election Analysis Report, international podcasts, and academic workshops, with a co-authored book chapter, currently under review.
Professor Westwood said: “Niamh’s contributions reflect a strong commitment to academic leadership, public engagement and responsible innovation.”
You can read their full citations or watch them receiving their awards: