Profiling the nominees for the Science and Technology category
Sponsored by Western Power Distribution.
This award recognises an individual’s contribution to science, technology, mathematics and engineering related activities in manufacturing and industry, academia or the public sector.
You can watch the video of the shortlisted nominees for the Science and Technology category below:
The shortlisted nominees are:
Dr Tom Crick, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Dr Tom Crick is a Senior Lecturer in Computing Science at Cardiff Metropolitan University, as well as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Computing & Information Systems. Crick believes that being a scientist/researcher is more than just doing excellent research and teaching, it is about advocacy for the discipline, engagement with the media and the public, developing understanding and dialogue with policymakers and government.
Over the course of his young career Crick has inspired thousands of school children in Wales. In 2012, he was awarded £70,000 through the Welsh Government’s National Science Academy Scheme to promote computer science and related STEM careers and influenced over a thousand students, by helping them to develop programming and computer science skills, as well as helping to embed the subject within the curriculum.
Dr Haley Gomez, Cardiff University
Dr Gomez is a Senior Lecturer in astrophysics at Cardiff University, and conducts research into the origins of cosmic dust using space telescopes. She was inspired by Vera Rubin, a female astronomer who was not allowed to do a PhD at an American university (because she was a woman) but worked throughout the night (whilst her husband looked after the children) using a telescope to discover that galaxies contain invisible dark matter –something she proved using a simple plot with speed on the y axis, and distance on the x axis. This discovery of dark matter in the universe is one that many scientists think deserves a Nobel Prize. Reading about Vera Rubin instilled in Gomez the importance of communicating a big scientific breakthrough using everyday physical properties. As well as her day job, Gomez manages two large projects to help support and train secondary and primary teachers in teaching STEM (particularly astronomy), and inspiring children from all backgrounds to follow their dreams in studying/enjoying STEM further.
Dr Gomez is chair of the Ernest Rutherford extragalactic panel for the astronomy, cosmology and particle physics community, which requires deciding on the next leaders in these fields, and Head of Public engagement and outreach for the School of Physics and Astronomy. She is also part of the STFC Education and Training committee which has a budget of 26 million for allocating PhD studentships, summer schools for training and postdoctoral fellowships in these subjects.
Ajan Reginald, Cell Therapy Limited
Ajan is Executive Director & Co-founder of Cell Therapy Limited, a biotechnology entrepreneur, whose company specialises in off-the-shelf stem cell therapy products to treat life threatening and life altering illnesses such as heart attacks, heart disease and diabetes.
Reginald believes that to enable innovation to flourish, the focus on science has to be integrated into all the company’s operational procedures. He believes that normal management theory and practices don’t apply well in small Science and Innovation companies and the decision makers need to understand the science to make good decisions. CTL has many partnerships with Welsh Universities where our labs are based, as well as being commercial partner of the University of Oxford Stem Cell Institute.
