Celebrating NDCN at Thomas Willis Day 2026

Thomas Willis Day is our annual opportunity to come together as a whole department and celebrate everything we’ve achieved over the past year. 

It’s a chance to recognise the contributions of everyone who makes our community what it is — across research, teaching, professional services, and technical support — and to reflect on the collective effort behind our successes. 

Three-minute theses

After a welcome address from Head of Department Professor Kevin Talbot, the event kicked off with the popular three-minute thesis (3MT) presentations by DPhil students from all four years aiming to impress our judging panel by conveying the essence of their research in an accessible way in just three minutes! 

The winners were:

Year 1 Winner - C. Viktoria Hisako Bjarkmann - "To Be or Not to Be Accurately Diagnosed with Autoimmune Encephalitis in Denmark, That Is My Research Question "

Year 1 Runner up - Gloria Charite - "Epilepsy in Post-Conflict Settings: The Overlooked Role of Psychological Trauma"

Year 2 Winner - Maria Afonso Pereira - "Mechanisms of Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis (MS)"

Year 2 Runner up - Joanna Komorowska - "Functional Characterisation of Parkinson's Disease Risk Genes in Stem Cell Models of Neurodegeneration"

Year 3/4 Winner - Grace Borchert - "Optogenetic Therapy for Vision Restoration in Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration"

Year 3/4 Runner up - Rebecca Willis - "The Role of Neurochemistry in Visual Development"

Departmental awards

The close of Thomas Willis day is always marked by the giving of the NDCN Departmental Awards which recognise exceptional contributions made in NDCN within the last 12 months. The awards celebrate research, technical, professional services staff as well as students. 

The winners of this year's NDCN Departmental Prizes were:

Public Engagement:

• Grace Borcert - Grace has made sustained contributions to public engagement and advocacy for vision research including representing the vision research community at ARVO Advocacy Day in Washington DC.

Good Citizenship:

• Adham Farah - Adham has made significant contributions to strengthening the Early Career Researcher (ECR) community and improving communication across NDCN as well as to the Clinical Neurosciences Society when there was a gap in leadership.
• Gabriele De Luca  - Professor De Luca has led an innovative initiative to make medical education more inclusive by expanding the Expert Patient Tutor (EPT) programme into community settings and increasing participation from underrepresented groups. 
• Anna Guttesen - Anna has made an outstanding contribution to fostering community and engagement within OxCIN leading initiatives and training activities that promote open and reproducible research practices. 
• Ahmed Salman - Ahmed has made an exceptional contribution to community-building within NDCN, becoming a trusted and highly approachable source of support for researchers, students, and staff across the department.

Leadership:

• Isabela Ramanath - Isabela has demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and provided exceptional support and guidance for fellow Research Assistants, helping to establish a solid research support set-up that underpins all studies in the group. 
• Jo Whiting - Jo has provided outstanding leadership to the Communications and Events Team during a period of change and increasing demand, combining strategic vision with genuine compassion for her colleagues.
• WICN (Women in Clinical Neuroscience Network) - WICN mentoring programme supported women at different career stages empowering, taking positive actions such as expanding their networks, applying for funding, setting boundaries, and prioritising wellbeing.  
• Jason Lerch - Jason secured a highly competitive Wellcome Trust Bioimaging Technology Development Award, demonstrating exceptional scientific vision and leadership and successfully united a large, interdisciplinary consortium to deliver an ambitious proof-of-concept programme within just 12 months.

Teaching:

• Thomas Okell - Tom has made an exceptional contribution to neuroimaging education within NDCN. He has led the development and delivery of a highly regarded interdisciplinary training programme, contributing to its recent shortlisting for a Vice-Chancellor’s Award. 

Open Science:

• Paul McCarthy and Matthew Webster Paul and Matt have made major contributions to Open Science through the development of widely accessible neuroimaging resources and software within the FSL project and the development of a CPU-based version of the advanced MMORF image registration tool.
• Polytimi Frangou - Polytimi has made a significant contribution to Open Science through her role in developing the TMS Reporting Assessment Tool (TMS-RAT), a major international initiative designed to improve transparency and reproducibility in transcranial magnetic stimulation research.

Early Career Researcher:

• Ioana Grigoras  - Ioana played a leading role in delivering a highly complex and innovative collaborative study between Oxford and UCL, coordinating participant testing, imaging protocols, and multidisciplinary teams while overcoming significant technical and logistical challenges.
• Abhinav Sharma - Abhinav has made two exceptional contributions that have strengthened NDCN’s scientific reputation and international profile. He led a high-impact eBioMedicine study that advanced understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease and was awarded the prestigious CBR–UK DRI Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Intermediate Career Researcher:

• Steve Middleton - Steve’s recent work integrated human genetics, molecular biology, structural biology, and in vivo neuroscience, and uncovered a novel therapeutic target for chronic pain and created new opportunities for non-opioid analgesic development.
• Andrea Kusec  - Andrea led the conceptualisation, analysis, and writing of a novel clinical prediction model for post-stroke cognitive impairment in a recent publication which has direct translational potential to support clinicians, patients, and families in planning post-stroke care.

in case you missed it...

This year we enjoyed a longer, full day format for Thomas Willis Day which allowed even more time for science and department celebrations.

We were delighted to welcome Professor Alison Goate, Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), to give this year's Annual Thomas Willis Lecture entitled ‘Alzheimer's disease genetics: Implications for disease mechanisms and treatment’.

Professor Sarah Pendlebury gave her inaugural lecture 'Acute illness, frailty and brain health', exploring her research and clinical work with a particular focus on her large real world cohort 'ORCHARD' studies.

Demonstrating that 3 minute talks aren't just for students, we enjoyed a series of very quick updates on people and activities from the Heads of the six NDCN divisions and the Professional Services team. The new Chairs of the Clinical Neurosciences Society introduced themselves and invited the audience to vote on their charity to support for 2026/27.

Attendees were also a choice of three breakout sessions focused on personal and professional development.

Continuing the conversations about academic career progression from the last Town Hall, Kevin facilitated a panel discussion with Adam Handel, Betina Ip, Stuart Peirson, who shared their unique clinical and research career journeys, with Alison Goate offering an insightful US perspective. 

For those not looking to pursue an academic career, Moira Westwood and Stuart Clare convened a varied panel of PSS, technical and research staff who also shared their varying career paths and approaches to professional development. 

Finally, University Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing trainer, Bettina Kelemen, led a workshop exploring strategies to protect and maintain mental health and well-being to help people thrive both at work and in life.

All images thanks to Cyrus Mower Photography