Night of Science and Engineering 2024

Guest Speakers

For this the Night of Science and Engineering (NSE) 2024, we have brought together four inspirational speakers:

• Prof Karen Salt from UK Research and Innovation who will speak on the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion for delivering outstanding science and engineering,
• Marium Qaiser a leading figure in the pharmaceutical industry and a Queen Mary alumna who will speak about her work tackling issues effecting healthcare systems in developing countries,
• Dr Zoe Hudson a record breaking polar explorer who will entertain us with how she completed her first  expedition during her PhD at Queen Mary, and
• Prof Karin Hing who will speak about her world leading biomaterials research based here in the Faculty of Science and Engineering and benefiting hundreds of thousands of patients across the globe.

See below for further details of our four speakers.

Prof Karen Salt

Trusted Research and Innovation Portfolio Director , UK Research and Innovation

Professor Karen Salt specializes in governance, systems transformation and sustainable change within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation. She drives UKRI’s cross-organisational efforts to support flourishing partnerships and collaborations by providing effective and sound policymaking.

As a sector leader, collaborator and active researcher focused on harnessing the power of place-based research and equitable community/university partnerships, Prof Salt brings this expertise to her role as Professor of Culture, Place and Communities at Manchester Metropolitan University.

With over 30 years of experience in inclusive policy-making and novel change-making, Prof Salt continues to work closely with leaders across Government, academia, civil society and industry and contributes to numerous international initiatives focused on empowering communities and harnessing the creative potential of collective governance.

Marium Qaiser

Global Health and Life Sciences Consultant (Queen Mary alumna)

Marium is an innovative and strategic consultant with 15 years of experience in the life sciences sector. This includes pharma, R&D, global manufacturing and supply of drugs and vaccines. She has worked with major pharma companies and local governments in Nigeria, Pakistan and Ghana. She is passionate about developing ground-breaking innovative solutions using digital transformations and Artificial Intelligence for global health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, substandard and counterfeit drugs and non-communicable diseases which all pose a burden on healthcare systems in developing countries.

Dr Zoe Hudson

Polar Explorer (Queen Mary alumna)

In 1997, during her PhD at Queen Mary, Zoe was a member of first all-women’s expedition to ski to the North Pole as part of the McVitie’s Penguin Polar Relay. Zoe continued her polar expenditions in 2000 as a member of the first British all-women’s team to ski to the South Pole. This 'M&G ISA Challenge' expedition got her a place in the 'Guinness Book of Records', as well as the 'Pride of Britain Award', and one of the 'Women of the Year'. She returned to the North Pole in 2002 as Base Manager in the high Arctic for a North Pole expedition and has since been an expedition guide in Spitzbergen and traversed South Georgia following in the footsteps of Shackleton. Throughout this time she has been a clinician, educator, and researcher working in high performance sports biomechanics and physiotherapy. This includes working at the World and European Championships, World University Games, Commonwealth Games, Paralympic Games. 

Prof Karin Hing 

Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Regeneration, Queen Mary University of London

Prof Karin Hing's works on the development on implantable biomaterials used as substitutes for bone grafts. Her work formed part of the underpinning science behind ApaTech Ltd. a QMUL spin-out company that  was acquired by Baxter for $330m in 2010. Biomaterials developed by Prof Hing and the team have benefitted hundreds of thousands of patients across more than 30 countries and she continues to push the frontiers of bone biomaterials development.