Students hosted in the lab
As a STEM NI Ambassador, David has hosted 21 school and undergraduate students for summer studentships and work shadowing, with a focus on students from backgrounds under-represented in science.
Citizenship
A lab that belongs to its community
Publicly funded science should give something back. We open our doors to young people, work with local schools and stand up for curiosity-driven research.
Royal Society Partnership Grant
Secondary school pupils work alongside the lab to test shop-bought plants for viruses, running real molecular experiments on samples they collect themselves.
Talking about viruses
School visits, public talks and writing for The Conversation. When a new virus is in the news, we help people make sense of it.
Why it matters
Standing up for blue-sky research
Many of the medicines and vaccines we rely on grew out of research that set out simply to understand how life works. We believe that fundamental, curiosity-driven science deserves support, and we make that case in classrooms, in public and in policy conversations.
From the news page
Out and about
Hosting the European Research Council in Belfast
David hosted an "In Conversation" event with Nobel Laureate Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier and Professor Teresa Lambe OBE during the ERC Scientific Council's first visit to Northern Ireland.
Talking viruses and handwashing at the Balmoral Show
Members of the lab joined the Queen's University Belfast stand at the Balmoral Show to talk to visitors about the viruses that make us sick and why washing our hands matters.
David appointed UK Ambassador for the ERC
David is one of 32 ERC grantees chosen for the new Ambassadors for the ERC network, representing the United Kingdom as an advocate for frontier research.