Limerick student receives  national physics award for excellence

A PHYSICS student at the University of Limerick has won a prestigious national award that recognises excellence in graduate research commun- ication.

Sarah Markham, a PhD student of the Department of Physics and Bernal Institute at UL, was awarded the 2019 Institute of Physics in Ireland (IOPI) Rosse Medal at a recent ceremony.

The Dooradoyle native was among 25 physics postgraduate students from higher education institutions across Ireland competing for the medal, which was awarded at the Institute of Physics in Ireland’s annual spring meeting. 

“Well done to Sarah on winning the IOPI Rosse Medal award, which is a tremendous result in a tough competition,” UL president Dr Des Fitzgerald said. 

“This is the third year in a row that the medal has gone to the UL School of Physics and indeed UL PhD physics students have won this medal four times in the past five years, which is a wonderful achievement and a testament to the strong work that is being done there.”

The IOPI Rosse Medal medal, which commemorates contributions to the science of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, Sir William Parsons, is awarded annually for graduate research communication. 

The award has a particular emphasis on how the research is communicated to a broad audience via a poster and oral presentation.

Ms Markham’s research emanated from an industry-targeted project on developing image contrast of devices during endoscopic ultrasonic imaging. 

Her work is currently funded through the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Medical Devices, CURAM.

Dr Christophe Silien and Professor Tofail Syed from the Department of Physics and Bernal Institute, University of Limerick jointly supervise her PhD thesis.