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School of Biological Sciences courses, activities and news.

02/10/2026

Congratulations to Kate Monaghan, inaugural recipient of the Action Renewables Scholarship in Energy Leadership for Sustainable Development 👏

A graduate of Queen’s BSc Environmental Management with Professional Studies programme, Kate is now taking the next step in developing her skills and expertise in sustainability through the Master’s in Leadership for Sustainable Development, supported by the Action Renewables scholarship.

“I believe the Master’s degree, combined with the opportunity to engage with Action Renewables, will equip me with the knowledge, experience and leadership skills needed to contribute to the renewable energy sector and help accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable future."

“I feel incredibly honoured and absolutely delighted to have been awarded the scholarship.”

➡️ Read more here: https://ow.ly/BlZM50ZTQu7

30/09/2026

Have you met our Undergraduate Peer Mentors yet? 👋

They’re hosting a drop-in session tomorrow in the school, 1st October 1–2pm, where you can come along for a chat, ask any questions you might have or just enjoy a friendly catch-up 😊

Just head to the ground floor seating area by the stairs and look out for the Peer Mentor banner!

29/09/2026

“September is Gynaecologic Cancer Awareness Month, and represents a time to recognise the global burden of the five gynaecologic cancers and renew our commitment to improving outcomes for all affected.”

For PGR student Emma Adams, this means continuing her research on how exposure to alkylphenols (APs), a group of chemicals found in a range of household and industrial products, could disrupt estrogen receptor (ER) activity, which plays an important role in female reproductive function.

“Research has shown an association between chemical exposure and an increased risk of infertility and cancer, so a greater understanding of the exact mechanism by which these chemicals exert their effects is essential.”

“However, to date, research has focused on harmful effects in wildlife and males, so my research aims to address the gap in our understanding of how APs can disrupt ER activity.”

Ultimately, Emma hopes her work can help regulatory bodies prioritise more harmful chemicals for restriction, reducing our overall exposure.

🔗 Discover more about Emma’s research: https://ow.ly/ZhLq50ZSx8R

21/09/2026

Starting your first semester at Queen’s? 🎓

Here’s some top tips from our alumni to help you make the most of your university experience!

18/09/2026

Welcome to all our new undergraduate students!

It was great to meet everyone at yesterday’s Welcome Day, we’re so delighted to have you join our school. Here’s to a great year ahead ✨

17/09/2026

Can better access to agricultural knowledge help create more sustainable and resilient rural communities?

A new study led by Dr Adewale Adenuga will explore whether peer-to-peer agricultural videos can strengthen farmers’ knowledge and encourage the adoption of sustainable farming practices, supporting enterprise development and rural livelihoods across 20 communities in northern and southern Ghana.

At the heart of the project is Access Agriculture’s Entrepreneur for Rural Access (ERA) programme, which supports young entrepreneurs to bring practical agricultural learning directly into their communities through locally relevant videos using mobile technologies and solar-powered projectors. Importantly, content is available in local languages, with topics including sustainable farming practices, soil and pest management, food processing, enterprise development and financial inclusion.

The study brings together Queen's University Belfast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Access Agriculture, with the international research team including Dr Martina Bozzola, Professor Fred Nimoh and Dr Paul Van Mele.

➡️Learn more about the project here: https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/2026/Queensstudyexploreswhetheragriculturalvideoscanboostruralentrepreneurs.html

04/09/2026

That’s a wrap on our 2026 Postgraduate Research Symposium 🎉

A huge well done to everyone who presented throughout the week! It was inspiring to see the excellent standard of presentations, and the full breadth of research taking place across the school and Institute for Global Food Security 👏

Special congratulations also go to our best presentation winners:
🔴 Agri-Food Systems and Human Nutrition - Godswill Hygienus, Shane Fagan, Lana Watt
🔴 Sustaining Ecosystems and Biodiversity - Bethanie Allen, Ryan Carmichael, Darragh Melaugh
🔴 Understanding Health and Disease - George Joseph Chakkalakkal, Knox Wilson, Nicole Glendinning

Thank you to our judges, session chairs, theme leads and attendees, as well as everyone involved in organising the symposium and making the week a success. Looking forward to next year's Symposium!

27/08/2026

We're buzzing about this news!

Our researchers have uncovered how the humble hoverfly is impacting the food we eat, such as apples and strawberries, through their unique pollination process.

By measuring the weight and fertilised seed count after a marmalade hoverfly visited a strawberry flower, our experts were able to test how their behaviour affected pollination success.

The findings underscore the vital role these insects play in supporting food security, especially considering their abundance and wide distribution throughout the island of Ireland and Europe.

Want to learn more? Click here ➡️ https://ow.ly/MVhr50ZFErM

21/08/2026

📅 Save the date!

Join us next week for another fascinating seminar, where Dr David Sünderhauf will present 'An engineered Pseudomonas aeruginosa host for phage engineering and production of efficient ‘bypass phage’ to improve phage therapy outcomes.'

And don't forget our PGR symposium and social, starting at the end of the month. Come along and explore the breadth of research taking place across the school, discover new ideas, methods and findings, while connecting with fellow postgraduate researchers!

➡️ View all the details here: https://ow.ly/LBnC50ZxHTp

18/08/2026

What happens when evolutionary biology meets artificial intelligence?

PhD student James McCabe is combining the two to better understand the human immune system, and explore new ways of treating diseases including viral infections, cancer and autoimmune conditions. As James explains:

"Genome sequencing has now captured the evolutionary history of the immune system across the whole tree of life, and AI has finally become powerful enough to read that history at scale."

"Yet almost all cytokine-based medicines are still designed from human and mouse data alone, ignoring what is arguably the most underused resource in molecular medicine: the natural experiment in which evolution has already tested every immune protein in thousands of species over hundreds of millions of years. That record tells us which residues a protein can't afford to change, which its receptors depend on, and which sites pathogens attack."

"If we can teach AI to read evolution, we can design immune therapies that are more selective, more durable, and less prone to unwanted effects."

He hopes to create an openly available genome-scale map of the immune system, helping researchers better understand disease-causing mutations, prioritise drug targets and guide the design of future therapies.

"Ultimately I would like this to help shift drug discovery away from trial and error and towards reading the answers evolution has already worked out."

🔗 Discover more about James's research, and current PhD opportunities: https://ow.ly/JrfI50ZxK13

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