KentOnline

digital journalism and communication, and social media research. She is on the editorial board of the academic journals Digital Journalism and Media and Communication, as well as a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College. She is a founding member of the Local and Community Media research network of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, where she is also a member of the Executive committee.

optoelectronic devices, with a focus on chiral organic semiconductors and how to optimise these chiral systems such that they can absorb/emit circularly polarised light as well as transport spin-polarised electrons. For her PhD Jess concentrated on new materials for photovoltaics and the development of advanced characterisation techniques to better understand their molecular packing. Outside of the lab, Jess is involved with several science communication and outreach initiatives. She is committed to improving diversity in science, both online and offline.

of Research Services, and for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). He engages widely with the sector, and is Chair of the ARMA Editorial Working Group, leading on the redesign and digitisation of the member's magazine. He has written extensively for a range of outlets, including a stint as a Commissioning Editor for Research Professional. He writes the award-winning blog Research Fundermentals, and recently co-authored Getting Research Funded (Sage) with Australian colleagues Tseen Khoo and Jonathan O’Donnell.

and genetics, Simon has also worked at Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Bristol and the University of Stirling. With an interest in communicating science in an accessible way that dates back to early in his career, Simon has written for many different audiences and has taught science communication to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

specimens. She recently completed her PhD at the Francis Crick Institute, where her focus was on bacterial evolution, including the analysis of 4000-year-old plague genomes from Britain, the oldest at that time. Beyond academia, she is dedicated to bridging the science-public gap through engagements at museums, media interviews, podcasts, and event presentations for public groups and schools. She received the prestigious 2023 Agricultural, Biological, and Medical Sciences award from the British Science Association for her work in Science Communication and has since been giving talks around the UK about her research.

since 2006. Combining experimental and computational approaches to address these problems. The computational modelling work brought Tobias and his group in contact with companies interested in improving the efficiency of their protein expression systems, and his recent research interests focus on the design of efficient DNA and RNA sequences for industrial, environmental and medical applications. He currently holds a Royal Society Industry Fellowship to work on the development of more efficient RNA Therapeutics together with industrial partners. Tobias has held multiple roles relating to Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Career Development including serving on the BBSRC Skills and Careers Advisory Panel, as Director for Research and Innovation for the Division of Natural Sciences at Kent, and currently as PI for Kent’s BBSRC-funded Impact Acceleration Account.