Double honours for Emily Smith as award-winning research opens door to Tasmania
Two prizes and College funding recognise real-world impact on wildlife conservation
Natural Sciences student Emily Smith has earned two Part II Pathology prizes for her research into the deadly cancer threatening Tasmanian devils and is now heading to Tasmania to join conservation researchers in the field.
Emily won the Best Part II Pathology Project 2025-26 across the entire year cohort, as well as the Best One Health Project Presentation. Emily’s project focused on Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a transmissible cancer threatening Tasmanian devils, and explored how certain MHC genotypes may allow some individuals to mount an immune response and survive longer.
Emily said:
“I was honestly shocked and so delighted to receive this prize. It was incredibly rewarding to work on a project with real conservation relevance, and I’m very grateful to my supervisor and everyone in the lab for their support.”
Emily’s success doesn’t stop there. She has also been awarded College funding from The Posen Fund, which provides support for Natural Sciences students undertaking academically-related placements over the summer vacation, as well as The Panton Trust Award which typically supports projects with serious animal/wildlife objectives. These funds will enable Emily to travel to Tasmania in July to join researchers on a devil trapping field trip. We wish her all the best and can’t wait to hear about her travels and future plans.
Read more about the College’s Awards, Prizes and Scholarships
Many of the students who read Part II Pathology go on to become doctors, veterinary surgeons and scientists. However, there are many more options available, for example, academic teaching, research administration, scientific journalism, forensic science, the civil service and financial services.