Alumni Matters

Welcome everyone to the first video of our new series Alumni Matters. In which we’ll be chatting to several alumni and learning more about their careers, their thoughts on some of the key challenges our world is facing, and discovering how they are helping to shape it into a healthier, fairer, greener place.

In our first episode today we are joined by alumnus Dr Tanimola Martins. He graduated in 2014 with a PhD in Ethnic inequality in Cancer Diagnosis and currently works as a Research Fellow and Lecturer in Postgraduate Education at the University of Exeter Medical School.

Sunday 24 September 2023 marks World Cancer Research Day which aims to showcase the importance of cancer research and as such we chatted to Tani about why he got involved in this area of work, racial differences in cancer diagnosis and how we can work together to conquer cancer.

Find out more about Dr Tanimola Martins.

Discover more about World Cancer Research Day.

Support Cancer Research at the University of Exeter.

Keep up to date with future Alumni Matters content.

Alumna and children's author Jemma Hatt talks to us about The Adventurers series of books, how her love of reading as a child inspired her, and some advice for students wishing to follow in her footsteps.

As the number of satellites in Earth's orbit starts to rise significantly, Professor Kevin Gaston at the University of Exeter talks about the potential impacts and balancing technology and the environment.

Alumna and best-selling author Milly Johnson talks about her career, how she gets her ideas, and why it's important the romantic fiction genre is not overlooked by the industry.

Hear from climate scientists and activists about their work, what inspires them, why COP26 is such as important event, and what gives them hope for the future.  

00:06 Intro: Professor David Hosken, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Exeter Cornwall Campuses  

01:27 Professor Angela Gallego-Sala, Professor In Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Cycles, University of Exeter  

02:55 Professor Peter Cox, Professor of Climate System Dynamics, University of Exeter  

11:28 Dr Freya Garry, UK Climate Resilience Team, Met Office  

17:41 Dr Mi Tian, Lecturer in Low Carbon Engineering, University of Exeter  

19:05 Ruth Chapman, PhD Researcher in Climate Modelling, University of Exeter  

22:52 Amy Bray, Biosciences student, University of Exeter and Founder of Another Way  

28:35 Professor Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation, University of Exeter  

33:53 Katie Hodgetts, Founder, Resilience Project  

40:20 Daze Aghaji, Climate Justice Activist

Professor Richard Betts, Chair in Climate Impacts at the University of Exeter and Head of Climate Impacts in the Met Office, talks about how the climate has changed and how we can protect it for the future.

Professor Craig Williams is the Director of the Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre (CHERC) and a Professor of Paediatric Physiology and Health. He speaks about his research into cardiac risk in young athletes and methods for identifying potential issues early. This research is supported by Canon Medical Systems Ltd, Heart Research UK and the GW4 MRC DTP.

Alumna and rugby player Clara Nielson talks about playing women's rugby and returning to Devon to join the Exeter Chiefs.

Connie Allen, PhD researcher at Exeter’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, and her supervisor, Professor Lauren Brent, talk about research into sociality particularly within elephant populations.

Dr Elisa de Franco, an award-winning molecular geneticist based at the University of Exeter Medical School, talks about research taking into neonatal diabetes and how it is helping families all over the world.