2023 FDS research awards recipients

The Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2023 research awards. The applicants for this year's pump-priming grants and fellowship award were of exceptionally high quality and we are pleased to recognise and support their proposed research.

Congratulations to the nine recipients of a pump-priming grant and the recipient of a fellowship. We wish all awardees every success with their research projects and future academic career. Find out more about our research programme.

2023 FDS research award recipients

FDS Dental Research Fellowship

• Shadi Basyuni, University of Cambridge: Genomic determinants of malignant transformation in oral premalignant lesions.

FDS-ABAOMS Research Fellowship

• Hanya Mahmood, University of Sheffield: Single-cell sequencing and spatial biomarker analysis in oral epithelial dysplasia.

FDS Pump-Priming Grant

• Sreedevi Poovathumkadavil Unnikrishnan, University of Aberdeen: What is the contributory role of the mucosal microbiome in determining treatment response to topical steroids in lichen planus?
• Joana Monteiro, University of Sheffield: Development of an outcome measure for dentine hypersensitivity in children with molar incisor hypomineralisation.
• Joelle Booth, Queen Mary University London: Utilising a peer-led approach to assess the oral health needs and the access to dental care experiences of community returners (prison ex-offenders).
• James Bird, University of Sheffield: People with learning disabilities: Developing a way to measure their oral health-related quality of life.

FDS-BSPD Pump-Priming Grant

• Teslimat Ajeigbe, University of Liverpool: Establishing the proteome of children’s primary teeth.
• Christopher Donnell, University of Sheffield: 'MIH! MIH! Hear all about it!’ – Co-Creation of Patient Information Resources for Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation
  (MIH).

FDS-BSP Pump-Priming Grant

• Zehra Yonel, University of Birmingham: Does inflammatory bowel disease alter the detection of and gum disease in saliva?

FDS-BISOM Pump-Priming Grant

• Christopher Platais, King's College London: Artificial intelligence to assist the diagnosis and prognosis of proliferative verrucous leukoplakia.

Professor Helen Rodd MBE, Chair of the FDS Research Committee, commented "The applicants are all at early stages of their research careers, and it is hoped that these small grants will really help those in their pursuit of future larger grants and academic posts." 

Professor Rodd highlighted her delight to award a one-year fellowship to Mr Shadi Basyuni, "a project which will have considerable future patient benefit, and we wish him well with his ongoing PhD."

Thank you to the many colleagues and our lay representative, Nathan Davies, who gave their time and expertise in reviewing all applications. Thanks are also given to the following specialist societies who generously co-funded pump-priming grants: British and Irish Society of Oral Medicine; British Society of Paediatric Dentistry; British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry.