Nuffield Science Bursary

This summer Elizabeth Coker was awarded a Nuffield Science Bursary, part of a scheme run by the Nuffield Foundation which offers students in Year 12 who hope to study science at university the chance to spend a work placement in a scientific environment.

I was interested in the application of maths in a biological setting, and so I and another girl spent five weeks acting as research assistants for Dr Chris Skelly and Dr Ariana Zeka at the Institute for the Environment at Brunel University. During this time we assisted with processing data, making calculations and producing graphs for an epidemiology project on the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic prompted by an article in the medical journal The Lancet.

The deadly influenza strain seen in 1918 killed over 40 million people worldwide, and so data relating to worldwide mortality rates in 1918 has been incredibly useful for nations devising strategies for coping with a similar pandemic caused by a virus such as the H5N1 bird flu virus. The generally accepted model for mortality caused by the 1918 virus is that it killed large numbers of children and older people, but also many adults in the 20-30 age group, giving a 'w' shaped graph of excess mortality against age. However, whilst working with raw data from the Human Mortality Database we proved that this 'w' shape was actually present in very few countries – many had very low mortality in the over 60s, for example, or incredibly high mortality in those aged under 5. Dr Skelly and Dr Zeka are currently examining the processed data in more detail and researching possible reasons for lower than expected mortality, for example adults aged over 60 may have had partial immunity to the 1918 virus due to exposure to a similar virus in an earlier epidemic; they are hoping to publish our finding in the near future.

I found my placement to be a great way to experience what 'real' scientists do, and I would urge girls in Year 12 with a keen interest in science to apply for a Nuffield Science Bursary. The scheme was an incredibly interesting way to spend my summer holidays, a good introduction to the world of work and also offered me a rare opportunity for someone still at school: the possibility of having my name on an article published in a major scientific journal.

Elizabeth Coker