Images of Research competition winners 2025
Now in its 13th year, the Doctoral Academy’s annual competition challenges postgraduate research students to encapsulate their work through imagery.
Our postgraduate research community is involved in a range of extraordinary projects.
They are encouraged to disseminate their research, not just to others in their specialism, but to researchers across the University and to the general public, empowering them to become great communicators.
The Images of Research exhibition challenges our students to present a single image that encapsulates the element of their research. With only 150 words to explain the image, they also had to distil their work to its essence.
Prizes were awarded in the form of developmental bursaries to the top three entries, as determined by the expert judging panel. A bursary was also awarded to the People’s Choice winner, voted for by exhibition attendees on the night.
Our winners tell us in their own words about their images, the research they represent, and the motivations behind them.
Want to study a postgraduate degree?
From world-leading research and affordable student life to fantastic career prospects, here’s why you should choose Cardiff University for your postgraduate degree.
Winner
Chra Abdoulqadir (she/her), School of Computer Sciences and Informatics
Boundaries of the Gaming World
“There are different gaming consoles and gaming facilities available. Have their designers considered accessibility? This image shows the barriers disabled players face due to inaccessible hardware and design.
“As a disabled gamer since the age of five, I have often felt embarrassed by my limitations. My story is one of the estimated 600 to 900 million cases being neglected. However, the real issue is not individual ability. It is accessibility.
“This game is inaccessible to people with dexterity impairments. Also, the buttons do not have enough contrast with their background colour, making them inaccessible to colour-blind people. While accessibility in gaming has improved, there are still serious gaps.
“My research focuses on mobile game accessibility, pushing for more inclusive design in digital spaces and publishing accessible games on the Play Store. I aim to ensure that gaming is not a privilege, but where people can play, regardless of ability.
“As games evolved, so did my challenges in playing them. Meanwhile, I love all the excitement I get from the entertainment aspect of playing digital games. This vibrant image captures both the excitement of gaming and the frustrating limitations many disabled players face.”
Second place
Matthew Jordan (he/they), School of Engineering
Pillar of Light
“This picture shows the subject of the last four years of my PhD: a quantum dot micropillar, a micrometre-scale semiconductor device that serves as an efficient source of single photons – or light particles – for emerging applications, such as quantum computing.
“The image is composed of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) photo of such a device, overlaid with the simulated resonant electric field pattern that results when the nanoscale quantum dot in the centre of the pillar is excited by a laser. Effectively, the light waves refract and reflect at each layer of the device, producing these ripple-like patterns when they overlap and interfere with one another, looking like something you might see in a Hartnell-era Doctor Who title sequence. Out the top of the pillar fires a bright beam of photons, which are collected into a fibre for experiments and analysis.
“The image is based on a scanning electron microscope image of a real micropillar, overlaid with an electric-field pattern simulated using Cardiff's HAWK supercomputer. It has been further artistically modified using digital editing and painting.”
Jordan's research is funded by the UK Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub.
Third place
Myya Helm (she/they), School of History, Archaeology and Religion
Unearthed: The Black Coal Miners of West Virginia and South Wales
“This collage features ten archival photographs of 19 Black coal miners who lived and worked in West Virginia, USA and South Wales, UK, between 1900 and 1956. These miners laboured in dangerous conditions beneath the earth, forging for better livelihoods in darkness and carving out prosperity for their nations.
“However, their existence often remains buried due to incomplete or missing sources in archives. The neglect of Black miners in Appalachian and Welsh archival collection practices marginalises their existence within histories of labour, and this image offers a critique by centring Black miners from both coal mining regions.
“Through critical methods, my research acknowledges the historical racism and exclusion informing archive collections and traditional written histories, foregrounds my personal experience, and presents new ways of understanding Black labour histories. This collage represents the heart of my study, honouring Black miners’ lives and humanity through a visual connection with the past.
“As a descendant of Black West Virginian miners, this collage arose from my deeply emotional experience searching for Black miners in archival sources. Forced to confront the raw, painful intimacy of archival gaps and silences, I created this tribute to advocate for the historical recognition of Black miners’ legacies.”
Myya's research is funded by the Marshall Scholarship programme, Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
People's Choice
Sheikh Shahzabe Mukhtar (he/him), School of Medicine
A Galaxy of Neurons
“This image depicts a network of neurons, the fundamental building block of our brain. Their main role is to communicate, via electrical and chemical means, and this ability allows us to carry out everyday tasks, such as thinking and feeling.
“My research focuses on understanding how the biggest genetic risk factor of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) affects the neuronal ability to communicate. Altered neuronal communication is one of the earliest changes in Parkinson’s. By understanding how it occurs, we can find drugs to prevent it and stop PD from developing. This is crucial as PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world and currently has no cure.
“My image shows the neurons I am using in the lab to unpick the mechanisms behind altered neuronal communication in PD. While challenging to work with, often peeling or tearing as seen here, they provide a wealth of invaluable information.
“I turned stem cells into neurons over 50 days using a very specific combination of chemicals. After this, I stained the cells and imaged them on a highly specialised microscope. I processed images in an online imaging analysis software, Columbus, and stitched multiple images together to form this one image.”
Sheikh Shahzbabe's research is funded by Parkinson's UK.