Enterprise Fellowship to Dr Yvette Hancock

At the beginning of 2019, the University initiated a process to appoint four Enterprise Fellows from amongst existing members of staff and postdoctoral researchers at the University. The purpose of the scheme is to support the researcher in taking some time outside academia to start to create a sustainable platform for realising some of his/her research ideas, through for instance establishing a service/company or licensing research to an existing company or service provider.

The one-year fellowship package includes ‘buy-out’ of time and project funding in the region of £15,000. The opportunity also includes one-to-one expert mentoring and tailored training modules, including in business and finance, customer engagement, users and branding and leadership, to help develop the fellows and their teams.

The Centre for Future Health agreed to sponsor one position in the health and wellbeing area.

During her fellowship year, Yvette aims to develop a spectroscopy instrument for the rapid fingerprinting and diagnosis of a range of health conditions including cancer. This type of spectroscopy testing of tissue samples is quicker and more cost effective than  lab-based tests. It also provides a more discerning assessment of disease for early and targeted intervention and reduces patient morbidity/ mortality and anxiety.

The CFH Director, Alex Wade, who joined the judging panel said: “The panel was particularly impressed by Dr Hancock’s remarkable vision for this diagnostic technology and we believe that it could have profound implications for human health in the near future. The Centre for Future Health is delighted to be able to support this world-class researcher in taking her idea forward to a translational outcome.”