Daniel Radford-Smith - Clarendon-Kingsgate-Newton Abraham Scholarship
Hello! I am from Brisbane, Australia and did my undergraduate (and postgraduate honours) degree there at the University of Queensland. During these years I studied quite broadly across biomedicine and biochemistry, as I struggled to narrow down my interest in physiology to a particular domain. I dabbled in different research groups as much as possible during my undergraduate studies and was awarded a scholarship to spend the last year of my studies at a neuropharmacology research group here in Oxford.
This formative experience provided me with some direction with which to pursue medical research. I was very fortunate to be awarded a Clarendon Fund and Lincoln-Kingsgate Graduate Scholarship, in partnership with the Newton Abraham Studentship in Biological and Medical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacology, to study for the full-time DPhil in Pharmacology. Simply put, this opportunity has infinitely broadened my horizons as an individual. At the same time, being part of a great college and research group environment was incredibly helpful in the transglobal relocation from Brisbane to Oxford, and has since helped buffer the difficulties of the pandemic era. Between our wonderful College Development Office and MCR social and academic teams, there has been something exciting to (virtually) take part in each week.
Having started at Lincoln in October 2019, my first six months and most recent six months have unsurprisingly been polarising in many ways. I was fortunate to make enduring friendships through the Lincoln MCR in my first two terms and have very fond memories of MCR dinners and the annual exchange to Cambridge during that time. The depth and density of experiences open to students here at Lincoln and Oxford is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In my third term I became the environmental representative as part of the MCR committee, where I discuss and campaign for sustainability within College on behalf of the graduate students. In my research department, I play a similar role and run the ‘Green Impact’ team there. Between my time spent in the lab, this keeps me busy, though during my downtime I enjoy getting outside and exploring/running around the city too. Oxford flaunts its beauty in all seasons, and exploration of all its nooks and crannies are obligatory!
My advice to prospective graduate students is, firstly, to apply to Lincoln. Wherever you’re coming from, you’ll feel belonging here. Between now and then, seize as many opportunities as possible to learn research skills, even if it’s not what you want to do long-term. Find ways to develop your leadership and team-work skills, because both come in use a lot at Lincoln and Oxford.
This is one of a series of blog posts featuring current graduate scholarship holders at Lincoln College. For more information about graduate scholarships, please see this dedicated finance and funding page. The deadline for applications is 7 June 2021.