Research Communication Competition
Posters in Parliament supports development for student research to learn how to communicate their research, not only people in their subject specialism but to people who are interested but not from their research area. The event has asked students to consider how they would communicate their research to a lay-audience and especially MPs, Peers and policy makers. The 2026 event sees the introduction of the Research Communication Competition. Participating institutions had the opportunity to select one research poster entry each for the competitions. Entries which are shortlisted meet the small judging panel during the poster exhibition, the winner and commended entries are announced during the event. All entries are reviewed by the shortlisting panel compiled of BCUR institutions, these are - Queen Mary University London, University of Essex, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University of Sheffield and the University of Sussex.
All shortlisted entries will be notified and will meet to discuss their research with the judging panel during Posters in Parliament 2026.
We are delighted to welcome Professor Paul Taylor, Dave Toulson, Dr Hollie Chandler and Stuart Hampton-Reeves to our judging panel for Posters in Parliament 2026.
Professor Paul Taylor
Paul is the current Chair of the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) and Professor of Chemical Education at the University of Leeds.
At Leeds he has acted as Director of Student Education for Chemistry (2015-17), Pro-Dean for Student Education for the Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (2017-2021) and Dean for Student Education at university level (2021-23). Paul is currently Head of the Pedagogy & Scholarship of Chemistry Section, Programme Manager for Natural Sciences, Faculty lead for Partnership with students and a university Belonging Academic Lead. Paul is a National Teaching Fellow (2020).
Dave Toulson
Dave is a Senior Caseworker for John Slinger MP and has worked for a number of MPs since 2017 and has covered a variety of roles and responsibility including research and working with key stakeholders. Dave is also a Labour Councillor on Coventry City where he is deputy Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care.
Dave previously studied and between 2013 - 2020 taught in the Department of History at the University of Warwick teaching first-year core modules Making of the Modern World and Making History/The Historian’s Toolkit.
Dr Hollie Chandler
Hollie is Director of Policy at the Russell Group, which represents 24 research-intensive universities across the UK.
Hollie leads the Russell Group’s policy team, working across international, R&D and higher education policy issues. Hollie previously managed research and charity policy at Cancer Research UK and was a fellow in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.
Hollie completed her PhD in molecular oncology at UCL following her natural sciences undergraduate at the University of Cambridge.
Professor Stuart Hampton-Reeves
Stuart has a reputation for his work pioneering various undergraduate research projects. He is one of the founders of the British Conference on Undergraduate Research and Posters in Parliament. He regularly speaks at conferences around the world about the importance of undergraduate research and has been an international advisor to the Australasian Conference on Undergraduate Research. Stuart's research focus is the study of Shakespeare in performance, specifically contemporary British performance. He has also written about Shakespeare’s plays in context and performance histories of plays such as the Henry VI trilogy, Othello and Measure for Measure. Stuart is also an acknowledged expert on undergraduate research. He has visited the UK Parliament and the White House, and he has spoken about his work all over the world. His most recent publication is a monograph,'Shakespeare in the Theatre: Peter Hall', published by Bloomsbury in 2019.