Ex Aula Prize 2026 winner announced

Congratulations to Isabel Black (2023, Biology) who is the Ex Aula prizewinner 2026 for her article on ‘Protecting the unseen: conserving sharks and rays in remote, data-deficient coastal areas’. Organised by St Edmund Hall’s Middle Common Room (MCR), the Ex Aula Prize is awarded annually for the best presentation of a research topic to a non-specialist audience. The prize is coordinated by Ex Aula Editor Greco Malijan (2023, DPhil Population Health), who oversees the journal and organises the annual competition. Submissions are reviewed by a panel of Hall Fellows led by Wes Williams, Professor of French Literature and Tutor in Modern Languages.

Reflecting on the award, Isabel shares: “This piece is about my research in sharks and rays, but most importantly, I wanted to highlight the value of collaborative, locally led projects. Not only because evidence has shown that this approach leads to more effective conservation outcomes, but because building local capacity matters too. Giving people stewardship over the protection of their own natural environment should always be a joint primary goal. I care deeply about this work, for both the animals and the people involved, and it is amazing to have been recognised by this award.”

The Hall also congratulates this year’s runners-up: Kieran Storer (2024, DPhil Biology) for ‘Can you smell a sick tree?’, Nayantara Arora (2024, DPhil Clinical Medicine) for ‘Measuring the Invisible: Health and Social Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa’ and Manjistha Datta (2024, DPhil Psychiatry) for ‘After Adversity: How Identity Shapes the Way We Heal’. Their articles, alongside Isabel’s winning piece, demonstrate the breadth, quality and impact of postgraduate research across the Hall’s academic community.

Launched in 2017, Ex Aula is St Edmund Hall MCR’s online postgraduate research journal. It publishes articles written in an accessible and engaging style, showcasing the diversity of research taking place across the postgraduate community and helping to share that work with wider audiences.