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Judges for R&I Awards

Professor Melanie Davies CBE 

Melanie is Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester and an Honorary Consultant Diabetologist at Leicester's Hospitals. 

Professor Davies’ research interests include the causes, screening, prevention, self-management and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. She is Director of the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Leicester. 

Professor Davies has published over 600 original articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals, and has over £60M of peer review grant funding. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 2016 New Year’s Honour’s List for services to diabetes research and awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018.


Professor Melanie Davies CBE
Portrait of Professor Melanie Davies CBE

Professor Nigel Brunskill

Nigel is a Professor of Renal Medicine and has been a consultant nephrologist in the Trust since 1997. He is the Director of Research and Innovation, and is also Director of the NIHR Leicester Clinical Research Facility, which specialises in early phase and intensive clinical trials.

Nigel is an active clinical academic and leads the renal research group at the University of Leicester. He holds several large research grants and is a member of the NICE Medical Technologies Advisory Committee and chairs the national Renal Registry Chronic Kidney Disease Study Group.

Nigel Brunskill - Director of Research and Development
Nigel Brunskill - Director of Research and Development

Professor Turi King

Turi is the Professor of Public Engagement and Genetics at the University of Leicester, a scientist, presenter, speaker and author, who is passionate about communicating science to the public. She is the co-presenter of BBC2's 'DNA Family Secrets'.

Turi uses genetics in the fields of forensics, history and archaeology, and is perhaps best known for her work, “cracking one of the biggest forensic DNA cases in history”, leading the genetic analysis for the identification of King Richard III. 

She is an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, a Fellow of the Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and a Member of the International Society of Forensic Geneticists.

Professor Turi King
Professor Turi King


Anthony Locke

Anthony is a member of the UHL Public Research Engagement Panel, and sits on the UHL R&I Executive as a participant representative. He has many years' experience in research projects, including the 100,000 Genomes project. He is also a member of a number of patient advisory committees at local, regional and national levels.


Anthony Locke, research patient partner
Anthony Locke, research patient partner
Dr Ruw Abeyratne

Ruw joined UHL in June 2022 as the Trust’s first Director of Health Equality and Inclusion. In this role, Ruw leads on the Trust’s approach to understanding and addressing health inequalities within our population and ensuring that our services are truly inclusive and accessible. Ruw is also a consultant in geriatric and general medicine, with clinical interests in frailty, ‘front door’ geriatrics, and surgical liaison. Ruw is committed to evidence driven improvement. She says, "Evidence underpins everything we do in medicine. The importance of inclusive and truly representative research cannot be underestimated if we are to move towards providing healthcare that truly meets the meets of individuals."

Ruw Abeyratne - Director of Health Equality and Inclusion
Ruw Abeyratne, Director of Health Equality and Inclusion
Simon Pizzey

Simon has worked in the NHS since 2010, holding a number of business intelligence, strategic, service transformation, planning and operational roles. He is currently the head of strategy and planning.

Simon is passionate about reducing health inequalities, having developed a Trust wide Health Inequalities strategy. He believes that an evidence-based approach through research can reduce the gaps and provide greater health equity for our local communities.

Simon Pizzey, head of strategy and planning
Simon Pizzey, head of strategy and planning
Antonella Ghezzi

Antonella is the head of research for nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals at UHL. She is passionate about encouraging non-medics to pursue clinical academic careers, and bridging the gaps between clinical and research teams on the frontline through pilot research champions programmes. 

Her own research interests focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Antonella Ghezzi, head of research nursing and midwifery
Antonella Ghezzi, head of research nursing and midwifery