Dr Hadia Almahli, advanced lecturer in medicinal chemistry lecturer at the North Wales Medical School
Dr Hadia Almahli leads the medicinal chemistry and drug discovery research programme. She completed her MSc and PhD at Paris-Sud University before progressing through research and teaching roles at world-leading institutions including the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, UCL, and the University of Sussex. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, she has published widely and presented her work at over 50 international conferences. Her research focuses on developing novel therapeutic and diagnostic agents for infectious diseases, cancer, and neurodegeneration. Dr Almahli is a founding team member of the Bangor University pharmacy programme, a grant holder and award recipient, an active STEM ambassador, and a committed contributor to scientific capacity-building in Syria. She also supports equity and inclusion through her work as a part of the Athena Swan team.
Dr Sarah Cooper, lecturer in linguistics at the School of Arts, Culture and Language
Dr Sarah Cooper completed a PhD in linguistics before working on Welsh speech recognition with the Language Technologies Unit at Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University. She later took up her current post in the Department of Linguistics, English Language and Bilingualism, where she teaches phonetics and bilingualism. Her research focuses on Welsh phonetics, second language acquisition, and language attitudes, with a particular interest in how adults learn Welsh pronunciation and how this shapes confidence and integration as new speakers. She continues to collaborate with the Language Technologies Unit and supervises students working on technologies for lesser-resourced languages. Sarah is interested in developing interdisciplinary research connecting language, society, and public engagement.
Dr Reshma Silvester, postdoctoral research officer in environmental microbiology at the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences
Dr Reshma Silvester holds a BSc in Microbiology, MSc in Applied Microbiology, and a PhD focused on antibiotic resistance. She previously worked with the One Health Trust on global Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mapping across LMICs and later conducted postdoctoral research at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India, on AMR in seafood and aquaculture systems. She joined Bangor University in 2023 through the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment (PATH-SAFE) project, where she now leads AMR surveillance initiatives using a One Health approach within the wastewater research group led by Professor Davey Jones. Her research focuses on tracking the spread of AMR across hospital and community wastewater, environmental samples, and agricultural systems, helping to provide evidence for public health policy and decision-making. Reshma uses advanced genomics-based and computational approaches to identify harmful bacteria and the antimicrobial resistance genes circulating within communities. With nearly 15 years of experience in AMR research, her work contributes to national surveillance efforts and addresses the global challenge of AMR.
Dr Sophie Ward, Research Fellow at the School of Ocean Sciences
Dr Sophie Ward obtained her BSc in Natural Science at the University of Bath and worked as an environmental consultant before re-entering academia and retraining in marine science. She completed her MSc and PhD in physical oceanography at Bangor University. Sophie now specialises in using numerical ocean models to understand how marine systems respond to both human and natural pressures. She has built research expertise through a wide range of interdisciplinary projects, spanning shark conservation, marine pollution, renewable energy and long-term environmental change. Committed to making her research useful beyond academia, Sophie works with public audiences and creates online tools while collaborating with organisations involved in marine policy to support evidence-based decisions. She is interested in how AI can be used responsibly to advance marine science and in developing approaches that enhance research impact through creative science communication.
