Clare Taylor
Clare Taylor

Dr Clare Taylor

Senior Lecturer

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology in the School of Applied Sciences. I am an active academic citizen supporting colleagues to embed inclusive practice in microbiology and life sciences.

Main areas of focus:

*Equality, diversity and inclusion in life sciences and higher education*
As an inclusive practitioner I work with a range of colleagues and external organisations to understand and reduce inequalities and barriers to inclusion, with a particular focus on microbiology and life sciences as well as higher education.

*Promoting evidence-based policy making*
I have worked with several organisations to improve the understanding of science for the benefit of policy makers.

*Public engagement with research*
I am passionate about engaging people with research in microbiology especially on topics related to public health including vaccination and antibiotic resistance. I have performed on these topics at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and have taken part in a range of different activities to diverse audiences.

*Microbiology*
Previous work has focused on understanding host-pathogen interactions of the intracellular bacteria Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes, with a view to developing novel microbial diagnostic tools and designing novel approaches to antimicrobial therapy.

Themes

News

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Member - Society for Experimental Biology Award Nominations Task Force
  • Acting Chair - Scottish Policy & Research Exchange (SPRE)
  • Invited expert - Roundtable on Inequity in the STEM workforce: Could an Employers’ Coalition for STEM Diversity drive systemic change in the sector?
  • Appointee - Challenge Panel for BEIS/UKRI Review of Research Bureaucracy
  • Member - Advisory Board of UKRI Future Leader Fellowships Development Network
  • Invited expert - All Party Parliamentary Group roundtable - How does UK Government advance and inhibit equity and inclusive cultures within the STEM workforce?
  • Invited expert - RSE Roundtable for UK R&D Roadmap - R&D People and Culture Strategy
  • Invited expert - Scottish stakeholder roundtable with UKRI CEO Dame Ottoline Leyser
  • FEMS Publishing Action Committee
  • Member - Heads of University Biosciences
  • U!REKA Diversity & Inclusion Working Group
  • Invited expert - All Party Parliamentary Group roundtable - Equity in STEM education - where now?
  • Invited expert - BAME Roundtable for First Minister's Advisory Council on Women & Girls
  • Chair, Policy Sub-committee (SfAM)
  • Member - Royal Society of Biology Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Group
  • Invited expert - Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Roundtable on UK-Canada Microbiome research
  • General Secretary Society for Applied Microbiology
  • Council member - Federation of European Microbiology Societies
  • Executive Committee member and Trustee Society for Applied Microbiology

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Panel Chair: Inclusion & Diversity Panel Session, FEMS Congress 2023
  • Organising Committee FEMS Congress 2023
  • Chair - What you need to know about science policy at SfAM, Webinar
  • Organising Committee World Microbiology Forum 2021
  • Invited Chair - Symposium: Exploiting bacteria for biomedical applications at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Invited chair - STEM in Africa panel session at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Organising Committee FEMS Congress 2021
  • Invited chair - LGBT+ in STEM panel session at FEMS Congress 2019
  • Chair: Lightning Talks, FEMS Congress 2019
  • Organising and Programme Committee - FEMS Congress 2019
  • Conference Organizer - Applications of Plant Pathology: From Field to Clinic
  • Meeting Chair - Antimicrobial Resistance: Novel Therapeutics and Drug Discovery, London, UK

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editor-in-Chief of FEMS Microbiology Letters
  • Senior Editor (Medical Microbiology) All Life journal
  • Editorial Board Fine Focus Journal
  • Features Editor Microbiologist magazine

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner MSc Biotechnology at Coventry University
  • External Examiner, Undergraduate Microbiology, University of Bradford

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Beltane Public Engagement Fellowship
  • Fellow – Higher Education Academy
  • Scottish Crucible Fellowship

 

Grant Funding Panel Member

  • UKRI Future Leaders Fellows Plus Funds - Grant Panel
  • Society for Applied Microbiology Grants Panel
  • British Council Researcher Links/Newton Fund Grant Panel

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Grant reviewer NERC
  • Grant reviewer BBSRC
  • Grant reviewer MRC
  • Grant reviewer - Wellcome Trust

 

Invited Speaker

  • Panel speaker: Engaging with media and policy makers - Standing up for Science (Voice of Young Science; Sense About Science)
  • Chair - AMI Webinar: connecting, inspiring and advocating for LGBTQIA+ researchers in microbiology
  • Panel speaker: Public engagement - Standing up for Science (Voice of Young Science; Sense About Science)
  • Panel speaker: Race Equity Networks, EDIS Symposium.
  • Chair for Q&A with Dame Sally Davies
  • Speaker: Preparing a paper presenting results of multidisciplinary research - Webinar for All Life journal. Sponsored by the School of Public Health of Nanjing Medical University, China
  • Panel speaker: Intersectionality in STEM, Equate Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
  • Panel speaker: Too much evidence or not enough? Evidence week, UK parliament
  • Invited speaker - The Antimicrobial Crisis: #AlternativeFact or #ActualFact, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  • 'Doing Publics', Beltane Annual Gathering, Edinburgh
  • Women! Science is not for You! Café Scientifique, St Andrews
  • I'm a Scientist, Get me Out of Here! Live! (Winner)
  • Invited speaker - New Lecturer Research Award Lecture, Dublin, Ireland

 

Media Activity

  • COVID-19 commentary for BBC News (TV and radio)
  • TV appearance: STV Edinburgh: Edinburgh Festival 2015 - Women! Science is Still Not for You!
  • News media commentator for various media outlets and Science Media Centre
  • TV appearance: STV Scotland Tonight discussing Sir Tim Hunt & sexism in science
  • BBC Radio - Microbiology expert
  • TV appearance & consultancy for BBC4 After Life: The Strange Science of Decay

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member Society for Experimental Biology
  • Member EDIS (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Science & Health) Coalition
  • Elected member of RSE Young Academy of Scotland
  • Member Society for Applied Microbiology (now Applied Microbiology International
  • Member Microbiology Society

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Cell Block Science at HMP Shotts
  • Speaker Soapbox Science
  • You can keep your chickens, Mr Trump - Skeptics at Edinburgh International Science Festival
  • Women! Science is Not for You: III! at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Anti-vaxxers are anti-social, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • The Antibiotic Apocalypse Threatens Us All! Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Co-ordinator and creator of Fun Palace Wester Hailes , WHALE Arts
  • The Ticking Time Bomb of Antimicrobial Resistance: What can we do and where should we go next? Exhibition at Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  • Bright Club for Explorathon 2015, The Stand Comedy Club
  • Bright Club, The Stand Comedy Club
  • Women! Science is Still Not for You! Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Organiser Soapbox Science
  • Women! Science is Not for You! Edinburgh Festival Fringe
  • Thank you, Edwina - Science Showoff
  • I Love Microbes - Interactive exhibition at British Science Festival
  • Microbes! Bang Goes the Borders Festival

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner MRes, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • External examiner - PhD (University of Manchester
  • External examiner - PhD (University of Manchester)
  • External Examiner - PhD (University of Manchester)

 

Reviewing

  • Peer Reviewer of manuscripts for Journals: Microbiology; FEMS Microbiology Letters; Nanotoxicology; BMC Microbiology; British Journal of Pharmacology

 

Date


35 results

Engaging Communities in the Science of Microbiology

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Taylor, C. (2023, July)
Engaging Communities in the Science of Microbiology. Presented at FEMS2023, Hamburg, Germany

Independent review of research bureaucracy: interim report

Report
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. (2022)
Independent review of research bureaucracy: interim report. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Rubbish microbiology: filming the secret life of landfill

Digital Artefact
Taylor, C. (2022)
Rubbish microbiology: filming the secret life of landfill. [Blog post]

Independent review of research bureaucracy: final report

Report
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. (2022)
Independent review of research bureaucracy: final report. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry: Diversity and inclusion in STEM

Report
Taylor, C. (2022)
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry: Diversity and inclusion in STEM. House of Commons Science and Technology Committee

Taking a stand together: Diversity & Inclusion in U!REKA

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Taylor, C. (2021, November)
Taking a stand together: Diversity & Inclusion in U!REKA. Presented at U!REKA Connects 2021, Ghent, Belgium

Teaching microbiology during the global pandemic

Digital Artefact
Taylor, C. (2021)
Teaching microbiology during the global pandemic. [Magazine]

A tribute to Andrew Miller

Digital Artefact
Taylor, C. (2020)
A tribute to Andrew Miller. [Blog post]

From Roots to Routes: Disrupting the Status-Quo

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Taylor, C. (2019, December)
From Roots to Routes: Disrupting the Status-Quo. Presented at Engage Public Engagement Conference, Bristol, UK

Exploiting intracellular bacteria for medical biotechnology

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Taylor, C. (2019, July)
Exploiting intracellular bacteria for medical biotechnology. Presented at FEMS Congress 2019, Glasgow, UK
Background: Intracellular bacteria have evolved elegant mechanisms to invade, manipulate, and survive in their hosts. Investigation of bacterial pathogenic mechanisms has help...

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • Co-supervisor -PhD Deon Hildebrand - GlaxoSmithKline and Heriot Watt University