JRF Research Showcase - from magnets to microbiomes

Junior Research Fellows (JRFs) are an important part of Kellogg College’s academic community. Together, they represent an impressive breadth of disciplinary expertise and research interests, from the sciences and social sciences to the humanities and beyond.

Presenters will share not only what they do, but why it matters. They’ll be telling us about the intellectual journey behind their research: the questions that drive them, the methods they use, and the insights their work offers. The aim is to inspire curiosity, invite constructive feedback, and build bridges across disciplines.

Join us to be part of a rich and fascinating journey of multidisciplinary discovery with our JRFs. Each presentation will be no more than 10 minutes, with opportunities for questions with the researchers. The event will be followed by a drinks reception for networking and further conversations.

Presenters

Daniel Flavian Blasco, Department of Physics

Magnets, a gemstone key to the quantum world

Everybody is familiar with the phenomenon of magnetism, embodied in many everyday items like fridge magnets and compasses. However, understanding why matter is magnetic is a bit more complex. We cannot understand magnets without quantum mechanics, which makes them ideal platforms to explore the fascinating reality that quantum physics describes. Starting from basic ideas, Daniel will broadly explore the phenomenon of magnetism, dive into how physicists make magnets behave more quantum, and how we observe and interpret their exotic behaviour.

Kate Coldwell, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology

What’s going on with the human gut microbiome?

We hear a lot about the gut microbiome these days – the community of microbes living in our digestive tract. But what do they do for us and our livers? Kate’s research is particularly focused on the gut-liver axis, which is the relationship between the gut, liver and the gut microbiome. She will share examples of diseases involving the gut-liver axis, including MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease) – the most common cause of chronic liver disease and the leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. 30% of adults have MASLD but probably don’t even know it!