Dr Diana Contreras Mojica selected for prestigious GW4 Crucible 2024

Dr Diana Contreras Mojica, lecturer in Geospatial Science within the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been selected to participate in the GW4 Crucible 2024. Bringing her expertise in the fields of vulnerability assessment, water management and food insecurity, Dr Mojica will join a multidisciplinary team of research leaders in fields ranging from psychology, law, engineering, economics, as well as biological sciences, epidemiology and clinical practice; all with a shared goal of tackling health inequity.

This year’s GW4 Crucible 2024 is focused on addressing complex health and wellbeing challenges rooted in socio-economic disparities. This is all whilst providing hands-on training and coaching to cultivate collaborative research leaders of tomorrow.

Societal health outcomes are influenced by a multitude of co-existing interactive factors ranging from access to opportunities, lived experiences and the effects of socio-economic disadvantages. This GW4 Crucible cohort aims to ignite transformative change within the region which has high levels of coastal and rural poverty, exacerbating negative health outcomes for citizens.

This opportunity to work within the GW4 Crucible also affords the opportunity to compete for seed funding to kickstart collaborative interdisciplinary projects, where empowered and dedicated researchers like Dr Mojica can translate ideas into meaningful action in the field of health equity. Under the guidance of GW4 Director, Dr. Joanna Jenkinson MBE, the Crucible program has nurtured over 200 early career researchers and disseminated over £100,000 of seed funding to date.

GW4 Director, Dr Joanna Jenkinson MBE, shared in her statement that “the GW4 Crucible programme has gone from strength to strength and continues to be instrumental in helping to enhance the careers of our future research leaders. It demonstrates the value of bringing together early career researchers from across radically different disciplines to develop new approaches to global challenges and research questions.”

“I would like to welcome our new cohort and look forward to hearing their innovative ideas and celebrating their future successes."

Throughout the program, participants will engage in a hybrid learning experience, comprising in-person residential labs and online masterclasses featuring expert speakers. Beyond skill development and knowledge exchange, the cohort will leverage networking opportunities to enhance their visibility among sector leaders within GW4 and beyond.

Formed from the research-intensive institutions of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff Universities, the GW4 Alliance unites researchers to tackle four key strategic priorities of “Cyber and Digital, Sustainable Net Zero, Creative Communities and Health and Wellbeing” to grow forward-thinking, inclusive and knowledge-based economies.

In the coming months, follow Professor Contreras Mojica and fellow Crucible participants as they embark on their quest to pioneer interdisciplinary solutions and catalyse progress in the fight against health inequalities through the GW4 LinkedIn and Twitter pages, as well as through the GW4 website.