The Barcroft Lecture is an annual public event organised by Queen's University Belfast's School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences in honour of Sir Henry Barcroft, former Dunville Chair of Physiology at Queen's and a Wellcome Trustee. This year's speaker, and recipient of the Barcroft Medal, is Professor Sarah Gilbert. Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of East Anglia and her doctoral degree at the University of Hull. Following four years as a research scientist at the biopharmaceutical company Delta Biotechnology she joined Oxford University in 1994 and became part of the Jenner Institute (within NDM) when it was founded in 2005. Her chief research interest is the development of viral-vectored vaccines that work by inducing strong and protective T and B cell responses. She works on vaccines for many different emerging pathogens, including influenza, Nipah, MERS, Lassa, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, and in 2020, initiated the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine project. Working with colleagues in the Jenner Institute research labs, the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility and Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, all situated on the Old Road Campus in Oxford, she is able to take novel vaccines from design to clinical development, with a particular interest in the rapid transfer of vaccines into manufacturing and first in human trials. She is the Oxford Project Leader for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 with approval for use in many countries around the world.

The event will begin with a brief overview of COVID-19 research at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at QUB, presented by Professor Ultan Power. Professor Pascal McKeown, Dean and Head of School, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, will then introduce Professor Gilbert and present her with the Barcroft Medal. A question session moderated by Dr Rebecca Coll will follow Professor Gilbert's lecture. Questions can be submitted during registration.

A link to view this online event will be sent to registered attendees on 10 March.