The UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship is part of a £120 million UK-wide programme supporting a cohort of outstanding early-career researchers and innovators. The Fellowship provides long-term support, with the ability to extend up to seven years, enabling recipients to focus on tackling major research challenges. In this round, seventy-seven researchers were selected to lead ambitious research programmes, including Dr Wheatley, who joined the school in 2024 as a Vice-Chancellor’s Illuminate Fellow.

Dr Wheatley formally began her Future Leaders Fellowship this week, following the award announcement in September, marking a major milestone for both her career and the school. She is the first member of the School of Biological Sciences to receive this Fellowship and joins two other award holders in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences.

Her Fellowship project, “Dissecting the impact of species interactions on antibiotic resistance,” addresses one of the most serious global health challenges facing society today. Antibiotic-resistant infections currently cause around one million deaths each year worldwide, with this figure expected to rise significantly in the coming decades.

Her work aims to improve understanding of how antibiotic resistance develops in real-world infections. Rather than focusing on individual bacteria in isolation, Dr Wheatley’s studies consider the wider community of microbes present during infection, and how interactions between them can influence the emergence and spread of resistance. Ultimately, her goal is to use these insights into microbial interactions to help develop new approaches to tackling antibiotic-resistant infections.

Commenting on the award, Dr Wheatley said:

“I’m really excited to begin this Fellowship and to build on the research I started as an Illuminate Fellow. The long-term support provided by the Future Leaders Fellowship offers a fantastic opportunity to develop new ideas and contribute to tackling one of the biggest challenges in global health.”

Head of School, Professor Nigel Scollan, added:

“This is a thoroughly deserved recognition of Dr Wheatley’s research excellence and leadership. Her work addresses a major global health challenge, and we are proud to support her research as it develops. We warmly congratulate Dr Wheatley and look forward to seeing the impact of her work in the years ahead.”

Dr Rachel Wheatley

School of Biological Sciences

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