Exeter ecologist awarded as future leader in climate and health research

Congratulations to Dr Dan Padfield, who has been awarded the 2024 Emerging Leaders Prize by the Medical Research Foundation. The prize recognises scientists whose research shows how health outcomes in the UK are being impacted by climate change and demonstrated their potential to be research leaders of the future.

Congratulations to Dr Dan Padfield, who has been awarded the 2024 Emerging Leaders Prize by the Medical Research Foundation. The prize recognises scientists whose research shows how health outcomes in the UK are being impacted by climate change and demonstrated their potential to be research leaders of the future.

Dr Padfield is an evolutionary ecologist whose research has led to significant breakthroughs in understanding how changing temperatures impact the ecology and evolution of microbial communities.

Dr Padfield said: “This prize is an acknowledgement of all the hard work that has gone into everything so far and the funds will allow me to expand my lab group and start collecting new and exciting data. I feel incredibly lucky and have been supported by so many people, and cannot wait to start paying that forward, helping other young scientists develop and succeed in their own careers.”

Dr Padfield plans to use the £100,000 prize fund to explore the links between climate warming and antibiotic resistance, two of the biggest threats to human health. Antibiotic resistant infections currently kill more than a million people each year and that figure is only estimated to increase unless there is intervention.

This research will be conducted through controlled experiments in the lab to explore exactly how temperature changes alter the spread of antibiotic resistance. Dr Padfield hopes this work will improve predictions of the future burden of antibiotic resistance – such as understanding where hotspots in resistance may occur – and further highlight the need for mitigation and responsible use of antibiotics.

Dr Padfield received his award at a ceremony in London at which, Professor Paul Moss OBE, Chair of the Medical Research Foundation, said: “This ceremony takes place against a backdrop of record-breaking temperatures, devastating storms, flooding, heatwaves, and droughts around the world. At a time of geopolitical crisis, with world leaders gathering just last week for COP29 – it could hardly be more relevant. Climate change is already costing lives and livelihoods in all corners of the world. As a charity whose very mission is to improve human health, we cannot sit back and watch as the planet’s health declines, and we cannot make matters worse by our own actions. We are taking our commitment a step further, supporting future science leaders here in the UK, with the early funding they need to advance their research and their careers.”

More information on Dr Padfield’s work around antimicrobial resistance and the wider research in this area at Exeter can be found here: Stemming the tide | University of Exeter