Image of Stephanie Adeyemo

Newnham Research Fellow Dr Stephanie Adeyemo awarded prestigious Royal Society Career Development Fellowship

Electrical engineer Dr Stephanie Adeyemo is among the first cohort of eight outstanding Career Development Fellows (CDFs) announced by the Royal Society – aimed at addressing underrepresentation in UK STEM academia.

The Royal Society CDFs is currently running as a pilot for talented researchers from Black and Mixed Black heritage, who have just completed their PhDs. It offers up to £690,000 in research funding to undertake high-quality research and a comprehensive programme of mentoring, training and networking opportunities over four years, supporting award holders in establishing a successful research career in the UK. This first cohort are undertaking groundbreaking research that can benefit society and further human understanding.

Dr Adeyemo, who completed her PhD in Engineering at Cambridge, is a Junior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Newnham College. Her research focus – engineering novel ultrabroadband polarisation-sensitive terahertz detectors – aims to improve the bandwidth performance of terahertz detectors highly sensitive to the polarisation of terahertz waves.

Dr Adeyemo’s novel terahertz detector will be the foundation for a high-speed terahertz camera suited for high-resolution imaging technologies in medical and security applications. Terahertz technologies are now entering real-world applications, and her novel terahertz detector will undoubtedly play a major role in these applications.

“Detecting a broader terahertz bandwidth with a polarisation-sensitive detector is of great importance,” said Dr Adeyemo. “It allows us to fully exploit and maximise all the advantageous features of the entire terahertz frequency band, which is beneficial for the advancement of future technologies.”

She added: “Terahertz waves are non-destructive and can penetrate through many non-conducting materials, which makes it exciting for imaging applications. Also, the rapid increase in data traffic, due to the growing usage of online services, has sparked a great interest in terahertz for future generations of resilient wireless communication to deliver higher data rates, as today’s 5G technology lie just below terahertz frequencies.”

The CDF scheme was launched in response to 11 years’ worth of higher education data, which shows Black heritage researchers leave academia at higher rates than those from other groups.

The impact of this higher attrition rate is pronounced at senior levels of academic careers. Analysis of the 2022/23 Higher Education Statistics Authority data, undertaken by Jisc on behalf of the Royal Society, shows just 3% of Black heritage staff were working at F1 professor level. This compares to 13% of White STEM academics working at professor level, 7% Asian, 6% Mixed and 5% Other.

The CDFs will have access to networking and mentoring opportunities supported by the Black British Professionals in STEM (BBSTEM) network.

If the pilot is shown to be effective, the Royal Society has revealed that the CDF programme could be expanded to include researchers from other groups where the data shows there is persistent underrepresentation. 

Dr Adeyemo is also a Co-founder of AfriteQ Academy and Cambridge Terahertz Network. At AfriteQ Academy, she is joined by her sister and fellow engineer Lois Adeyemo, in organising programmes and mentorship schemes to encourage and equip young students to pursue careers in engineering. At Cambridge Terahertz Network, Dr Adeyemo and PhD student Yuxuan Liu organise talks in the terahertz field and bring together terahertz researchers from across the University, and city, to discuss challenges and progress in the field.

“I am excited to be among the inaugural cohort of the Royal Society Career Development Fellowship,” said Dr Adeyemo. “I believe this scheme is timely and I hope to see its ripple effect in the near future, where talented researchers from underrepresented backgrounds can confidently pursue an academic career and become leaders in their fields.”

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said: “We need an academic system where talented researchers can build a career, whatever their background. But we know that is not the case in the UK today – particularly for researchers of Black heritage.

“The variety and quality of research being undertaken by this first cohort of Royal Society CDFs suggests a bright future ahead if we can ensure more outstanding researchers develop their talents and follow their research passions.

“I hope this pilot and the support it offers can be a launchpad to achieve that.”

 

First published on University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering website  and adapted from a Royal Society press release.