Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize 2020 – Rosa Cheesman

I am delighted to have received the Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize.  I would like to thank the Genetics Society and the University of Birmingham for this award, and Dr Jonathan Coleman, both for the nomination and for his generous support throughout my PhD at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London.

My PhD thesis, entitled ‘Leveraging family data for complex trait genomics’, demonstrated how family-based quantitative genetics is not only the foundation for genomic research on complex psychological traits, but is of enduring value, especially when integrated with new genomic tools.

After finishing my PhD, I moved to Norway to start a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oslo’s new PROMENTA Centre.  I am very excited to be investigating how genetic variation and social environments combine to shape children’s mental health and educational trajectories, using rich genetic, psychological and socio-demographic data.