Each year, the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust offers a single award for an outstanding quality researcher in the early years of an established research and academic career. The researcher must be working at the leading edge of international science. Funding of up to £1.7million is available over a maximum of five years to support a programme of translational biomedical research.

Applications are made via UK medical schools and NHS organisations, with only one application allowed per institution/organisation.

Dr Taquet successfully secured the nomination of the University of Oxford for the Award, and then the Sir Jules Thorn Award itself.

His project is entitled “Instability Measurement to Predict and Alter Clinical Trajectories of Severe Mental Illness (IMPACT-SMI)”. The project aims to improve the lives of patients with severe mental illness by making their condition more predictable and manageable. During this project, Dr Taquet will exploit measurements of fluctuations of symptoms over time, which he has recently shown to be as important as their severity.

Dr Taquet, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, who also works across the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre’s Molecular Targets Theme and OH BRC Data Science Theme said:

“I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of such a supportive and nurturing department and Biomedical Research Centre with incredible mentors”

Dr Taquet is an Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School clinical academic trainee on the NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Pathway. Before becoming a clinical lecturer, he was an academic clinical fellow (ACF) and, before that, an academic Foundation trainee, both also with Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (OUCAGS).