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Images of Research Competition: Public vote now open

Which image captures your imagination? Which entry stands out and deserves your vote for the Public Vote Award in NTU’s Images of Research 2025? Have your say now!

NTU’s annual Images of Research competition invites researchers to express the essence of their work through a single striking image, paired with a compelling title and a 150-word description. It’s a unique way to explore research through an artistic lens.

The competition celebrates the depth and diversity of research at NTU—from postgraduate researchers to senior academics—across our strategic research themes and academic schools.

A judging panel has selected eight winning entries, each representing one of the competition’s categories, along with runners-up. Now it’s your turn to decide which entry should be crowned the overall winner.

Before casting your vote, take a moment to explore each image and its accompanying abstract. Then scroll down to submit your choice using the poll at the bottom of the page.

The overall winner will be announced at the launch event in July 2025 and celebrated on NTU’s webpages, social media, and in an upcoming issue of LeftLion magazine.

A snail peering into water

1. Frank Ruedisueli: Snail on the Edge

Snails can not only wreak havoc on your vegetable patch, some can carry parasites that can pose a health risk to your dog. The larvae of French heartworm (Angiostrongylus vasorum) can be transmitted to dogs, through the slime and secretions of slugs and snails, usually by contaminating (drinking) water sources. Inside the dog, the worms will produce eggs from which the larvae are excreted in faeces.
Secretions from slugs and snails were collected from dog walking areas and examined for the presence of larvae. The image represents the reality of presence and location of slimy gastropod vectors in the dog's environment.

This image captures two perspectives of the same moment: on the right, we see cows grazing peacefully in a green field; on the left, a thermal camera reveals their body heat and movement in vivid detail. But there's more to this picture than meets the eye. Each animal is digitally tracked and monitored using artificial intelligence (AI) to measure weight, behaviour, movement and even daily emissions of carbon and methane.

2. Zeng Fan: Twin Worlds of the Herd

This image captures two perspectives of the same moment: on the right, we see cows grazing peacefully in a green field; on the left, a thermal camera reveals their body heat and movement in vivid detail. But there's more to this picture than meets the eye. Each animal is digitally tracked and monitored using artificial intelligence (AI) to measure weight, behaviour, movement and even daily emissions of carbon and methane.
Part of the UKRI-funded BeefTwin project, this research blends cutting-edge technology with traditional farming. The goal? To help UK beef farms become more sustainable, efficient and kinder to animals and the environment. By creating a “digital twin” for every cow, we can track their health, productivity and environmental impact in real time.

A hand touching a handmade garment

3. Amy Twigger Holroyd and Sally Cooke: Fashion Fictions for Children: Speculating for Sustainability

What would our textiles look like if we were to live in a sustainable fashion system? Fashion Fictions is an international research project that seeks to answer this question by inviting participants to imagine, explore and enact fictional parallel worlds in which people live differently with their clothes. The project has reached more than 6000 people via activities spanning six continents.

This embellished textile cloak represents a world in which clothes celebrate friendships and memories. It was created collaboratively by a Year 6 class from a local school who took part in a project that adapted the Fashion Fictions methodology for use with children, seeking to influence behaviour during a crucial period of personal development. Research into the impact of participation reveals shifts in thinking and ideas for future action. Following the project, for example, one child reflected: ‘I will reuse old clothes by making them into something new.’

a therapist is faced with existential questions about protein’s ‘true character’ and ponders various possibilities, including a drumstick, a flexed bicep, a tangle of DNA, a tub of whey powder, a molecule and a chemical formula.

4. Gavin Weedon: What is Protein?

This image represents the difficulty in categorising protein, the elusive subject of my research. I created it in collaboration with an illustrator to evoke protein’s complexity: in the image, a therapist is faced with existential questions about protein’s ‘true character’ and ponders various possibilities, including a drumstick, a flexed bicep, a tangle of DNA, a tub of whey powder, a molecule and a chemical formula. In my forthcoming book The Protein Fix, we explore these manifestations in a social history of protein’s remarkable rise to nutritional superstardom. We show how protein has been proposed as problem and solution in various contexts, including malnutrition in the Global South, pollution in industrial farming, the crisis of contemporary masculinity and the climate emergency in the form of alternative meats. The research unpacks the myths behind the macronutrient and challenges assumptions about food, human health, environmental problems and the forces that shape our diets.

This vivid and intimate image captures a solitary pancreatic duct (green) holding its ground amidst a dense network of cancer-associated fibroblasts

5. Shraddha Bajpai: Last Duct Standing

This vivid and intimate image captures a solitary pancreatic duct (green) holding its ground amidst a dense network of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs, magenta), forming a striking visual of cancer dynamics in context. Captured at 63x magnification using a Leica Thunder microscope at the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF), this image comes from a patient sample diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer (PDAC). The blue areas mark the nuclei of individual cells, and red speckles represent molecular signals we're tracking as part of our research into the tumour microenviromnent. Our focus is on how long non-coding RNAs, once thought to mere noise in our genes, actively influence the behaviour of both cancer cells and their supportive allies like CAFs. This image speaks to the resilience of bodily structures amid overwhelming pathological change - an island slowly engulfed by a transforming landscape. It’s a snapshot of cancer in motion, revealing both its complexity and the beauty of discovery.

A Cyprus fox walking along path

6. Konstantinos Perikleous: Fangs vs Fur: The Dark Side of Cyprus Foxes

Red foxes are the most widespread wild canid in the northern hemisphere and part of Africa and Australia. Their distributional success is due to their highly flexible omnivorous diet, varying by region and season. This photo captures a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Cyprus with darker-than-typical colouration carrying a snake. An image that reflects the species’ adaptability, opportunistic diet, ecological role and fascinating morphological traits. Even though there is a plethora of information about the red foxes worldwide, the Cyprus’ foxes remain poorly studied. As the only wild canid on the island, Cyprus’ foxes may have unique dietary habits, population dynamics and genetic traits shaped by long-term geographic isolation. My research aims to fill the gaps in our understanding about Cyprus’ foxes by investigating their diet, distribution and abundance in different seasons and habitats, and if they differ genetically and morphologically from the mainland populations in Europe and the UK.

The image (mono screen print and digital collage) is inspired by Victorian women's shell grottos, blended with the geometry of a circuit board, a symbol of modern technology.

7. Liv Penrose Punnett: Créatrices

The image (mono screen print and digital collage) is inspired by Victorian women's shell grottos, blended with the geometry of a circuit board, a symbol of modern technology. It reflects my research into forgotten histories of technology, particularly how womxn have long used intuition, craft, and spirituality in innovation. From Ada Lovelace’s prophetic vision to overlooked female programmers and makers, my research challenges the idea that technology is purely rational. By curating these hidden stories, I explore how art, magic and technology intertwine—revealing a more holistic and inclusive view of invention.

This striking microscopic image reveals the protein, Tau (shown in red) within breast cancer tissue.

8. Komal Dattatreya Mohite: Illuminating the Dual Nature of Tau Protein

This striking microscopic image reveals the protein, Tau (shown in red) within breast cancer tissue. While Tau is infamously linked to Alzheimer's disease and neurodegeneration, our research explores its surprising role in breast cancer, where elevated levels correlate with improved patient survival. Our work seeks to understand how a protein harmful in one context could be beneficial in another. By unravelling Tau's function beyond the brain, we aim to develop novel therapeutic approaches for breast cancer patients.

Which image and description captures your attention the most?