Season 2, Episode 1: Laura Whelan

Fiona Waters begins series 2 of Retina International’s In Focus podcast by welcoming Laura Whelan. Laura Whelan is a third year PhD candidate in Prof. Jane Farrar’s lab in Trinity College Dublin. Laura’s work is carried out as part of the Target 5000 study, which aims to provide clinical and genotyping services for people living in Ireland with an inherited retinal disease. Laura has a particular interest in non-coding DNA variants and their role in these diseases. Laura is also interested in making science more open to the public and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @ phdwithlaura, where she shares her work and life as a PhD student. In this week’s episode, Laura talks about her research and who and what motivated it. She also discusses patient engagement and why it’s so valuable for researchers to involve patients in their process. In addition, Laura discusses science communication, how she became interested in it, and why she chooses to share her research with the world. You can learn more about Laura and her life as PhD student by visiting her social media pages.