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Research Spotlight

Shining a light on the people who make research happen.

Research Spotlight is an internal open day which brings together the research community at York. We want to showcase the wide range of research carried out at our institution, and the people behind the scenes who facilitate it.

The morning event is open to all members of staff at the University of York.

This year's Research Spotlight will take place on 25 June 2026.

Sign up to take part

Lightning talks

In these five-minute talks, researchers, technicians, and research staff showcase the breadth of research at York. Each one covers the speaker's individual research and/or work, either on specific projects, their overall research topic, or their day-to-day activities supporting research.

These talks take place in the morning session from 9.30am-12pm (noon). Speakers will also receive half a day's training on 8 May to help them prepare for their talk. 

Give a lightning talk

Exhibition

An interactive space for activities, information stalls and conversation about research and research supporting services at the university.

Hosted in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, this portion of the event will take place from 12-3pm

Sign up for a stall

 

Watch lightning talks from past events

Video

Technician in Ancient DNA and Palaeoproteomics Sofia Skott from BioArCh shows us the wide range of projects she works on as a technician.

Video

Qualitative Research Fellow Dr Sarah Baz from the York Trials Unit in the Department of Health Sciences shares the story of Sophia, a woman who lived with long Covid for several years.

Video

Statistician Alex Mitchell presents recent research by the York Trials Unit which explored alternative interventions for young offenders.