PhD student wins international dance competition

The department's very own Dina Haddad has turned her research into an original song and dance – and won the chemistry category of the 2026 Dance Your PhD competition.

The annual contest, run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publishers of Science, challenges researchers to explain their work through dance.

Her work focuses on using magnetic nanoparticles to extract cell-free DNA from urine samples, a technique that could enable earlier and less invasive disease detection.

It may not sound like obvious music video material, but Dina’s 6-month songwriting and choreography effort shows that science can be communicated in ways far beyond graphs and journal articles.

She is the first UK winner since 2017.

The video, Magnetic Flow, features impressive pole dancing, an original track, and cameo appearances from several familiar CEB faces. Filming and editing were handled by: Naushin Ahmed, Melina Tsilira and Matthew Ellis, vocals by Barney Lewis, Sofia Dartnell and Dina, and the cast included Dina, Abbie Aleksandrova, Mirta Vojnovic, Drew Baker, Anna Pujol, Eve Gordon, Erin Walker, Oriol Colomer, with a cameo by Professor Ljiljana Fruk.

“I was just having some fun with my research,” Dina said, “and look at where it’s gone. I’m so grateful to everyone who helped me bring the video to life.”