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Emmanuel has recently been appointed Chairman of the PECS Committee after serving on the Committee as one of the events officers. His new role as Chair involves; organizing the PECS Committee meetings, ensuring action points are acted upon and liaising with the SfAM communications officer, Clare Doggett and SfAM Honorary General Secretary, Prof. Mark Fielder. Emmanuel is a PhD student at the University of Northampton having previosuly completed his MRes degree in Microbiology at Manchester Metropolitan University and working in the clinical research industry. He is looking forward to working with the PECS Committee to continue the development of the Postgraduate and Early Career Scientists group.

As Secretary of PECS Amara is responsible for writing and disseminating minutes of Committee meetings and work with other members of the Committee to organize student events at the Summer Conference. After completing her undergraduate degree in Microbiology at London Metropolitan University, Amara stayed on to carry out research towards a PhD studying survival mechanisms of enteric pathogens in traditional African fermented foods. Amara was originally involved with PECS as a member of the steering group and joined the Committee when a position became available. The biggest goal of the PECS Committee is to get as many Student Members of SfAM involved in PECS as possible and they’re always happy to hear from new potential members so contact us to get involved!

As Communications Officer Irene is responsible for organizing (and sometimes writing) the PECS sections in the Microbiologist, contributing to the monthly SfAM ebulletins, and acting as the point of contact for members of the group via the PECS email service. Irene's role is to act as a liaison between the steering group and the Committee. Irene completed an undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics at Sussex University. She is now in the third year of her PhD at the University of Surrey working on the area of antibiotic resistance in gut pathogens.

Samantha is part of the events team alongside Jo. The events team are responsible for organizing the Summer Conference PECS' events and ensuring post graduate and early career scientists have a good time! Samantha did her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at De Montfort University in Leicester. She is now in her third year of her PhD at De Montfort University in Microbiology, with the Pharmacy research team, developing a disinfectant using novel catalytic technology developed by the University. Prior to this Samantha worked as a student Biomedical Scientist in the NHS pathology labs and completed her professional portfolio.

Jo has been a member of the events team since the beginnning of 2011 and has been involved in organizing some of the student activities at the SfAM Summer Conference in Dublin. Jo is currently in the first year of her PhD at De Montfort University looking at healthcare laundries and their contribution to reducing Clostridium difficile spores, in partnership with the NHS. Previously Jo studied for an MSc in advanced taxonomy at The Natural History Museum and Imperial College London.

Danny has recently entered the second year of his PhD. His research is focused around the use of hurdle technology to improve food safety. Emphasis is placed on investigating the survival mechanisms of foodborne pathogens to commonly encountered antimicrobials with the intention of developing improved treatment regimes for the removal of pathogens from foods. He is undertaking his research at the University of Northampton, where he had previously obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology. Danny is new to the PECS Committee and is looking forward to working alongside the rest of the team to provide a good service for Postgraduate and Early Career Scientists within SfAM.

Jenni has recently joined the PECS Committee. After completing her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Reading Jenni stayed on and is now in her second year of her PhD, looking into the effect of a novel prebiotic on the gut microbial balance of high performance athletes to potentially reduce the risk of travellers’ diarrhoea. Over the past year Jenni has completed a human trial on athletes. Jenni hopes to be actively involved in the PECS Committee and is looking forward to this interesting new experience.