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Sheryl was awarded her Fellowship following a competitive application process, and was selected from what the Ri cited as "a strong and diverse field of international researchers." 

Her research explores the movement of information about health and healing amongst exiled and travelling elites in the mid-seventeenth century, examining the agency and creativity of individuals in dealing with illness, negotiating medical relationships, and coping with the mass of information those encounters generated.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be a recipient of a 2024 Royal Institution Freer Prize Fellowship. It’s an enormous privilege to be able to finish my PhD project with the support of such a historic institution. The Ri's whole mission - to communicate scientific knowledge to the public - relates very closely to my PhD topic, which looks at how medical information was communicated and mobilised in a seventeenth-century context. As a Freer fellow I’ll have access to the Ri’s incredible resources for, and expertise in, communicating research, and the fellowship will give me the space to think really hard about how my findings can be disseminated in a relevant way to different audiences. I think there’s a lot of potential for this kind of historical work to inform the way we address present-day challenges, for instance in how we verify the reliability of advice about our bodies, across different sources and technologies. I’m excited to explore the opportunities at the Ri and see what new directions my research might take there."

Sheryl is one of only two researchers to receive this prestigious Fellowship, which will give her access to Royal Institution resources, archives, and support while completing the final year of her PhD. She will take up the one-year Fellowship in October.

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Photography by Paul Wilkinson Photography