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Yanica Said

Research Scientist (Biomathematics)

Education

PhD in Applied Mathematics and Systems Biology

University of Malta & Oxford Brookes University
2018 - 2023

BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics

University of Malta
2014 - 2018

About

I am a data scientist specialising in the pharmaceutical industry. I currently work at Ascent, and was previously a Data-Science Fellow at Faculty (cohort 31), and a member of the 2023-2024 Vertex Fellows cohort at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
I earned a collaborative PhD from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Malta and the Cell Systems Modeling Group at Oxford Brookes University in 2023, where I developed mathematical tools and algorithms that predict metabolic behaviour and uncover emergent relationships in metabolic networks.
Outside of work, I am passionate about empowering young individuals, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, to explore and pursue careers in STEM, and was recently appointed an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Publications

Please see my Google Scholar profile.

News

  • Shortlisted for the TechWomen100 Awards, 2025.
  • Presented at the Faculty AI demo day, London, April 2025.
  • Acted as Malta’s youth representative and flag-bearer during the "Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration", Westminster Abbey 2025. This event was attended by the Royal Family and broadcasted live on BBC One.
  • Awarded second place for "Young Maltese Individual of remarkable accomplishment within the Maltese diaspora in the UK", 2025 (High Commission of Malta in the UK).
  • Attended the Vertex Fellows Drug Discovery Bootcamp at the Vertex Pharmaceuticals Boston Headquarters, October 2023.
  • Lectured at the InnoTargets Metabolic Modelling Workshop at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, May 2023.
  • Presented at the Malta Research Expo at the University of Malta's Valletta Campus in May 2023.
  • Presented at a seminar hosted by the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences at Oxford Brookes University in February 2023.
  • Participated in a Data Study Group hosted by the Alan Turing Institute in December 2022.
  • Acted as a Scientific Tweeter at the conference "Synthetic Biology UK, Newcastle 2022" (for which I was awarded a travel grant by the UK's Biochemical Society)
  • Presented a poster at the conference "From Functional Genomics to Systems Biology", EMBL Heidelberg 2022 (for which I was awarded a travel grant by EMBL and EMBO).
  • Acted as a tutor in an introductory python course (final year undergraduate students) throughout the first semester of the Oxford Brookes 2022/2023 academic year (BIOL6010).
  • Presented a talk and poster at the conference "International Study Group for Systems Biology", Innsbruck 2022.
  • Was part of the organizing team of the conference "Inverse Problems; Modelling and Simulation", Malta 2022.
  • Assisted in the delivery of a 4-day academic workshop; "Metabolic Modelling and its Applications", Nottingham 2022.
  • Acted as a tutor in an introductory python course (final year undergraduate students) throughout the second semester of the Oxford Brookes 2021/2022 academic year (BIOL6010).
  • Mentored a group of six young international students throughout the first semester of the Oxford Brookes 2021/2022 academic year (Global Buddies scheme).