I am a paediatric registrar with a passion for improving the management and outcome of critically ill children in the resource poor setting, with a specialist interest in paediatric infections, particularly involving the brain. An intercalated undergraduate M.Phil at Alder Hey catalysed my interest in research. Since graduating, I have always had an academic component within my clinical training. Firstly, as an academic foundation doctor with the Liverpool brain infections group, I published research focused on acute encephalopathy among Nepali children. This sparked my focus on paediatric non-traumatic encephalopathies; it became clear many questions surrounding aetiology, pathogenesis and treatment are inadequately answered. I returned to the UK to undertake specialist training in paediatrics, working clinically in tertiary level infectious diseases and neurology posts and as an academic clinical fellow (ACF) within the same research group. I conducted research investigating new commercial diagnostics for severe childhood infections and non-invasive tools to monitor cerebral function, with future potential to guide treatment of acute encephalopathy. Thereafter, I successfully obtained a Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellowship. I am currently investigating the aetiology, pathogenesis and outcome of febrile encephalopathy in Malawian children. For the last 2.5 years I have been based full time in Malawi. My time is split between clinical duties as acting consultant on the acute paediatric research ward and high-dependency unit, within the largest government referral hospital in the country and principal investigator within the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust. This work in the resource poor setting has stoked my enthusiasm to pursue a life-long academic career. I relish the opportunity undertake a formal collaboration with the Wilson laboratory, University of California San Francisco, exploiting powerful methodologies, such as next generation sequencing and phage display antibody discovery technologies to improve early diagnosis and better understand the pathogenesis of febrile encephalopathy. Long term, I aim to run pragmatic clinical trials in resource poor settings to identify diagnostics, treatments and supportive management that reduce mortality in critically ill children. Examples of such interventions could include early application of syndromic diagnostics and physiologically tailored fluid interventions.