About Giammarco Di Gregorio
As care-experienced student now pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience, I’m hugely interested in what ‘resilience’ looks like in the brain. My research focuses on how serotonin shapes neuroplasticity in three key regions affected by early-life adversities - the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. I apply patch-clamp electrophysiology and optogenetics, powerful techniques that let me replicate natural serotonin release while measuring how well brain cells can talk to each other.
Care-experience young people are eight time less likely to progress to university and choose a STEM subject. Aged 10, I entered the care system and later migrated to the UK in search of a brighter future. I attended language classes while working as a cleaner in exchange for accommodation in a hostel and worked through the many challenges care-experienced people face at this stage of their life. Five years later, I somehow ended up graduating from Durham University as the top student of my cohort- receiving the prestigious British Psychological Society's Undergraduate Award in recognition of this achievement. What I have learned through this journey is that care-experienced young people don’t lack talent, they lack the opportunities to unlock it.
Driven by this belief, I started WISHFULICIOUS: a small initiative aimed at providing engaging, out-of-school STEM experiences for children in care especially designed to nurture their potential for science and tech careers. To start-up this initiative, I’ve baked and sold cookies, run a small online fundraising campaign, and am now working on building collaborations to start delivering these STEM opportunities. The long-term anticipated impact of this initiative is to observe a measurable improvement in attitudes towards STEM among care-experienced students, and advance the visibility and representation of care-experienced individuals within STEM careers.
If you share this mission or simply want to help open doors for care-experienced people in STEM, I’d love to connect and hear from you!
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Recent Comments
Giammarco, thank you for this uplifting and moving reflection ! ✨ It has been a pleasure watching Learn With Us thrive last year - such an inspirational case of having a strong vision with a worthy cause and bringing others with you to create impact. Particularly fantastic how you made use of the Network and the Laidlaw community. Your steadfastness, dedication, and resilience are truly incredible.
Are you planning to continue Learn With Us this summer? Any other exciting plans perhaps? :)
Nikol, thank you so much for your really kind words. Uplifting and moving are certainly among the best comments I could have ever hoped for. The Scholars Network has been quite crucial, such a precious platform. I would have never managed to find so many incredible people without it.
Learn With Us Summer Camp 2021 is coming up soon!! Our brilliant Director, Jude Hanlon, is leading the new team. We are in the process of recruiting the last two Virtual Mentors (applications are still open for those interested), whilst the creative process has already started for the three mentors already recruited. The Video Editor team is working on the new introductory video clips. This year the clips will be fully cartoon animated, with a completely new format! We will be realising them soon; stay tuned! Our Publicity Officers are regularly publishing on our social media exciting activities to do over the weekend while waiting for the summer. Such a wonderful team!!
Other exciting plans? YES! :) More coming soon! Can't wait to tell you more!
Congratulations Giammarco! Not just for having achieved so much with the amazing Learn With Us Summer Camp but for developing and demonstrating your leadership skills and the Laidlaw Scholars values so brilliantly. I hear leaders asked all the time how to define leadership or what it means to be brave, and I think your realisation that confidence is about changing your relationship with fear is so spot-on and beautifully articulated, as is your insight that "leadership is about being brave and embracing the inevitable challenges of our ambitions." Thank you so much for sharing your story and your learnings; and thanks to everyone who worked with you to do so much to help the LST pupils this summer. I can't wait to hear what you do next.
Susanna, thank you so much for always offering your gratitude and empathetic encouragement. It really means a lot to me. It's been such a great pleasure working at the summer camp. Summer 2020 has been a very transformative one, in all senses of the word! Everyone onboard has worked so hard. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. It really reminds me that there is so much good out there, we just need to put it all together and the magic happens by itself. I can't wait to tell you more about what's next.
This is fantastic - congratulations Giammarco, welcome Doria. I am so impressed with your passion, creativity and high impact. I hope many others will join you - such a great initiative. You must be really proud of yourselves. I couldn't be more thrilled that you are forging such an amazing link between two Laidlaw Foundation programmes. Thank you!
I couldn’t be more honoured.
Thank you so much for your kind words and empathetic encouragement Susanna.
This means a lot to me.
I need to thank the members of the staff from the two Laidlaw Foundation programmes that have been helping me so extensively during the last few weeks. I want to thank them for their priceless support and guidance, the endless conversations and teaching. Thank you!
Ciao Giammarco, this is such a good initiative, well done!
Although I won't have enough time to commit to this initiative, I am very happy to help you in some capacity. If you need a 'sounding board' to discuss ideas with, feel free to reach out :)
Ciao Lorenzo, thanks so much for reaching out and considering to help. It would be wonderful having you on board to discuss ideas together. I will be sending you an email shortly :)