Isabel Candir is a final-year medical student at the University of Leeds. She is entering the Academic Foundation Programme and Officer Cadet role within the RAF’s University Air Squadron. She is combining elements of widening participation in higher education with RAF UAS handson training and research into human performance and physiological adaptation in aviation and space environments. Isabel is also the founder of Leeds Access to Medicine, currently one of the largest student-led widening participation initiatives in the country, which works with hundreds of potential students each year through mentoring and school partnerships. She is making a broader impact by appearing on BBC Radio Leeds and contributing to reviews of university policy on placement accessibility, bursaries for travelling to placements, and equal access to clinical training for students. 

Isabel is currently working to create scientific posters on research into gender-specific issues in space and extreme physiology and to establish initial research links in HEMS, polar, and aerospace medicine. She is combining hands-on experience through RAF UAS, academic development through AFP, and her commitment to dismantling barriers in medicine while advancing evidence-based knowledge of human performance in extreme environments.