Welcome to our new Editors!

Posted by Hannah Crago on 2026-03-04

We are excited to announce that we have three new Essex PGRs working with us as Editors for the Essex Student Journal.

Please join us in welcoming Emma, Samson, and Wen!

Emma Jiao-Knuckey

My name is Emma Jiao-Knuckey, and I am an MSD Social Work student in the School of Health and Social Care. My journey with the University of Essex began through the Service User Research Group, where I participated as a carer for my two wonderful neurodivergent sons. With the generous encouragement of staff and students, I found the confidence to continue my academic studies. I now hold an MA in Autism Spectrum and serve as a Trustee and volunteer at Little Heroes ASD Support in Southend-on-Sea.

Research is, for me, a powerful form of advocacy—a way to ensure that lived experience and under-represented voices are heard. As an Editor, just as the University of Essex helped me rediscover my own voice, I hope to support fellow students in finding and strengthening theirs in their published works.

Samson Bamidele Olorunju

My name is Samson Bamidele Olorunju, and I am a Public Health Researcher and PhD candidate in Bioinformatics at the University of Essex. I have over a decade of experience spanning Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL), project management, and higher education teaching. With research publications in peer-reviewed journals, alongside reviewing experience, I bring a strong understanding of the academic publishing lifecycle to the role as Editor for the Essex Student Journal.

My professional work has covered tuberculosis, RMNCAEH+N, non-communicable diseases, immunisation, mental health, and large-scale health systems research, where I have led multidisciplinary teams, strengthened data systems, and translated complex analyses into clear, policy-relevant narratives. I am trained in Medical Statistics and proficient in STATA, SPSS, R, Python, GIS, and data visualisation tools, and combine technical precision with a deep commitment to research quality, inclusion, and collaborative scholarship. I am also passionate about telling compelling stories through data and mentoring emerging scholars, and am dedicated to upholding rigorous editorial standards while supporting students to confidently share their research with wider audiences.

Wen Wang

My name is Wen Wang, and I am a PhD student in the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. I am particularly interested in health inequalities, life course research, and intersectionality. My PhD research focuses on how social and residential environments shape biological ageing and health across the adult life course.

As an editor for the Essex Student Journal, I hope to contribute to a supportive and rigorous research community while gaining experience in academic editing. Having served as a peer reviewer for several international journals, I am keen to understand the editorial process from a broader perspective and to explore the possibility of becoming an academic journal editor in the future. I look forward to supporting student authors and helping to showcase high-quality research across disciplines.