Imperial proudly partners with leading institutions worldwide to champion knowledge exchange and foster cross-cultural learning. One such partnership is with Monash University in Melbourne, Australia – a collaboration that brings bright minds together across the globe.
As part of this partnership, we welcome international students for a semester or full academic year. One of them is Thea, an exchange student from Monash who is currently pursuing a double degree in Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (AI, Honours) and Bachelor of Chemistry. We caught up with Thea to hear more about her experience of being an Imperial Chemistry student for a semester.
Q: What drew you to apply for the exchange programme?
I was drawn to the exchange program because it offered the opportunity to get research experience internationally while also exploring the city of London. Conducting this at Imperial was also very attractive, as it is well known for its excellence in the field of chemical research in particular.
Q: During your time at Imperial, what has been your research focus?
I have been lucky enough to be working on photodetectors within Nicola Gasparini’s team, with a particular focus on measuring parameters of interest such as specific detectivity and noise.
Q: Sounds interesting… what are some applications of this?
Photodetectors have a myriad of applications and are a rapidly growing area of research. A key struggle, however, is establishing consistent parameters to evaluate their performance for the purposes of comparison to existing silicon-based devices and other alternate material devices. To reliably determine these performance factors, it is important to measure critical values such as the underlying noise signal that coexists with the current signal of interest.
Q: Have you had a chance to connect with any postgraduate researchers, like PhD students or postdocs, and explore some of our labs or specialist facilities during your time here?
Being a part of this group has given me lots of fantastic opportunities to meet and chat with PhD students and postdocs. Everyone has been lovely and very welcoming, always happy to help out or discuss their experience in academia thus far.
I have enjoyed working primarily in the laser labs on level two of the MSRH.
Q: Any standout lectures, classes or one-to-one teaching moments?
The timing of my exchange worked out very well in that I was lucky enough to attend the Chemistry Department’s Pride Symposium on my very first day on site, andnow, nearing the end of my exchange period, I have been able to attend this year’s Centre for Processable Electronics symposium.
Q: What’s it been like studying in London and how does this compare to your studies back home?
Studying in London, at Imperial in particular has been fantastic. It is very special to be learning from people at the forefront of their research fields, then have all of London to explore at the end of the day!
It is hard to compare time in Imperial to studies at home, but the ability to get some insight into research and life in academia has been something that I have not had thus far at home.
Q: What has been a favourite moment whilst in London?
It is tough to pick just one, but I think my favourite memories have been making the most of having the West End so easily accessible, as I have been attending as many musicals or theatre productions as I can in my time here.
Q: Has this experience increased your interest in Chemistry and shaped your future goals?
Yes, absolutely! I am definitely considering the possibility of a future in research much more seriously now, and am strongly drawn to it as a pathway after graduation.
The biggest help has been the ability to talk to people that are already in academia, and all at different stages of their research career. This has been so great to get insight into what life is like and get answers to any questions I have had about it.