Category: College News & Updates

Applications open for Venture Catalyst Challenge (deadline: 15 June)

The Venture Catalyst Challenge (VCC) is now open for applications!

This is your chance to be part of Imperial Enterprise Lab’s flagship programme and compete for a share of £100,000 (equity free) in prize money, receive expert coaching, and access to our network of investors, mentors, and industry leaders.

VCC is open to current Imperial students, ECRs and recent alumni working on innovative solutions across these key tracks:

🧠 AI & Robotics
🌍 Creative & Consumer
🔬 Digital & Finance
🌱 Energy & Environment
🧬 Health & Wellbeing

You’ll benefit from:

✅ Weekly masterclasses
✅ Personalised venture coaching
✅ Pitch training and feedback
✅ The chance to pitch at the Grand Final for prizes and exposure

📅 Deadline to apply: Thursday 15 June 2025

Click here to apply

 

Summer Term Day and Evening Classes: Arts, Humanities & Languages

Join us in South Kensington this summer on one of our exciting day and evening classes in the arts, humanities and languages.

From Introductory French to Beginners Watercolours and British Sign Language to Discovering Art Therapy, we have a wide range of courses designed to educate, inform and entertain.

No previous experience is needed in any subject, so whether you fancy taking up printmaking as a hobby, starting that novel you know you have inside you, or you’ve always wanted to know the secrets of modern art, you’ll find a course here for you.

Enrolling now – for full details visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/adult-ed

Make graduation magical – Volunteer on 02 June & 03 June 2025

We are excited to invite you to volunteer for Graduation Days 2025 which will take place on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 June 2025.

We are inviting over 7,000 graduands and their guests to one of five ceremonies across the two days and we are looking for some fabulous volunteers to help the Graduation Events team deliver this exciting and special occasion.

Our mission is to create powerful, happy memories for our graduands after all the hard work they have put into their degree. The question is, can you help us achieve this?

Key Information

  • Registration is open from Friday 7 March – Friday 16 May 2025
  • Read more about becoming a volunteer on our website
  • Click on this link to find out more about shift times
  • Both staff and students are welcome to volunteer
  • Full briefings are provided prior to the event 
  • BENEFITS
    • Free lunch, free drink, and free snacks on the day
    • A Volunteer Thank You event with refreshments on Wednesday 11 June 2025
    • Every volunteer who signs-up and attends their shift will be automatically entered into a prize draw. Volunteer for both days and double your chances of winning!

Whether you can help for a full day or just a few hours, we would love to hear from you! So please sign up to support us by filling in the Registration Form.

If you have any queries at all, please contact us at graduationvolunteers@imperial.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help.

Come and be the magic behind the moment, we can’t wait to have you on board!

Shaping the School of Convergence Science – Sustainability Workshops

Join us for an interactive workshop to help shape the future of the School of Convergence – Sustainability through engaging discussions and collaborative activities. Connect with colleagues, share insights, and explore emerging sustainability trends.

Workshop dates:

Don’t miss this opportunity—register now!

Please note this event is for Imperial Staff members (professional services staff and academic staff).

Establishing the Imperial IBD Research Community – Join Us!

Are you a researcher, engineer, or clinician working on or interested in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research? If you’re based at Imperial, Imperial NHS, or St Mark’s Hospital, we’re building an IBD research community to foster collaborations, support grant applications, and facilitate knowledge sharing and translation across all departments, career stages, and backgrounds.

Please take a moment to help us map this network by completing this short form: Join the IBD Research Community.

Save the Date for Our First Networking Event

📅 When: 24th April, 16:00
📍 Where: Hammersmith Campus

Let us know if you’ll be attending by filling out the form by 21st February, so we can secure the right venue size.

Join the new Viva Engage channel: Measuring Visibility and Impact

Join the new Viva Engage channel: Measuring Visibility and Impact

Scholarly Communications Management team has created a new Viva Engage community channel, Measuring Visibility and Impact to share insights and updates and invite discussion and collaboration on the various tools that imperial subscribes to. Tips and guidance on responsible use of metrics will also be shared.

Imperial subscribes to a number of powerful tools (e.g. Altmetric for tracking mentions of research publications on social media and news and Overton for monitoring citations on policy documents), but many staff and students are either unaware of these sources or unsure how to use them effectively. Through the Measuring Visibility and Impact channel, we aim to bridge this gap by advertising the tools, sharing updates about them, interesting case studies and organising training sessions to equip you to work with them.

The research analytics products allow you to:

  • track academic and societal impact of research publications, not only journal articles but other types of outputs such as reports, theses or preprints,
  • move away from journal-based metrics and h-index,
  • better communicate research results and increase visibility,
  • help you prepare job applications, narrative CVs, grant applications and REF submissions,
  • understand the latest research trends and key research areas in different disciplines,
  • monitor research performance of research groups, departments, faculties or institutions.

The community channel will support Imperial’s commitment to the responsible use of metrics by promoting best practice, fostering awareness, and keeping you updated about initiatives and opportunities. The channel will serve the ultimate objective of building a healthy research culture at Imperial by helping us break out of the dysfunctional culture of publish-or-perish.

Please join the Measuring Visibility and Impact community channel on Viva Engage and share this message with your contacts who might be interested.

Postgraduate Climate-Conscious Travel Fund

Postgraduate Climate-Conscious Travel Fund 

Postgraduate climate-conscious travel fund guidance document

The Postgraduate climate-conscious travel fund is designed to help postgraduate students make more sustainable travel choices by compensating for the higher costs involved. If you are a postgraduate student and wish to apply, please review the guidance document linked above which provides more detail on what the fund covers, and complete the application form. 

Find out more about sustainable travel on the Imperial website: Sustainable travel | About | Imperial College London

International Family Network

Are you an international student with dependants ?   Our International Family Network is for all Imperial International Students who have their dependants with them in the UK.  We arrange fun trips and events for you and your family such as theatre trips , visits to London tourist destinations and also on campus events such as the traditional Easter Egg Hunt in the College Gardens  .  See our website for further details.

Join our mailing list here or email s.markey@imperial.ac.uk .

New Trusted Research Training e-learning module

All staff with research, and academic responsibilities are expected to complete a new Trusted Research e-learning module. We encourage PhD students to complete this module too.

Research security considerations are increasingly important for universities across the UK, which includes minimising risks to national security during international research collaborations. It is crucial to ensure that everyone undertaking research at Imperial are aware of what Research Security is, its role in academia and key considerations when collaborating with research and funding partners overseas.

This module introduces Research Security, providing learners with insight into core principles including legal compliance, contractual obligations, and protective measures.

Joining instructions: You can self-enrol onto the course through the Trusted Research Module website.

Further training focused on export controls specifically will be released soon. If you are interested in being enrolled onto this module, please see the Research Security Training website for more information.

Additionally, the new Research Security website provides guidance on various areas of Research Security including the Trusted Research agenda, key legislation, and signposts other relevant areas of the university’s online guidance.

Access the New York Times to discover quality journalism

Access the New York Times to discover quality journalism

We are pleased to announce that we have purchased a subscription to the New York Times.  The subscription provides access to all Imperial students and staff.

Don’t miss this opportunity to stay informed and up to date with the latest news from one of the world’s most respected news sources.

You can access both New York Times website and app content, including the International, Chinese, and Spanish editions of the newspaper.

First-time users are required to register with their Imperial email address. Further details on how to register can be found on the Imperial website.