On 28th February, the researchers from the Geotechnics Section explored some of London’s hidden tunnels in a fascinating tour run by the London Transport Museum. With the financial support from the Graduate School cohort building fund, we were able to enjoy this social event and get closer as a group while also learning more about the tunnels that many of us study as part of our research projects.
On Friday afternoon, we all made our way to Euston station and joined the brilliant team from ‘Hidden London’ who first gave us a presentation on the history of the London Underground. Once we all had our high-vis jackets on, we were led down into the tunnels, past the busy crowds of commuters into the parts of the station that are normally hidden from the public. We were able to see one of the original ticket offices, beautiful old posters and many disused station-, construction-, and ventilation-tunnels. Since we are a group of geologists and geotechnical engineers it was an amazing experience for us to learn so much about the tunnels and the construction processes behind them. It was also a great opportunity for everyone to start conversation and get to know the new students that had recently started their PhD in the Section. Thanks to the support from the Graduate School we were able to bond as a group and gained a boost of motivation for our research by exploring the tunnels that engineers built in the last hundred years. After the tour, we gathered in a nearby pub, talked about the experience, each other’s research work and life and enjoyed each other’s company until the day came to an end.
