By, Melody Cowle, Meixuan Li, Fia Xiao, Hope Sargent, Louise Mitchelmore and Luisa Delius
On 24 June, the student representatives of the MRes Biomedical Research programme
organised a careers event to allow students to speak with alumni from different career
pathways.
The event was planned to be in person, with speakers from a range of professional
backgrounds invited to share their experiences and insights. However, the extreme heatwave
on the day led to major travel disruption so the session was moved online.
Students were eager to learn where the Biomedical Research MRes degree might lead them,
and what opportunities could follow graduation and how they can make the most of their time
at Imperial. This created a lively and thoughtful discussion, with students asking important
questions and panellists responding openly about their own experiences.
Our panellists were all alumni of the MRes in Biomedical Research at Imperial who have
gone on to pursue different careers:
- Filip Makraduli – Machine Learning Engineer working in Developer Relations at
Superlinked - Luis Rita – CEO and Co-Founder of Cycle AI, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree
- Natalie Owen – Scientific Assessor at the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency - Nieves Derqui – Imperial PhD candidate researching AI in health
- Valentina Giunchiglia – Imperial postdoctoral researcher in malaria modelling.
Together, the speakers spoke about their career journeys from the MRes up until the position
they’re in currently. The discussion covered topics such as networking, experiences in
academia versus industry, the current job market, and preparing for job and PhD interviews.
Feedback from the event was very positive, with students commenting that the panellists
spoke in detail and offered practical, helpful advice. With over 20 students attending the
event, 100% of students agreed that the event was useful and 80% agreed that there were a
good range of speakers.
Overall, the event was a valuable opportunity for students to explore possible career paths,
ask questions to alumni, and see the ways this MRes can support them in their career
development. We are extremely grateful to all our speakers for their time and flexibility, and
to everyone who attended and helped make the event such a success despite the last-minute
changes. We would also like to thank the Early Career Researcher Institute for supporting
this event.