Author: Early Career Researcher Institute

Two minutes with… Ester Anaya-Boig (Student Programme Leader – Professional Effectiveness Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Ester Anaya-Boig

Department: Centre for Environmental Policy

Introduce your research: I am studying what aspects of the built and the social environment influence in people’s cycling behaviour

Student Programme Leader: Professional Effectiveness Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

I had attended quite a few courses and a couple of retreats from the Graduate School and I had found them really useful.

Two minutes with… Katia Hougaard (Student Programme Leader – Master’s Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Katia Hougaard

Department: Life Sciences

Introduce your research: My PhD project focuses on the innate defence responses of plants against aphids, an economically important insect pest.

Student Programme Leader: The MasterClass workshop series with Dr Helal Ahmed

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

Two minutes with… Marie Rider (Student Programme Leader – GTA Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Marie Rider

Department: Physics

Introduce your research:  I work in the condensed matter theory group, and I study topological nanophotonics, where we’re working to understand how light interacts with topological materials at the nanoscale.

Student Programme Leader: Graduate Teaching Assistant Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

Two minutes with… Daryl Ma (Student Programme Leader – GTA Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Daryl Ma

Department: Electrical Engineering

Introduce your research: Designing monolithic wireless electrochemical sensors for biomedical applications for blood or sweat monitoring.

Student Programme Leader: Graduate Teaching Assistant Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

I enjoy GTA work as I find teaching quite fun.

St. Mary’s Summer Party

St. Mary’s Campus does not really have a common room where students from different research groups get to know each other. Trying to break down the barrier, there was a Christmas party organised for all students working in the Medical School Building. Based on the huge success and numerous thank yous for organising this party, we decided to put together another party. A summer party this time, with the presence of the British summer drink of choice: Pimm’s with fresh fruit.

Besides Pimm’s, we provided prosecco, two kinds of beer, non-alcoholic bubbles and lots of water thanks to the Graduate School Cohort Building Fund, who sponsored this event.

MetID workshop

By Erika Dorado and Kiana West, STRATiGRAD PhD programme, Department of Surgery and Cancer

A workshop focused on the identification of metabolites was organised by the STRATiGRAD PhD programme in collaboration with the Centre for Metabolomics and Bioanalysis (CEMBIO). The MetID workshop took place between 12th and 15th June 2018, in Madrid.

The MetID workshop started with oral presentations given by PhD students from both Imperial and CEMBIO. The PhD students had the opportunity to present their research projects in seven minutes to an audience composed of recognised researchers in this field. We had the opportunity to practice our presentation skills and share our research experience by providing concise information about our PhD projects.

MRC-LMS PhD Workshop & Careers Forum at the Wellcome Collection, Euston Square

The second annual Medical Research Council (MRC) London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) PhD Student Retreat took place on Friday 25 May 2018. Held at the iconic Wellcome Collection in Euston Square, this event offered PhD students from all year groups the chance to engage and socialise with students from outside of their immediate research section.

Building on the success of the inaugural 2017 retreat held at Kew Gardens, this year’s event had a renewed focus on ‘Career Development and Networking’; prompting students to start considering what future avenues they may wish to explore upon completion of their PhD studies.

In this vein, the day began with a Networking Workshop delivered by Katie Dallison from the Imperial Careers Service, which provides students with free help and advice regarding career advancement, like CV checks and interview preparation.

How interventions are spread: Winning second prize at the Research as Art Summer Showcase

By Sophie Spitters, PhD Student, Department of Medicine

The Imperial College London Graduate School organised their annual Summer Showcase on Friday July 13th. The showcase aims to celebrate research undertaken by PhD students at Imperial and invites staff, students and visitors to find out more about their work via a poster and a research as art exhibition. I joined the research as art exhibition, showcasing my NIHR CLAHRC NWL research, and won second prize! First prize was won by Iman Ibrahim, who demonstrated what it takes to get clean drinking water to our taps in her mandala called ‘the ripple effect’. 

“Dream Today, Do Tomorrow”: Reflections from a cross-cultural, climate change-themed summer in Beijing

By Shiladitya Ghosh, 2nd Year PhD Student, Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London

In the modern day, students (especially PhD students) tend to have a crippling fear of committing to future plans because – “what if I end up needing those extra days to finish this report or do repeats for my experiments?” As the 2018 edition of the Imperial – Tsinghua Global Fellows Programme (GFP) on Climate Change and Energy drew near, I too had misgivings. Who was going to write my reports for me?!

However, a change in setting and scenery helps to calm and settle the mind – and I experienced this upon landing in Beijing in the sweltering 36°C early morning sun.