Category: Doctoral Students

The Great MDR Departmental Quiz Night!

by Olivier Cahn, Research Postgraduate, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

On June 10th, our department came together for a special evening of informal networking and friendly competition at the “The Great MDR Departmental Quiz Night!”. Generously supported by the Imperial ECRI Community Fund, the event aimed to break down silos and provide a relaxed environment that encouraged interaction across different research groups and career stages.

The core of the evening was a multi-round quiz that struck a perfect balance between academic rigour and light-hearted fun. Attendees were challenged with a mix of science questions focused on the many different research topics worked on in our department; encouraging teams to have to work together to succeed.

Finding calm and connection through pottery painting: ECR Community Fund – DIDE PhD Student Social Pottery

by Kate Turpie, PhD Student, School of Public Health

On Tuesday 5 May 2026, students from the Department of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology (DIDE) gathered for a wellbeing-focused pottery painting social. The two-hour session invited PhD students to step away from their research and enjoy an evening of creativity, conversation, and relaxation together.

Hosted at a local pottery studio, the event gave students the opportunity to paint and personalise their own pottery pieces, which would later be glazed and fired in the kiln to take home. Alongside light snacks and lemonade, the session created a calm and welcoming atmosphere where students could connect outside of their usual academic environment.

IGHI PhD Christmas Social 2025

by Tricia Tay, Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Surgery & Cancer

We would like to thank Early Career Researcher Institute for funding our Christmas social. The original plan was to a research presentation where we provide updates of our PhDs in the morning to the group followed by lunch in a nearby café. We applied for funding for the lunch. However, our supervisor cancelled the research meeting after we had obtained funding.

Our team went ahead with the lunch and shared informally updates of our PhDs and lives in 2025. Our team of 18 PhD and Clinical Research Fellows work across various campuses including White City, St Mary’s and South Kensington.

Student seminar series at the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics

By Jaeha Park & Elias Van den Driessche, Department of Physics

The student seminar series is designed to give PhD students at the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics an opportunity to present their ongoing research. As opposed to other seminars organised in the group, student seminars are organised in an accessible and informal setting. This gives an opportunity for PhD students and early-career postdocs to gain valuable experience in scientific communication, but also for MSc students and early-year PhD students to be exposed to the range of topics explored within the group.

The goal of the student seminars is far beyond individual talks.

The launch of the Imperial Women’s PhD Network

The Imperial Women’s PhD Network successfully launched with our networking event that welcomed women doctoral students from a range of different departments and campuses. This event provided a valuable opportunity for students to connect, share ideas, and learn more about the network’s aims and upcoming initiatives. The diversity of attendees reflected the network’s commitment to building a cross-disciplinary community.

Following the launch, the network was also represented at Imperial Lates: Lights, Colour, Action, where our committee member Shana Winston (PhD student, Department of Physics), with assistance from her colleague Xunuo Jiang (PhD student, Department of Physics) and committee member Lisa Coiffard (PhD student, Department of Computing), presented an exhibit titled “Women of Light.”

Doctoral Student Welcome Event 2025

On Wednesday 15 October, the Early Career Researcher Institute hosted a Doctoral Student Welcome Event on the South Kensington Campus!

This 2-hour event included:
  • A welcome from the Early Career Researcher Institute, Provost Professor Peter Haynes, and Imperial Union President Nico Henry.
  • A presentation on the programme of support offered by the Early Career Researcher Institute
  • A Q&A panel discussion with current doctoral students
  • Tea, coffee, cakes and an opportunity to network with other doctoral students
  • Support Services stands

It was fantastic to see so many of Imperial’s new doctoral students at this event and at the Doctoral Student Welcome event held at the White City Campus.

Faculty of Medicine’s Rising Scientist Day

Rising Scientist Day is an event hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, celebrating the innovative research and achievements of postgraduate students. It provides a valuable platform for students to present their work, exchange ideas, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration across the scientific community.

The following post summarises key highlights and reflections from the day.

Yuan Wang, PhD Student

I was honoured to present my poster on how the gut microbiome modulates metabolic diseases through its metabolites. My research focuses on integrating metagenomic and metabolomic data to better understand host–microbiome interactions. It was an exciting opportunity to share my findings with peers and faculty, and I’m grateful to have received a prize for my work.

Our experience of the Early Academic Talks (EAT)

By Clara Finnigan, Postgraduate Student, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Research is all about collaboration and communication. However, it can be daunting to meet new researchers, especially those outside of your immediate environment. We set up Early Academic Talks (EAT) to provide a space for Imperial Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to connect and present their research, helping break down barriers for collaboration and communication. Our fourth EAT session took place on Thursday, 24th of April.

This talk series is a cross-sectional initiative, aiming to oGer the opportunity for ECRs to meet and learn about the research at Imperial in a friendly and informal environment.

From Labs to Lunch: How the I&I PhD Networking Event Brings Us Together

By Sophie Ball and Katrina Fordwor, Department of Immunology and Inflammation

PhD students can easily get caught up in their projects, labs and work and not have the opportunity to network with other students, whether these students are from the same floor or other labs. The department for Inflammatory and Infection is spread over multiple floors, so it is easy for students to become siloed and not to interact with one another across the whole of their PhD. This is why we set up a monthly initiative to bring PhD students together in a relaxed setting. The Graduate School has granted us the opportunity to fund a monthly lunch.