Month: January 2020

Dr Rebecca Bell, Senior Lecturer, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

“My research involves investigating how continents rip apart to form new oceans, and what controls the size and style of earthquakes at subduction zones.”

My road to Imperial started with a childhood interest in picking up pebbles on the beach and making plaster cast fossils with my dad. At school I enjoyed maths, physics and chemistry, but did not enjoy any of them enough on their own to commit to doing them at university!

Fortunately, one day I sat in my school’s library and discovered a subject called Earth Science in a university prospectus. I had never heard of it before, but it fit all of my interests perfectly, and I have never looked back. (more…)

Sherifat Yesufu-Rufai, Research Postgraduate, Department of Chemical Engineering

“I didn’t realise how supportive of parenthood Imperial was – from the nursing room to the childcare centre. I immensely appreciate the College’s understanding that you can work in academia and be a parent.”

I was born and raised in Nigeria. I received a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin, and subsequently obtained an MSc in Chemical Process Engineering from UCL. I started my PhD at Imperial in September 2017, receiving a scholarship from the Department of Chemical Engineering in collaboration with Shell. (more…)

David Tyoember, Undergraduate, Department of Chemistry

“I feel that Imperial’s willingness to support new initiatives is something I have benefited from, especially as this year I was able to start up a new Rap Society.”

During my time at Imperial, I’ve been involved in a few different extracurricular activities. In my first year, I developed an interest in under-representation in certain spaces, and decided to run for the position of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Officer. I also took up a role in the College’s Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, as well as becoming the Vice President (VP) of Diversity within the Investment Society, which was a new role at the time. (more…)

Moira Sarsfield, Principal Learning Technologist, Faculty of Natural Sciences

“It is a very exciting time to be involved with supporting teaching and learning in the College. It is a fantastic challenge, and really motivating to be involved with improving the learning opportunities for Imperial students.”

I am a scientist at heart with a degree in genetics from the University of Aberdeen (my home town). After university, I worked in STEMM publishing, then as an e-learning project manager, producing CD-ROMs and websites for medical continuing professional development, and supplementary materials for university-level textbooks.

I began the third stage of my career in 2003, joining Imperial as one of the first learning technologists in the College – at the time, it was a part-time role in what is now called the Department of Life Sciences. During this period, I also worked with a consortium of universities and the Royal College of Nursing on development and delivery of an online degree programme for healthcare professionals. (more…)