Month: June 2023

Seth Jethwa, Support Services Supervisor, Central Biomedical Services  

Seth Jethwa

“I feel that I am contributing to the research community and science as a whole.” 

I am qualified in Animal Care (BTEC National Diploma) and started my career at Huntingdon Life Sciences as a Support Services Technician. I learned more about water quality and gained further expertise, including being involved in a study testing and collecting data on air quality machines. Following this experience, I moved to Imperial to work as Support Services Supervisor for Central Biomedical Services (CBS), Imperial’s animal care facility, at the South Kensington Campus.     

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Adlina Zahra, Taught Postgraduate, National Heart and Lung Institute

“By being given this chance to study at Imperial, hopefully I can achieve my dream of preventing death caused by cardiovascular disease”.

I am an Indonesian medical doctor interested in cardiovascular disease prevention. I worked as a GP for three years in Indonesia and was a volunteer doctor in a floating hospital in a remote area of Indonesia (South Borneo). Before starting my Cardiovascular and Respiratory Healthcare MSc at Imperial, I worked on the front line during COVID-19 dealing with this challenging disease, particularly in the second wave. As a doctor, I dealt with hospital overcapacity every day and it was overwhelming to announce people’s deaths on each shift.

It’s so important to prevent a catastrophic event as early as possible. The COVID-19 era has highlighted that people with no chronic diseases or comorbidity, especially cardiovascular disease, survive stronger compared to those who have these diseases. This is the main reason why I chose to study at Imperial, because the course offers complete management of cardiovascular disease from prevention until rehabilitation, complete with innovation and technology involvement as well as its implementation on an individual and population level.

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Chung Yan (Crystal) Fu, Undergraduate, Department of Earth Science and Engineering

Chung Yan (Crystal) Fu, Undergraduate, Department of Earth Science and Engineering

“I love sharing science and watching people’s eyes widen in wonder as they come to appreciate the amazing ways in which nature works all around us.”

Whenever I get asked what I study, I brace myself for the two most common types of reaction: the “Geology? Isn’t that just colouring in?” and the “I thought Imperial only offers STEM degrees!” Despite often being discounted and overlooked, geology is an important science that underpins every aspect of our lives. From the soils that grow our food and the mines that produce metal for our phones and cars, to the mitigation of natural hazards and the development of renewable energy to aid the green transition, I have enjoyed learning different applications of geology that shape and improve our society.

At Imperial, I am never short of opportunities to put the knowledge and skills I gained into practice, most notably on field trips. Whether it is visiting quarries in Lake District, fossil hunting in Wales, examining folds in Scotland, or investigating volcanism in Santorini, I always have a great time observing and interpreting different environments, piecing together the clues to solve an intricate puzzle presented by Mother Nature.

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Jasmine Chan, Disabilities Officer and Undergraduate, Department of Chemistry

“As a student with a hidden disability, I have felt part of a community I never knew existed at Imperial.”

I am one of the nine Liberation and Community Officers at Imperial College Union who support marginalised minority groups at Imperial. As the Disabilities Officer, I represent the disabled student community at Imperial and lead the Disabilities Network. Within this network, I try to foster a safe space for students who identify with a disability where they can feel comfortable engaging with other members of the network.

As the chair of the network, I am responsible for pushing for positive experiences for disabled students at Imperial. I work closely with the Disability Advisory Service, including Departmental Disability Officers, to fight for disabled student rights by raising issues from students to the Union and to the College. Additionally, I collaborate with the ABLE network, which supports staff with disabilities, to collect feedback from disabled staff members at Imperial.

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