Category: Students

Julia Mitra – Celebrating student sustainability

Julia on holiday

“Bringing people together fosters creativity and helps to keep momentum in campaigning and constructively challenging the status quo.”

As Imperial College Union’s Ethics and Environment Officer, Julia Mitra is helping to shape the university’s sustainability landscape – from running policymaking workshops to green careers initiatives. All while juggling the role with her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering.  

With Sustainability Month’s packed programme of events, workshops and fairs now upon us, Julia shares how she has brought her passion for sustainability to life. 

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Nan and Tommaso: Building community and visibility

Nan Fletcher-Lloyd and Tommaso Barba

“It’s important for students to see people like them further along the career path they’re aiming for” 

Within Imperial’s Department of Brain Sciences, the LGBTQ+ Allies Network has become a growing source of visibility, connection and support. Nan Fletcher-Lloyd, Research Associate, and Tommaso Barba, PhD student, both share how the network has influenced their journeys at Imperial and why creating this space for staff and students matters. (more…)

Amy Lloyd Evans: Advocating for students

Celebrating Disability History Month

Amy and her dad at the South Kensington campus
Amy and her dad at the South Kensington campus

“There is a lot of support at Imperial, from the Disability Advisory Service to the student mental health service, accommodation teams and academic tutors.”

Amy Lloyd Evans is a fourth-year medical student and Disabilities Officer for Imperial College Union.

Amy said that she first felt able to be open about, and celebrate, her disability when she joined Imperial.

“I’ve always been disabled and, even though I didn’t know it for a lot of my life, it’s shaped all my experiences, beliefs and values. I try my best to be welcoming and inclusive to everyone because I understand the feeling of being othered for something you can’t, or don’t want to, change.

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Sana Kardar: Awareness and inclusion

Celebrating Disability History Month

Sana Kardar

“For me, Disability History Month is about awareness, visibility and inclusion.”

Sana is a Postgraduate Taught student on the MSc Bioscience Futures: Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship course in the National Heart and Lung Institute.

The course combines entrepreneurial, communication and commercialisation skills to address global challenges.

Sana enjoys how interactive her course is and says that it bridges the gap between her undergraduate biomedical degree and applications of research in the real world.

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Peter Bryan: Connecting Black researchers

“The Black Doctoral Network is a space where PhD students can socialise, network and get advice”

Peter Bryan

Peter Bryan is a fourth-year postgraduate research student in the Department of Bioengineering and co-chair of the Black Doctoral Network.

He is also one of the first recipients of the James West scholarship which aims to address the under-representation of Black and mixed Black Heritage PhD students within the department.

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Farwa Abbas: Making the most of the Imperial experience

Farwa Abbas

“I want young people, especially girls, to feel like they belong in science, like it’s something they can own.”

Farwa Abbas is a final year PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.  

It was always her dream to study at Imperial and as the first in her family to pursue higher education abroad and earn a PhD, Farwa has made the most of all the opportunities on offer during her time here as a postgraduate research student.  

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Graduation volunteers: Making Commemoration special

Darren Ng and Lilia Morales

Lilia and Darren volunteered at Commemoration Day in October 2024, which saw 3500 graduands awarded their degrees. Volunteers are essential to the successful running of the event and take on roles including crowd management around the South Kensington Campus, supporting on the information desks, ticket scanning at the receptions, and stewarding the livestream screening. Details of how to get involved at the 2025 ceremonies can be found at the end of the article. 

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Amaya and Amy: Creating space for women in physics  

Women at Imperial: Know no bounds

Amaya Calvo Sanchez and Amy Thornton

“This society gives me a sense of belonging where people value me and my work” 

To mark Women at Imperial Week, the co-Presidents of the Society for Women and Non-Binary Individuals in Physics shared the work they do to create inclusive spaces in the Department of Physics, how they are creating networking opportunities, and why it’s important to highlight underrepresentation in science.  

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Emilio Garcia Padron: Championing sustainability and growth

Celebrating Sustainability Fortnight

“At the garden I aim to create a ground for growth in which people from all backgrounds can share challenges and solutions.”

Emilio Garcia Padron is an MSc Applied Mathematics part-time student at Imperial and the founder and coordinator of RE:GEN @ Imperial – an Imperial College Union campaign aiming to protect, restore and expand green spaces around campus. 

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Cate Goldwater Breheny: creating community for Queer students

Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month

“Seeing other Queer people in medicine inspires me to be my whole self within the practice – it’s so important to see other people like you in the same space.”

Cate is a fifth-year medical student who identifies as Queer and uses they/them pronouns. They are an advocate for the Queer community in medical education, a volunteer for a sex education charity and an active member of campus life.

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