Category: Students

Valentina Neuhauser, Taught Postgraduate, Business School

Valentina Neuhauser

“My curiosity about how businesses raise the bar for sustainable development and offer hope for our future brought me to Imperial”

Growing up in Austria, I treasured the beautiful nature around me and the memories of running through beautiful fields of wildflowers as a child. Unfortunately, over the years, I saw many places in my fond memory disappear, making places for business and buildings and stimulating the consumption of more goods.

In 2021 I decided that it was time to embark on a long envisioned educational journey – to pursue an MBA. My curiosity about how businesses raise the bar for sustainable development and offer hope for our future brought me to Imperial. I had worked in tech for 15 years, and I had many opportunities to grow and take on new challenges over the years. However, I was keen to expand my horizons and learn about other industries. Imperial offered me the opportunity to continue my job while studying with a vast international cohort – and to do this online from Singapore, where I am currently based. Imperial’s Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment also attracted me, alongside the focus on programmes’ sustainable and ethical business approach.

Climate change, the exploitation of virgin resources, and the lack of a circular economy threaten our lives, those of future generations, the planet and animals, and our economy. Businesses seek know-how to set solid green agendas for the future, and we must ensure that students are ready for these “new” requirements. I recently connected with a variety of groups at Imperial organised to advocate on the climate emergency and to raise awareness. I am optimistic that we will have a positive influence if we use the power of our network to effect change.

I have always been active in my community, and getting involved is the best way to shape your experience. As a new MBA student, I took on a student leadership role for my cohort as Student Staff Committee Chair. This role has allowed me to work with the programme team on the MBA, and explore the Vice President for Sustainability role on the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee. In this role, I connect and work with stakeholders across the College to bring sustainability initiatives to students. It also offers the chance to address challenges and opportunities with the Business School on sustainability, while creating a programme that allows students to gain essential skills for the workplace.

It is no surprise that I am passionate about nature, and in my little spare time between work, studies, and student life, I love to be outdoors, hike, do yoga in nature, and marvel at the fantastic wonders on this planet. In addition, I love classical music, and my passion for classical ballet is my best way to re-energise after a busy week.

Laura Mereweather, Research Postgraduate, Department of Immunology and Inflammation

Laura Mereweather

“I am interested in understanding changes to blood flow within our veins, which may occur due to long term immobility such as long-haul flights or bed rest.”

Growing up in rural Dorset, I never thought I would live in a big city when I was older. Yet fast-forward 20 years, and I am lucky enough to study at one of the best universities in the world, in the best city in the world. (more…)

Elizabeth Akeju, Undergraduate, Faculty of Medicine

Elizabeth Akeju

“Participation in our annual showcase Afrogala allowed me to celebrate my culture through dance, modelling and drama”

During the first year of my medicine degree, I was able to participate in many activities, both degree-related and extracurricular. This year has given me the opportunity to explore the basics of medicine through lectures, tutorials, projects, placements and podcasts! I loved how there were so many tools used to help us learn and collaborate with others, my favourite being podcast creation for a module called Lifestyle Medicine and Prevention. Within this same module, we explored public health.

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Avaneesh Deleep, Undergraduate, Department of Computing

“At Karman Space Programme, we aim to be the first student team to launch a reusable liquid-engine rocket into space.”

I’m a third year Computing undergraduate here at Imperial.  For me, the biggest perk of the subject is how wide-ranging it is – from fascinating mathematics, to understanding how electricity in silicon can compute! I have particularly enjoyed learning how compilers turn programming instructions into machine code a computer can understand, and how we can design algorithms to be more time and memory efficient.
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Rita Kounoudis, Research Postgraduate, Earth Science and Engineering 

 

“I use the vibrations of earthquakes to visualise what lies hundreds of kilometres below the Earth’s surface”

I work towards unravelling the mysteries of why the interior of our planet looks the way it does today. As a seismologist in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, I use the vibrations of earthquakes detected all around the world to visualise what lies hundreds of kilometres below the Earth’s surface. Currently, I am trying to image the deep Earth beneath the remotest parts of East Africa – one of the few places on Earth where the continent is splitting in two and may eventually form a new ocean!  

Cyprus, where I grew up is tectonically active, experiencing many earthquakes every year and hosting some of the most geologically unique mountain ranges in Europe. Inspired by such fascinating geology, I decided to embark on an MSci course in Geophysics at Imperial . However, it was not enough studying to quench my curiosity, and so I threw myself into a seismology PhD focused on East Africa. During my PhD I even got to visit Ethiopia in person! This was certainly a highlight of my work and life so far.  

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Azellia A. Shafira Taught Postgraduate, Business School 

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial 

“I feel self-assured and confident because I wear the hijab”

Since I started at Imperial, people have asked me a lot about the hijab and why I wear it. I love to share this part of my story.  

There are no rules in my country about how you should dress, but there are rules in some families. My father’s extended family is more conservative – there’s an unspoken agreement that when girls hit puberty, they have to start wearing the hijab. My mum’s side is more free, there’s no pressure. Growing up, neither of my parents wanted to force me the way that some parents do. 

I had the liberty to choose, and the time to learn more about it. I didn’t choose to be Muslim – I was Muslim from when I was born – but deciding whether to wear the hijab was an opportunity to explore my faith.  

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Faridah Abdulrazaq, Taught postgraduate, MSc Climate Change, Management & Finance, Imperial College Business School 

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial 

“I love my course at the Business School. It teaches me about the world, showing me new things as well as confirming some things I thought to be true.”

I was born in London but moved to Nigeria at four or five years old. I grew up in Lagos. I would come back to the UK all the time as a child, it was where we came on holidays because my parents had a property here. It was great to visit, but it wasn’t like a proper holiday – it’s not as if they had a place in the Maldives! 

I properly came back to the UK when I was sixteen – I moved to Kent and did my A-Levels. From there I did a chemical engineering undergraduate degree in Sheffield, and now here I am back in London for my Master’s. 

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Ayşe Zeynep Kamış, Undergraduate, Department of Bioengineering 

“I’ve been empowered to be proud of my sexual identity because of Imperial.”

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial 

As well as my Turkish culture, being bisexual is also an important part of my identity. I came out after I moved to London to study at Imperial. I’ve been empowered to be proud of my sexual identity because of Imperial. In Turkey, it was always assumed that I was heterosexual. It was never an option to be anything else. You are an outlier if you’re openly gay in Turkey unless you are in a safe community.  

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Fatima Sheriff, Taught Postgraduate, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication 

“My advice to women in quiz is to not be intimidated by the male-dominated space, just learn what you love, do what you do best, and you’ll fit right in.”

Having studied Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sheffield, I did work experience at the Wellcome Trust and The Royal Society before getting onto the Science Communication Master’s course at Imperial.  

My course is what it says on the tin: a humanities course exploring all the ways science can be communicated to the public. We start with a foundation of ethics and media studies, then look into its applications. The highlights for me have been a placement at the British Science Festival and doing academic modules in museums and documentaries. For the latter, I got to write about one of my favourite filmmakers, Agnès Varda, which was a joyous essay experience (not a combination you hear very often).  

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Emma Pajak, Undergraduate, Chemical Engineering


“I hope sharing my experience might inspire others to take pride in their identity”

Being an openly gay woman in engineering, I am passionate about representation. A phrase that sits with me is, ‘you can’t be it if you can’t see it’. I feel it is important, for those who feel comfortable doing so to share experiences and support those around us. I hope sharing my experience might inspire others to take pride in their identity. 

When I was applying to university, I was really keen to base my decision on where I wanted to apply on a logical, methodical thought process – criteria like great facilities. I decided to attend an open day here at Imperial and, whilst it ticked off a lot of these criteria, it was the overall vibe and atmosphere that hit almost instantaneously – I knew I could see myself studying here. Fast forward to now, and I’m in my third year studying Chemical Engineering here at Imperial.  

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