Blog posts

Dr Federica Bernardini, Research Associate, Department of Life Sciences

Dr Federica Bernardini

“I fell in love with London and started looking for a PhD position in the field of malaria” 

When I was young, I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor. It was after attending a lecture in biochemistry that I decided to re-direct my interest toward the microscopic dynamics that take place within cells, as I found this fascinating.    

I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Università degli Studi di Palermo in biology, and cellular and molecular biology respectively. At the end of these studies, I travelled from Sicily to London to learn English. I fell in love with the city and started looking for a PhD position in the field of malaria to combine my passions of molecular engineering and Africa. 

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Joyce Kadibu, Software Developer Apprentice, Information and Communication Technologies

Joyce Kadibu

“My apprenticeship journey at Imperial has been an enriching and transformative experience” 

I can vividly recall writing my first lines of code – the classic “Hello World”. Despite its simplicity, I was immediately captivated by the art of programming. Coding helps to fill my creative urges as it allows me to bring my ideas to life in a tangible way. With each project, I am presented with a new challenge that requires me to think critically and find innovative solutions to complex problems. As a software engineering apprentice, I have been exposed to a diverse range of technical and practical skills that have equipped me with the necessary knowledge to develop complex software systems. 

As a member of the products team in ICT, I have been building systems using programming languages such as JavaScript. The experience has allowed me to gain a better understanding of all sides of the product life cycle, from design to deployment. My current project involves building digital platforms that will improve the admissions process for both staff and prospective students. It’s rewarding to see end users benefiting from the products I’ve contributed to building and knowing that my work has enhanced people’s experience at Imperial.  (more…)

Ori Blich, Taught Postgraduate, Dyson School of Design Engineering and Royal College of Art

Ori Blich

“Taking part in the StudentShapers programme was a rewarding experience that broadened my understanding and enhanced my skills.” 

I am a second-year master’s student at the Dyson School of Design Engineering and the Royal College of Art, on the Innovation Design Engineering course. This course is a unique blend of the arts and sciences, bringing together a diverse mix of students from different backgrounds. In the previous academic term, I was part of a dynamic team of four that created a revolutionary, carbon-negative, biodegradable replacement for petrol-based foams, such as Styrofoam. Working on this project gave us a chance to collaborate with experts from different departments across Imperial, which was a valuable learning experience for all of us. 

As someone with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design, I have always been fascinated by the manufacturing and making processes, the interaction involved, and the skills required for such processes. Last year, I had the incredible opportunity to be part of the StudentShapers programme, which supports staff and students working together on a broad range of projects related to educational development and educational research. I worked on a project called ViRSE, which stands for Virtual Reality for Student Education, and involved creating a mechanical lathe simulation for mechanical engineering students. The lathe can be quite daunting for first-time users in the workshop, due to its high speed and noise. So, our goal was to create an engaging onboarding experience for students, that would prepare them for their first real-life interaction with a lathe.  (more…)

Roger Teoh, Research Associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

“My research is about the climate impacts of contrail cirrus clouds – line-shaped clouds that form behind an aircraft” 

I am a research associate at the Transport and Environment Laboratory in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Global aviation is fundamentally entwined with the fabric of modern society, bringing significant social and economic benefits, but it also generates negative impacts in the form of climate change and local air pollution.  

I develop computer codes to improve existing models of aircraft flight. I use them to simulate aircraft fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, and the formation and lifecycle of contrail cirrus – line-shaped clouds that form behind an aircraft. My research objective is to improve our understanding of the climate impacts of contrail cirrus clouds, which are responsible for two-thirds of the climate effects from aviation.  

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Ruchipat (Aim) Kumpusiri, Undergraduate, Department of Life Sciences

Picture of Ruchipat (Aim) Kumpusiri

 

“At Imperial, my two seemingly opposing passions in the arts and sciences are allowed to seamlessly intertwine” 

Studying a biotechnology degree, people often think my days are spent in labs creating samples, writing extensive reports, and planning for experiments. But what if I tell you that I spend a lot of my time creating infographics, writing YouTube video scripts, and planning for Instagram reels?  

At Imperial, my two seemingly opposing passions in the arts and sciences are allowed to seamlessly intertwine. The skills I gain as a scientist also prepare me to become a creative and detail-oriented person. I enjoy being able to transform complex concepts into easy-to-digest diagrams as an illustrator for Felix, the student newspaper, as well as sharing my personal experiences through “A Day in the Life” or “Why I chose Imperial” videos featured on the College’s official social media accounts as a Student Content Creator.  

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Julia Sanchez Garrido, Research Laboratory Manager, Department of Life Sciences

Julia Sanchez-Garrido

“As scientists, I believe it is our responsibility to convey what we do to the general public”

My desire has always been to answer unanswered questions and defy what has been established, broadening the fields of research one small discovery at a time, and contributing to the better understanding of ourselves and our surroundings. With this aim I started my career in my home country Spain, where I studied biology. In 2013 I decided to move to the UK to do an MSc in virology at Imperial, and luckily obtained funding from Spain that enabled me to do just that. This is where I discovered my interest in how our body’s defences, our immune system, respond to attack by harmful microbes (pathogens) by mounting a complex and well-orchestrated response, and how pathogens have evolved ways to subvert this response.

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Devni Peramunugamage, Undergraduate, Faculty of Medicine

Devni Peramunugamage
“Coming to university I was suddenly thrown into an environment where people were celebrated for being themselves. It was wonderful.”

I was always bothered when my peers would talk about how big the universe is and how small we are, and how because of this life is meaningless. Year nine career talks didn’t help this existential crisis – if life was meaningless, how was I supposed to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of mine? In the end, it was a poem, by Rupi Kaur, that inspired me. It talked about how in the end, while we’ll realise so many of the things we worried over were trivial and meaningless, human connection is meaningful. Between a mother and her daughter, between a couple married for five decades, between a group of lifelong best friends – I think human connection is meaningful because we feel it is meaningful. And I realised that something that made me angry was how such arbitrary things – a virus, a drunk driver, a clump of cells growing where they shouldn’t be – could end these connections. I realised that if I did medicine, if my life was about trying to stop these arbitrary things, then it didn’t matter how big the universe was. My life would be meaningful to me. And that would be enough. (more…)

Robert Sprigens, Product Portfolio Officer, Information and Communication Technologies

Robert Sprigens
“I think it’s important to be your true self at work. So if you’re part of the LGBT+ community, why not bring that to work?”

Part of LGBT+ History Month: Behind the lens at Imperial

Since finishing university, my career has been in project management, specialising in technology. I started out in the financial sector. After a few years, when the sector faced another financial crisis, I decided to find a happier environment and moved over to higher education in 2016. Since then I have worked for two universities in IT,  supporting the delivery of large-scale digital transformation activities. (more…)

Cynthia So, EDIC Coordinator, Human Resources Division

Cynthia So
“It can sometimes be tricky to find spaces where I feel like I can be fully myself, but with the EDI Centre, I just knew that I belonged”

I studied Classics at the University of Oxford. As a university student I was already very involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) – amongst other things, I was on the Oxford University Student Union LGBTQ+ Campaign Committee, and I was the Black and Minority Ethnic Officer at my College. I organised LGBTQ+ film screenings and discussion groups, and dinners to celebrate festivals like Diwali and Lunar New Year. I didn’t imagine back then that EDI was a field I would work in professionally though – I didn’t realise it was an option! (more…)

Dragos-Cristian Gruia, Research Postgraduate, Department of Brain Sciences

Dragos-Cristian Guira
“I’m lucky to say I’m part of a very supportive lab, where I feel completely at ease being myself.”

I joined Imperial in 2019 to pursue a Master’s in Neuroscience. I got the chance to explore the brain and its intricacies in much depth, and as a result, fell completely in love with the field. I was then lucky to get a full-time position in the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial, looking at ways in which brain imaging and digital monitoring can be used to improve the quality of life for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. One aspect that really piqued my interest was how technology can be used to improve patients’ lives in a meaningful manner. Patients sometimes do things that healthy adults would never do, or react to technology in ways one wouldn’t expect. (more…)