Month: May 2026

Student spotlight: Exploring climate entrepreneurship at Imperial

At Imperial’s Department of Materials, students are encouraged to apply their learning to real-world challenges, including climate change and sustainability. Through initiatives like the Climate Entrepreneurs Club (CEC), students gain hands-on experience in developing ideas and pitching solutions. First-year Materials student Aarna Chugh shares her experience of participating in the Climate Pre-Accelerator programme, organised by the Climate Entrepreneurs Club (CEC), where her team was awarded Runner’s Up in the Ideator stream.

This is Aarna Chugh (aarna.chugh25@imperial.ac.uk), a first-year UG student:

Recently, I participated in the Climate Pre-Accelerator programme, organised by Imperial’s Climate Entrepreneurs Club (CEC). This 8-week programme culminated in a final pitch day, where teams presented their ideas to a panel of judges. I am proud to share that my team was Runner’s Up in the Ideator stream for our company Ventera and its product ICE, a sustainable and cost-efficient cooling system.

Achieving a podium position has motivated us to explore this idea further and potentially develop it in the near future. The programme helped us hone our entrepreneurial skills and showed me that good ideas can start from ground zero. I would encourage anyone interested in entrepreneurship, particularly in climate, to join CEC and take part in the Pre-Accelerator.

Shoutout to my teammate Kavish Khemka from Mechanical Engineering.

The programme was organised by the Climate Entrepreneurs Club (CEC). Materials students Li Zhen Ong and Annabel Tenagne Kassa, both in Year 2, are part of the organising committee.

The Climate Pre-Accelerator is an 8-week programme supporting students in developing climate tech ideas through workshops, mentorship and a final pitch event held at the Royal Institution. The latest cohort concluded in March 2026.

Undergraduate Spotlight: Vanessa Ussalim awarded Rank Prize Undergraduate Vacation Grant

From discovering the opportunity through “many Google searches” to preparing for a summer of hands-on research, Vanessa Ussalim is set to begin an exciting new chapter in her academic journey. The undergraduate Materials student has been awarded the Rank Prize Undergraduate Vacation Grant for Optoelectronics, which will support her 8-week UROP project under the supervision of Professor Mark Oxborrow. We spoke to Vanessa about applying for the grant, the challenges of writing her personal statement, and why she “can’t wait” to get started on the project this summer.

Question 1. What is the studentship you’ve been awarded, and what does the project broadly involve?

I was awarded the Rank Prize’s Undergrad Vacation Grant for Optoelectronics, which will provide funding support for my UROP under Professor Mark Oxborrow for 8 weeks. My UROP will focus on optimising the optical pumping system for the development of an extremely high co-operativity room-temperature maser. Specifically, I will be modelling and determining the best possible refractive index and geometry of the invasive optical injector.
When in the process of filling out the Imperial UROP Bursary application, my UROP supervisor urged me to look at external funding options and to not solely rely on the college’s bursary outcome given its competitive nature. Many Google searches later, I was incredibly lucky to stumble upon the Rank Prize grant webpage. After finding out that the deadline was still a few weeks away and that I was eligible (as I’m in my penultimate year and my UROP was optoelectronics-related so it falls within the grant’s scope), I told my supervisor about it and he was very willing to support my application.
The application comprises 2 sections: one to be completed by the supervisor and one by the student. For my section, I had to submit my CV and a personal statement on how the studentship would help me achieve my career ambitions. I would say the personal statement was the most challenging as the word limit means that I have to be very selective and effective with what I write. Overall, the process was very straightforward as there were no interviews nor additional stages after submitting the application form.
I was incredibly happy and also very relieved as it meant that I could still partake in the UROP, since I found out about it a few days after my unsuccessful outcome from the college’s bursary scheme.
I hope to gain a more realistic perspective on what research work is like through immersion (e.g. delivering presentations, contributing to writing a research paper), which could guide me on my career decision as I will be graduating soon. I also hope to understand how to turn theory into practice and learn new design skills in microwave electronics and optical waveguides that are beyond the scope of my Materials degree. I feel excited and can’t wait to spend my summer working on this project!
I highly encourage students who are planning to undertake a UROP to consider applying to Rank Prize’s Undergrad Vacation grant.