Category: College News & Updates

Mental Health Awareness Week: 13-17 May 2024

Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 is taking place 13 to 17 May. This year’s theme is Movement: Moving more for our mental health.

There is an extensive programme of events open to staff and students throughout the week – full listings are on the Mental Health Awareness Week webpage.

Highlights from the schedule include:

  • Opening panel discussion: Monday 13 May, 10.00-12.00. A panel of Imperial experts discuss how the intersection of medicine, psychology and the arts can support our wellbeing. Register now
  • In Motion: SeeingHappy@Imperial photography challenge and exhibition. Imperial has partnered with SeeingHappy for a photo challenge and exhibition. Snap a photo that shares your vision for a future filled with unity, creativity and positivity, and the chance to win a £100 book token. Submit your photo by 17.00 on Friday 3 May through the SeeingHappy website. Photos will then form part of an exhibition in the South Kensington main entrance from 13-15 May.
  •  ‘How to Thrive’ film screening followed by discussion with the director. On Tuesday 14 May, 14.00-16.30, join the screening of How to Thrive. A practical guide to happiness. This is a feature documentary exploring the science of happiness and applying it to situations where people experience struggle. This will be followed by a discussion with protagonist and chief thrive guide, psychotherapist Marie McLeod. Book your ticket now.

Find out more about Mental health Awareness Week

Global Fellows Programmes – Applications open! (Deadline: 13 May 2024)

Applications are open for two upcoming Global Fellows Programmes:

  • Imperial-Tokyo Tech Global Fellows Programme: ‘Good Health and Wellbeing’
    09 – 13 September 2024 / Hosted by: Imperial College London
  • AIMS-Imperial Global Fellows Programme: ‘Synergizing Efforts for Healthy and Sustainable Cities’
    11 – 15 November 2024 / Hosted by: African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Ghana

PhD students from the institutions and any discipline will come together to collaborate and network in these 5-day professional development courses.

In the current scientific environment, international collaborations and networking are the basis for developing successful projects. The modern researcher requires both excellence in research and professional skills and competencies. This exciting programme is designed to facilitate participants to actively focus on the development of these professional skills and competencies.

Imperial Doctoral students can find out more and apply by Monday 13 May 2024.

Help shape the future of Community Safety and Support at our university (Survey closes: 30 April 2024)

Help shape the future of Community Safety and Support at our university

Exciting changes are underway within our Community Safety and Support team. Formerly known as security, the team is committed to a transformation that emphasises proactivity, visibility, and approachability across our campuses – and the team want your help shaping their future.

Your input is crucial in guiding the development of their new uniform and service provision. The team are eager to hear your thoughts and preferences, as they will directly influence how the team represents itself and serves our campus community, making sure services align closely with your expectations and needs.

Please take a few moments to fill out a quick survey by 17.00 on Tuesday 30 April. 

Take part in the survey

Calling all Women PhD Students – Share your views on how Imperial can improve your experience! (Survey closes: 19 April 2024)

Calling all Women PhD Students – Share your views on how Imperial can improve your experience!

The results of Imperial’s Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2023, indicate that individuals who identify as female are experiencing less satisfaction than their male counterparts.  To address this, the Graduate School, in partnership with the Union and Associate Provost (EDI), has established the Women PhD Perspectives Project.  The objectives of the project are to:

  1. Understand, more deeply, the barriers and challenges experienced by women PhD students at Imperial.
  2. Generate ideas for tangible actions the College could take to improve the experience for women PhD students.
  3. Produce a report, setting out the findings of the project and recommendations for action.

The project comprises three activities:

  1. A women PhD student experience workshop which took place on the 5th March 2024.
  2. Collection and review of 27 women PhD case studies.
  3. A survey in which to gather the views from women PhD students across College.  The survey builds on the findings of the women PhD experiences workshop and themes from the case studies.  It is open to all individuals who identify as a woman who are undertaking a research degree at Imperial (PhD, MPhil, MD[Res], EngD).  The survey is open now and will close on Friday 19th April 2024.

We now invite you to complete this short, anonymous survey which should take you no more than 10 minutes to complete.

Thank you for your contribution.

Access the survey here

Zero Pollution Pioneer Awards (apply by 30 April 2024)

We are excited to announce a new awards scheme for postgraduate student research projects – the Zero Pollution Pioneer Awards.

About the awards

We have five £800 awards for sustainability-related projects that fit within the five submission categories:

  • Urban ecosystems: people and planet
  • Zero pollution mobility
  • Sustainable resources and zero waste
  • Emerging environmental hazards and health
  • Resilient, regenerative and restorative systems

Postgraduate taught and research (MRes, PhD) students from Imperial are eligible to apply.

Further details are on the website and application is through Qualtrics.

The deadline for applications is 30 April 2024

Imperial staff and students have full access to Overton

Following the College-wide trial for Overton, Imperial has now subscribed to the product.

All staff and students have full access to Overton. If you are within Imperial’s IP range, you will be able to browse Overton and see policy documents without logging in. However, we encourage to create a personal account to use all Overton’s functionalities. Get in touch with Yusuf Ozkan (y.ozkan@imperial.ac.uk) to request the registration link.

We will arrange a walkthrough session with the Overton team and let you know once the date is confirmed. In the meantime, you can check out the following resources:

1) A short video introducting Overton

2) Getting Started  section on Overton’s Knowledge Base to help get users oriented to the platform

3) You can also sign up to Overton’s newsletter  which contains new features and other useful information for users.

Overton is a policy document database and helps find the impact of academic research outputs within policy documents. It facilitates searches for policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications, and working papers. The product collects data from nearly 200 countries in various languages. Overton also tracks the impact of research outputs on policy by identifying references, people, and organisations. It reveals where research articles are cited or mentioned in policy documents.

You can contact Yusuf Ozkan, Research Outputs Analyst (y.ozkan@imperial.ac.uk) for your questions.
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Changes to the Shuttle Bus service

From Monday 26 February, the Shuttle Bus will be implementing two changes to simplify your journey.

Removal of bookings

We will be undertaking a trial to remove the requirement to pre-book your journey. You’ll simply be able to hop on and hop off on a first-come-first-served basis at any of our stops.

The requirement to pre-book was first introduced in response to COVID-19 and later maintained to manage limited capacity. However, with the introduction of an expanded fleet now complete, we hope that the removal of the booking system simplifies your trip.

Nonetheless, please be aware that buses at peak times – normally the first and last buses of the day – are likely to be very busy. Buses are designed to serve teaching, learning and research purposes, and not as a commuting service.

Timetable changes

Although the frequency of service will remain as is, the way we display our timetable will be changing. In line with Transport for London, we will now display each journey as an ‘eastbound’ or ‘westbound’ service, and remove the current ‘red’, ‘yellow’, and ‘green’ labels.

The eastbound service will run from Hammersmith to South Kensington via White City, whilst the westbound service will run from South Kensington to Hammersmith via White City. We hope this will make it easier to know where you’re heading and when.

If you have feedback or questions, please email car.park@imperial.ac.uk.

Societal Engagement Reading Group

Are you interested in public engagement or outreach? You’re invited to join the Societal Engagement Reading Group as we discuss papers and articles exploring current thinking around public engagement, schools outreach and other related areas. Meeting regularly throughout the year (every 6 weeks), this reading group is open to all members of Imperial staff and doctoral students to have a friendly discussions about the chosen reading for the meeting and our work. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 07/02/2024.

Engagement or outreach practitioners and those who are keen to embed public engagement/outreach within their work may find this group particularly useful, as it’s an opportunity to reflect on the evidence base for engagement and draw from research to inform our practice.

  • We meet online via Teams, with occasional meetings in-person with invited speakers.
  • Readings are shared at least a month before each meeting but if you don’t have time to read it all, you are still welcome to join us and take part in the conversation.
  • Group members are encouraged to suggest readings and are welcome to volunteer to facilitate discussions (if they would like to).

If you would like to join the group and be included in calendar invites and Teams links for upcoming meetings, please complete this short form.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please contact us and check out our webpage for more details

Newly minted Network of Excellence in Women’s Health!

We’re delighted to share news that there is now a Network of Excellence in Women’s Health at Imperial College London – set up to promote inter-disciplinary research innovation in women’s health and gender-based health equity!

The network is the result of the successful application by a 30 person-strong steering committee representing all four College Faculties and has a membership of more than 160+ staff and students from across the College interested in women’s health and sex and gender equity. To date, we have convened a scene-setting event in June 2022, participated in a Community Health Roadshow in Brent on International Women’s Day 2023, taken part in the 2023 Great Exhibition Road Festival, and facilitated cross-disciplinary supervision of Master’s students in International Health Management, Epidemiology and Public Health. Our scope is broad – with eight wide-reaching, inter-disciplinary research themes for collaboration, including: gender-sensitive innovation and design, gender lens on data, sexual and reproductive health, healthy ageing, women’s health and the environment, gynaecological health, women’s wellbeing and society, and optimising disease prediction and prevention. There is something for everyone!

The network’s formal recognition by the College will enable expansion from its strong roots to advance equity in women’s health, and provide national and international leadership in trans-disciplinary women’s health research. Plans include hosting sandpit sessions around funding bids, networking and capacity-building webinars, continued contributions to public engagement activities in North-West London and beyond, hosting of student projects, a launch event in 2024, and developing a website presence dedicated to the Network of Excellence in Women’s Health. Much of these plans will be realised in the New Year so watch this space! In the meantime, if you are interested in finding out more or wish to engage, do get in touch at womenshealthnetwork@imperial.ac.uk or Co-Lead, Carinna Hockham: c.hockham@georgeinstitute.org. You might choose to sign-up to the regular e-newsletter, or join the conversation over on MS Teams.

Don’t miss this outstanding opportunity to be a part of the Network of Excellence’s next chapter. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!