Author: Kemi Aofolaju

Staff and Student Successes: Autumn 2025

It’s been a fantastic summer for the Department of Bioengineering, with staff and students recognised for their hard work and achievements.

This Staff and Student Successes is packed with highlights, including funding awards, fellowships, competition wins and runner-up places.

We encourage you to read through the full list and, if you spot a familiar name, take a moment to congratulate them. Sharing in each other’s successes is a great way to share pride in the achievements of our staff and students!

UK Future Leaders Fellowship

Portrait of Dr Sophie Morse
Dr Sophie Morse

Congratulations to Dr Sophie Morse, one of the newest Assistant Professors in Bioengineering, who has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Dr Morse will use the over £2 million award to develop therapeutic ultrasound technologies to delay cognitive decline associated with ageing and neurodegenerative diseases, by modulating the brain’s immune cells.

Sophie said, “This fellowship will allow me to pioneer this non-invasive technology, enable me to acquire key expertise to clinically translate this technology and lead this ambitious anti-brain ageing programme, helping the UK meet its target for people to enjoy more years of healthy, independent life.”

The President’s Awards 2025

The annual President’s Awards for Excellence are awarded to individuals or teams to recognise achievements in four categories: Culture and Community, Education, Research, and Societal Engagement. The President’s Medal is then awarded to an exceptional winner in each category.

This year was a fantastic one for Bioengineering, with three individuals and one team from the department recognised across different categories.

President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
Dr Angela Kedgley, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Biomechanics

Angela Kedgley was selected as the winner of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in recognition of her consistently going above and beyond in her effort to support and inspire her students. Her commitment to fostering inclusive and engaging learning environments was reflected in the overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, who described her as an approachable, patient, and enthusiastic lecturer.

President’s Award for Outstanding Early Career Researcher
Dr Pete Lally, Assistant Professor

Pete Lally was selected as the winner of the Outstanding Early Career Researcher award due to his work in transforming neonatal brain imaging through innovative MRI research that is shaping clinical practice while championing inclusive leadership and outreach across the academic community.

President’s Award for Outstanding Research Team
The RLA Lab, led by Professor Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro

The RLA Lab were selected as the winners of the President’s Award for Outstanding Research Team in recognition of their outstanding research that delivers impact.

Provost Award for Excellence in Health and Safety
Morgan Edmonds, Bioengineering Technician (Teaching)

Morgan was awarded the Provost Award for Excellence in Health and Safety in recognition of her outstanding contribution to implementing Imperial’s new Corestream system as part of her secondment working to coordinate the Faculty of Engineering’s Biological Risk Assessments.

WE Innovate 2025

The Sekhmet Biomed team

Congratulations to Dr Magdalene Ho, Shani Katz and Sara Flod from the Almquist Lab, who took second place at Imperial’s WE Innovate Grand Final for their startup Sekhmet Biomed, which is developing ‘super-plasters’ that harvest the patient’s own therapeutic proteins to accelerate wound healing.

The WE Innovate programme, run by the Imperial Enterprise Lab, is a targeted pre-accelerator open to teams led by students, recent alumni, and Early-Career Researchers who identify as women.

Bioengineering Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Awards

Over the last academic year, Bioengineering has been collecting feedback from our students about how GTAs have been supporting their learning in study groups and lab sessions. We were very pleased to see a large number of very positive comments highlighting GTAs who have gone above and beyond to support our students and their learning, and as a way of capturing more of this good practice, the department has decided to expand the GTA of the Year Awards to three of our most outstanding GTAs each year.

We are delighted to say that our Bioengineering GTAs of the Year 2025 are:

  • Diego Ruiz Sanchis
  • Maegan Spiteri
  • Maciej Zajaczkowski

Congratulations! The Departmental Teaching Committee were really pleased by the overwhelming positive feedback and comments they received and wished to thank all three for their excellent work over the past year. Maegan Spiteri was additionally nominated for the Faculty of Engineering GTA of the Year and was selected as the runner-up. Congratulations, again!

Design and Professional Practice Project Winners

Group 13, winners of the 2024-25 Design Challenge

Congratulations to Ines Meyer, Lee Caspi, Mawin Banluelap, Sanford Chen, Demir Eryilmaz, Zixin Su and Yvonne Cui, who were the winners of the 2024-45 Design Challenge as part of the Design and Professional Practice Project module for first-year undergraduate students.

Their winning pulse oximeter was put together using a SparkFun Pulse Oximeter sensor combined with an Arduino Nano 33 IoT, making use of its WiFi capability to display live readings and graphs on a user-friendly online dashboard accessible from any device.

The device will be used as a showcase for prospective students during Open Days.

Games of Science Competition

Ioana Esanu

Congratulations to Ioana Esanu, PhD student in the vBS Lab, who came first in both the Romanian and English language heats of the Games of Science, a Romanian national science communication competition.

The competition challenges researchers to present their work to a lay audience in a series of timed “duels,” with rounds ranging from 15 seconds up to three minutes. Ioana impressed the jury of Romanian science journalists and communicators with her ability to spark interest and clearly explain her research, winning first prize in both the Romanian and English language sections. Alongside the recognition, she received a €3,000 award to support further training in science communication.

 

Global Earth Prize

Incoming undergraduate student Tomas Cermak has been named a winner of the global Earth Prize, the world’s largest environmental sustainability award for young innovators.

Tomas, together with a colleague from Slovakia, became the first European team to win the prize with their project PURA. The project combines photocatalysis and cold plasma to create a system that degrades harmful organic pollutants in water, including pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics and analgesics.

Breathrough Science Women’s Health Grant

Marc Soler, a 3rd year PhD student in the Ladame Lab, was recently awarded a £71,000 Breakthrough Science Women’s Health grant from the EQT foundation. This international award recognises Marc’s effort to continuously push the boundaries to close gender health gaps and improve outcomes for women.

This grant will help him to develop new tools to better diagnose gynaecological cancers via a rapid blood test, contributing to better care for women worldwide.

 

Imperial Union Award Winners

This year, our department is proud to celebrate the success of our students in the Imperial Union Awards. Their dedication to teaching, inclusivity, and student leadership has been recognised across multiple categories.

  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Winner: Pablo Prieto Roca
  • Inclusivity Award Winner: Anson To
  • Union Fellowship Winner: Meg Spiteri

News You Can Use: Spring 2025

Stay in the know with the Bioengineering Shared Calendar

Keeping track of key departmental events just got a lot easier!

Bioengineering has launched a new shared calendar as a go-to planning resource for staff to stay informed and improve coordination across the department. The live calendar has seven categories you can filter to find the events that matter to you:

  • 🎟️ Department Events, including Department Seminars, the Annual Bioengineering Lecture, staff and student socials, Away Days, and more.
  • 🏫 Academic Staff Meetings: the monthly meeting specifically for academic staff.
  • 👥 Professional & Technical Staff Meetings: dedicated professional and technical staff meetings.
  • 👩🏻‍🏫 Teaching-Related: events related to teaching activities or exams
  • 📅 Ad Hoc Meetings: one-off departmental meetings.
  • 🚀 Admissions & Outreach, including Open days, applicant visits, outreach activities and more.
  • ℹ️ Imperial College Events: University-wide events relevant to Bioengineering staff.

You can find the link to the calendar and instructions on how to add it to your Outlook account on our Information for Staff pages.

The calendar won’t send reminders, but it’s a great way to avoid scheduling conflicts and stay updated.

If you want an event included on the calendar, please email Kemi. However, as this is a high-level official calendar that we’re trying to keep streamlined, not every event will make the cut!

Join the Fostering Connections project

Imperial Experience is the university’s strategy to deliver a holistic student experience. As part of this, an investigative report highlighted the important role of community building initiatives to support diverse and inclusive student engagement and enhance the student experience.

Research into initiatives to support community building and the international student experience at other UK Higher Education institutions uncovered several initiatives to encourage connections within a diverse student body.

You will have the opportunity to gain experience working in student experience, community building, and communications, contribute to a unique initiative that celebrates the global campus community, and work with a diverse group of students and staff.

We welcome students from any department or Faculty, in any year of study, including international students. To express your interest, please complete the form on the StudentShapers webpage by Sunday 30 March 2025. If you have any questions or queries, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Events: Spring 2025

Registration for the Great Exhibition Road Festival is now OPEN!🎉

The Festival takes place on 7-8 June 2025, and will be full of exciting free events for all ages: from hands-on workshops to fascinating talks, and immersive performances to amazing art🎨🧬

Enjoy a relaxing yoga workshop inspired by insect movements, paint the northern lights with astronomers, or discover the science behind Bollywood dance. Design butterfly carnival costumes, take to the tiniest disco floor in the universe to explore quantum, discuss the new space race or experience chemistry brought to life through amazing reactions, slime and explosions at the interactive family-friendly show. All while you discover incredible live music, sample the food of the future, and see Exhibition Road transformed into a colour-filled art gallery for the weekend.

Sound good? Then register now!

🎟️https://ow.ly/h3Xk50VlfVi

Shaping the School of Convergence Science – Sustainability

Join us for an interactive workshop to help shape the future of the School of Convergence – Sustainability through engaging discussions and collaborative activities. Connect with colleagues, share insights, and explore emerging sustainability trends.

Workshop dates:

Don’t miss this opportunity—register now!

Please note this event is for Imperial Staff members (professional services staff and academic staff).

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SUPPORT KEW GARDENS TRIPS

Kew Gardens the Sounds of Blossom
Saturday 5th April

As we head towards the end of term, it is the perfect time to wind down before the lead-up to the exam period. If you are staying in London for Easter, the Kew Gardens Sounds of Bloom, in collaboration with the London College of Music, might just be the perfect event for you.

Come and celebrate the arrival of spring at Kew Gardens, surrounded by spectacular spring blossoms.

In collaboration with the Royal College of Music, Sounds of Blossom will bring the spring blooms to life. Music students from the college have composed new music, commissioned by Kew and inspired by the glory of spring. These new compositions will be played around the Gardens in Kew’s blossom hotspots.

Immerse yourself in nature and feel all your senses awaken as you wander amongst the trees – see the pastel colours, hear the gentle music and smell the sweet scents on the breeze. Sounds of Blossom is a chance to breathe, to lift your spirits and to reconnect with nature and yourself.

Please note this is an opportunity for you to enjoy Kew Gardens at your leisure and is not a group tour.

Price £5 (includes entry to Kew Gardens)

You can enter the Gardens between 11am-6pm (last entry is 5pm)

Book here

Kew Gardens: The Power of Trees Exhibition
Saturday 3rd May

As we head into the exam period, we would encourage you to take some time away from your studies or even take your studies outdoors to enjoy some fresh air amongst the trees. Being outdoors during exam preparation offers numerous benefits, including improved mood, reduced stress, better concentration, and enhanced cognitive function, all of which can contribute to better exam performance.

The Power of Trees invites visitors to explore the enduring beauty of trees across art and culture.

The exhibition showcases a diverse range of works, from intricate botanical illustrations to a groundbreaking video installation, which look at how trees have shaped human creativity.

Finnish visual artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s Horizontal–Vaakasuora offers an awe-inspiring portrayal of a 30-metre-tall spruce in Finland’s boreal forest. Complete with the sounds of a creaking trunk and birdsong, this living portrait captures the majesty of this ancient tree while challenging our perceptions of the natural world.

Accompanying the installation are Ahtila’s preparatory works, Anthropomorphic Exercises in Film, making their UK debut at Kew.

This is an opportunity to explore your gardens at your leisure and is not a group event.

Price £5 (includes entry to Kew Gardens)

Please note the exhibition closes one hour before the Gardens

Book here

Co-creation workshops for the Human and Artificial Intelligence School of Convergence Science

These workshops will bring together ideas from across the university to identify key research themes and explore emerging trends in AI. Through interactive activities and discussions, we will collaborate to shape the development of the School of Human and Artificial Intelligence while fostering a strong, connected community. Each session will also include dedicated networking time, offering attendees the chance to connect and share insights with one another.
Registration: Please complete this MS Forms survey to register for these workshops.
Further information will be provided upon registration. There are only 30 spots available for these events. Registrations will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Workshop 1 – Interfacing with intelligence – Date: Thu 3 April, 9-12pm – Location: White City (I-Hub, I-X, Level 6, LTR 608)
  • Workshop 2 – Augmented Intelligence for future society and wellbeing – Date: Thu 3, April 2.30-5.30pm – Location: White City (I-Hub, I-X, Level 6, LTR 608)
  • Workshop 3 – Embodied intelligence  – Date: Fri 4 April, 9-12pm – Location: South Kensington (SKEM 315)
  • Workshop 4 – Science of Intelligence – Fri 4 April, 1-4pm – Location: South Kensington (Room 315, Huxley)

AI Autophagy: Understanding the Risks and Solutions

by Dr Xiaodan Xing
Diagram illustrating the AI autophagy loop and its potential positive and negative impacts.

The latest paper by the Yang Lab, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, delves into a pressing issue in AI development: what happens when generative models train on their own synthetic data? This phenomenon, known as AI autophagy, leads to model collapse, loss of diversity, and ethical risks.

As the awareness of AI autophagy grows, so does the call for a comprehensive framework to understand, detect, and mitigate its effects. Our research brings together conflicting findings, theoretical perspectives, and empirical evidence to highlight the risks and propose potential solutions.

One key takeaway is that technical fixes alone, like watermarking or detection methods, aren’t enough. To truly address AI autophagy, we need a holistic approach that integrates technical solutions with robust regulatory oversight. Without proper policies and governance, even the most advanced technical solutions could fail to scale effectively.

Click here to read the paper “On the caveats of AI autophagy” in Nature Machine Intelligence

Saliva-based Menopause Test Wins Hackstarter

Congratulations to Karina Cheng, Biomedical Technology Ventures BSc student, and teammate Yihan Pu, on winning Imperial College’s Advanced Hackspace Hackstarter Grand Final with their Menosense device which monitors menopause via saliva!

Karina and Yihan stand side by side, smiling and posing enthusiastically with finger-gun gestures. They are holding a wooden award labeled "HACKSTARTER." One is wearing glasses, a blue plaid shirt, and jeans, while the other is in a brown cardigan over a white top and a brown skirt. Behind them, a large blue banner with white text reads "IMPERIAL ADVANCED HACKSPACE" and "Where ideas take shape," with the Imperial College London logo at the bottom. The setting appears to be an indoor event space with bright lighting and modern decor
Karina and Yihan after winning the Hackstarter Grand Final. Photo credit: Dr Ben Almquist.

Women experiencing menopause undergo hormonal changes that affect their mood, metabolism, and health. Traditional hormone tests need blood or urine samples, which can be invasive and take a long time to produce results.

Menosense introduces a portable saliva-based hormone detector for menopause that uses Lateral Flow Immunoassay technology for home use. It provides quick, noninvasive, and accurate hormone readings in just 20 minutes. A handheld reader analyses disposable test strips, and results appear on the device and a Bluetooth-connected mobile app, allowing users to track their health.

Imperial’s Hackstarter programme helps bring entrepreneurial ideas to life by offering grant funding for early-stage projects.

Students and staff can apply individually or in groups of up to four. If selected, they receive £500 in Hack Credit to create a prototype at the Hackspace, plus access to the Advanced Hackspace and expert technical support.

At the end of the programme, teams showcase their projects at a mini-symposium. A panel of judges picks the winning team, which is awarded up to £2,500 in extra Hack Credits for further development.

Click here to find out more about Imperial’s Hackstarter programme.

Science on Pointe

Dr Eleonora Moratto, a postdoctoral researcher and professional ballet dancer in the Microbiome-Microscopy and Microfluidics Lab, showcased her SciBallet Project at an Imperial Late event themed “Weird Science” in February.

Eleonora poses with three dancers from Chelsea Ballet at Imperial’s Weird Science Lates event.

Eleonora initiated the SciBallet project after choreographing and performing a dance that illustrated her PhD research. This experience earned her a spot as a finalist in the Dance Your PhD competition. It sparked her fascination with the intersection of science and art, particularly the use of ballet’s storytelling capabilities to convey complex research to the public.

Her dance wrapped up the event, featured a presentation on the historical relationship between science and art, and demonstrated how electric fields can be utilised to prevent plant root infections. Eleonora collaborated with Chelsea Ballet to create this performance.

Now, she is taking the SciBallet project further by collaborating with researchers and composers from Imperial College and plans to showcase this exciting work at the Great Exhibition Road Festival!

Click here to watch the Dance Your PhD video on YouTube.

Meet the team: Bioengineering’s Student Support team

In the Meet the Team series, we’ll be introducing to staff and students the people behind the teams in our Professional Services Staff that help keep the Bioengineering department running smoothly. We’ll gain an insight into each team member, what their roles are within their team and what they get up to when they’re not at Imperial!

This month, we’ll be meeting the department’s Student Support team. The Student Support team aims to deliver efficient support services that facilitate a seamless student journey. They do this by supporting effective networks between academics and students and enabling the best academic and pastoral care.

•Sarah Owenson: Head of Student Programmes

Sarah’s responsibilities are: ​

Portrait of Sarah Owenson. Sarah is wearing a blue and white striped top and glasses. •Managing the successful delivery of teaching support across the whole student lifecycle​
•Developing teaching timetables​
•Implementing and monitoring the department’s teaching programmes​
•Ensuring that our teaching and assessment processes are efficient​
•Developing and implementing teaching policies​
•Line managing the Student Office team​
•Student support for MSc students 

An interesting fact ​about Sarah is that she used to play the bagpipes! 

 

Jayne Shaw: Admissions and Outreach Manager

I am the Admissions & Outreach Manager for the department and am kept busy managing our undergraduate and Postgraduate taught admission cycles as well as supporting and developing outreach events/activities to raise awareness of our courses, with the aim of enabling students from all backgrounds to make an informed choice about their future studies. I work with our excellent admissions team, supporting students through the whole application process, managing shortlisting, UG interview days and all queries related to this.

I also manage our outreach provision which is very much a department team effort as we look to engage with students, especially those under-represented on our courses, their teachers/schools, families, and the public. We deliver a range of activities including summer schools, academic talks to schools and department tours. These are supported by staff and our fantastic student ambassadors. If you would like to find out more about outreach or would like to get involved do not hesitate to contact me. I love to chat!

 

Sandra Roscoe: Student Wellbeing Adviser and Departmental Disability Officer 

Hello, I’m Sandra, the Student Wellbeing Adviser and Departmental Disability Officer (students). Any student in the department can contact me to arrange a confidential chat about whatever is on their mind. I work very flexibly depending on what someone needs. I also liaise with staff members where there are wellbeing concerns and facilitate recommendations from the disability service. Before I joined in the department in 2019, I worked in the NHS for about eighteen years. I live with my family in South East London and try (with varying success) to grow as much as possible in our tiny garden.

 

Ian Radcliffe: Senior Teaching Fellow

As a Senior Teaching Fellow, I run the 2nd year engineering design project module now known as Design and Professional Practice 2. On the module, we assist students in designing and developing solutions to real world engineering problems, usually focused on assistive technology and frugal healthcare.  Through these projects we teach students some of the transferable skills that will make them fully rounded engineers, such as presentation skills and team working.  I teach on several MSc modules introducing students to the product development process and techniques for generating concepts.

I also work with Jayne Shaw with Admissions by reviewing student applications for the Undergraduate and MSc programs to determine which students receive interviews and what offers students will get.

As part of my role, I am on the Departmental Teaching Committee and I am currently working towards an MEd in University Learning and Teaching so that I can better advise on good teaching practice within the department.

Little known fact: I built my eldest daughter a Proton Pack so that she could be a Ghostbuster for Halloween.

 

Nicole Harbert: Teaching Operations Manager (Taught Courses)

Nicole’s responsibilities are:
•Managing the delivery of UG and MSc Programmes​
•Managing welcome week events and timetabling ​
•Managing all aspects of the TRA process through the academic year​
•Corresponding with external examiner
•Line managing and supporting the UG and MSc taught student administrators​
•Student welfare ​
•Student office support for third year undergraduate students 

 

Krisztina Lackoi: Postgraduate Research Student Programmes Manager

Krisztina’s responsibilities are:

•Managing the delivery of our MRes and PhD programmes​
•Managing welcome week timetabling and activities​
•MRes exam boards​
•MRes and PhD student handbooks​
•Line managing, supporting, and developing the Postgraduate Research Administrator role ​
•GTA allocations 

 

Julie Hoang: Learning Technologist

Julie’s responsibilities are:

Portrait of Julie Hoang. Julie is sat smiling in front of a blue backdrop. She is wearing a grey jumper over a white shirt and black jeans.•Supporting and guiding students in using the learning technologies​
•Promoting the use of e-learning and digital tools​
•Assisting with the planning, design, and development of high-quality e-learning resources​
•Student and academic staff enquiries ​
•TRAs during Jan and May (online platforms)​
•Supporting the  delivery of remote teaching and learning

A fun fact about Julie is that she spent some time during lockdown converting a workman’s van into a camper for trips around the UK.

 

Sam Harbert: Senior Student Administrator

Portrait of Samantha HerbertI work Monday to Wednesday as a Senior Student Administrator and Student Office Support for Year 1 and 2. I have been working for the Department since 2015, I have had two maternity leaves during that time but as soon as I return it’s like I never left, it’s all systems go in our office! There are a lot of yearly tasks that we complete as a team such as the production of student handbooks, enrolling students during Welcome week. During the exam months we set-up, run and process the examinations so that all the information is ready for the Exam Boards later in the year.

In addition to this my main administrative responsibilities focus on Undergraduate coursework and the systems used to track and record this data. I also process mitigating circumstances applications and update students on their outcomes once the board have made a decision. I am also one of the main contacts for Year 1 and 2, the other contact is Will Wrigley who I job share with. So, if you are a 1st or 2nd year student and you have a query either course related or not, we are the people to contact 😊.

Little known fact about me- I love watching anything to do with Crime on TV. Crime dramas, crime documentaries, you name it…I LOVE it! I’m also a little obsessed with David Attenborough and Mary Berry, I think they are national treasures!

 

Will Wrigley: Senior Student Administrator

Will’s responsibilities are:

Portrait of Will Wrigley•Coursework, projects and updating the learning technology related to those for UG taught courses​
•Processing mitigating circumstances applications​
•Student Office Support for Year 1 and 2​
•Setting up and processing of TRAs during January and May​
•Moderation and Exam Board support​
•Assisting with Project Presentation days​
•Enrolling students during Welcome week and supporting events​
•Producing UG student handbooks​
•Updating the course administration section of the website

 

Jayne Stringer: Postgraduate Research Administrator

Jayne’s responsibilities are:

Portrait of Jayne Stringer•Postgraduate researcher induction and onboarding including Welcome week and events​
•Being the first port of call for all postgraduate research enquiries from students and staff​
•Postgraduate research milestone administration​
•Tier 4 (now Student Visa Route) monitoring​
•MRes/PhD student handbooks​
•Updating course administration web pages​
•Wider Student Office support including TRAs from January to May

 

Mary Ewumi: Senior Student Administrator (Admissions) 

Mary’s responsibilities are:

•Student admissions administration for Undergraduate, Postgraduate taught, Postgraduate Research and PhD Programmes​
•TRAs during Jan and May​
•Student office support for iBSc students. ​
•iBSc project presentation days ​
•Recruitment materials (brochures, merchandise, online material) ​
•Supporting our Admissions Manager with Open Days and other admissions tasks. ​
•Recruitment of student helpers ​
•iBSc student handbooks​
•Scholarship administration for Undergraduate, Postgraduate taught and PhD students

 

Daze Osuide: Student Administrator 

Daze Osuide joined the department in 2018 as a full-time Student Administrator. The role has since developed to include support for Masters students across the three MSc Taught degree programmes. The core duties of this role include, acting as the secretary of the termly Student Staff Committee meetings (SSCMs), producing attendance reports on UG and MSc students who hold a Tier 4 Visa, processing requests for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP), working with the group and individual Project Officers to plan and deliver the annual Group and Individual Project Presentation days in June​ and production of the MSc student handbooks.

Together with the Student Office team, Daze also supports the following tasks:

  • Coursework, projects and learning technology relating to MSc programmes.
  • Set-up and process in-person exams and timed-remote assessments (TRAs) during January and May.
  • Data collation for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Exam Boards.
  • Annual Welcome Week.
  • General student enquiries

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the team: Bioengineering’s laboratory, electronics and workshop technicians

In this new series, we’ll be introducing to staff and students the people behind the teams in our Professional Services Staff that help keep the Bioengineering department running smoothly. We’ll gain an insight into each team member, what their roles are within their team and what they get up to when they’re not at Imperial!

This month, we’ll be meeting the Technical team which is made up of laboratory, electronics and workshop technicians. Led brilliantly by Ken Keating, our Technical Operations Manager, the technical team are a multi-skilled group of staff that supports the department at both our South Kensington and White City offices and research spaces.

(more…)

Bioengineering Thank You Awards: Edit Toth

The Bioengineering COVID-19 awards were developed to recognise the extraordinary efforts of students and staff in the Bioengineering department in the context of COVID-19.

Staff in the department were invited to nominate their colleagues and students for a Bioengineering Thank You Award. In their nomination, staff members had to state why they felt the work and actions of their nominee were so exceptional. These reasons could be: delivering critical departmental services despite challenging circumstances, working additional hours to ensure new processes were delivered, being involved in activities outside their role to support staff or students, or contributing to College and national COVID-19 related efforts.

I spoke with Edit Toth, the department’s Office Manager and IT Coordinator who was awarded a Thank You award due to the tools she developed for the processing of student assessments.

Portrait of Edit Toth. Edit is standing in front of a blue backdrop. She is smiling and wearing a purple jumper with a black cardigan
Edit Toth, Office Manager and IT Coordinator

Kemi: How do you feel about being given a COVID-19 Thank You award?

Edit: I am very, very happy to have been nominated. Feeling appreciated always gives me an extra ton of motivation to do even more.

 

Kemi: How was adjusting to our “new normal”,  juggling working from home and dealing with changing processes while helping set staff members up to work from home?

Edit: I have adjusted very well to working from home. Luckily we had enough space in the house for me to set up my little corner where I work comfortably. And, as I save the travelling time, I now have time to do a lot more exercise such as working out in the morning or cycling after work. I also have more time to cook and can eat better and healthier.
I miss the chit-chat with my colleagues but thanks to online socials, I can talk with more people especially members of staff that I didn’t really know before. 😊

 

Kemi: How did your role change during the lockdown and what limitations did you face to your work?

Edit: In the first couple of weeks my role shifted to “web developer”. I spent weeks setting up the online exam marking system and working from home actually helped as I could immerse myself in my work without disruptions.
My office manager role is getting tricky. For example, my role involves helping with the moves to White City. However, I now rely on other people (mainly on the amazing technician team!) to check and set things up for me. Instead of walking around in the building and offices by myself, I receive photos from them.

Photo of Edit working from home. Edit is sat in front of two PC monitors. She is smiling and wearing a grey hoodie with white ties. The screen on the right hand side says "Teaching System"
Edit working from home on the Teaching System that she built to assist with remote assessment.

Kemi: What or who was inspiring your hard work and kept you going during the lockdown?

Edit: My motivation has always come from the same source, it doesn’t matter where I am working! People trust me to do my tasks so I do them with my best knowledge, proving every day that I am worth the trust they have in me and that I can do even more. 😊

 

Kemi: What are you most looking forward to once things return to “normal”?

Edit: I cannot wait to see my colleagues in person again! And talk to people who I just meet on the corridor without planning. Also, it will be very interesting to see the changes in the offices and labs that were carried out during the lockdown.

Bioengineering Thank You Awards: Reiko Tanaka

The Bioengineering COVID-19 awards were developed to recognise the extraordinary efforts of students and staff in the Bioengineering department in the context of COVID-19.

Staff in the department were invited to nominate their colleagues and students for a Bioengineering Thank You Award. In their nomination, staff members had to state why they felt the work and actions of their nominee were so exceptional. These reasons could be: delivering critical departmental services despite challenging circumstances, working additional hours to ensure new processes were delivered, being involved in activities outside their role to support staff or students, or contributing to College and national COVID-19 related efforts.

I interviewed Dr Reiko Tanaka, Senior Lecturer, who was nominated for her exceptional efforts as Examinations Officer during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Portrait of Reiko Tanaka. Reiko is standing in her garden. She is smiling and wearing a black top and blue and black glasses.
Dr Reiko Tanaka, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering

Kemi: How do you feel about being given a COVID-19 Thank You award?

Reiko: Absolutely honoured. THANK YOU for nominating me!

 

Kemi: How was adjusting to our “new normal” and juggling working from home while taking on the Examinations Officer role as well as managing your own welfare?

Reiko: It allowed me to clarify the priorities in my life even more than usual. The good weather and frequent video chats with my colleagues and with my group member helped me adjust to the new normal of juggling.

 

Kemi: How did your role change during the lockdown and what limitations did you face to your work?

Reiko: The introduction of remote assessments added critical work of urgency to my role as the exam officer. So many meetings, so many emails, and so many new procedure documents drafted! It was a rollercoaster ride, as everything was new for everyone and there were too many uncertainties. I’m glad to hear that our students were very happy overall – it is all that matters.

 

Kemi: What or who was inspiring your hard work and kept you going during the lockdown?

Reiko: Kudos to the Teaching COVRA team, a great team with trust, led by Professor Manos Drakakis.  Also, a big thanks to my family as well. My children dragged me every night to do HIIT exercise together, and my husband baked cakes for me several times.

 

Kemi: What are you most looking forward to once things return to “normal”?

Reiko: Casual chats with our colleagues and students when we bump into each other in the Departmental corridor!