The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.
In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!
Name: Daryl Ma
Department: Electrical Engineering
Introduce your research: Designing monolithic wireless electrochemical sensors for biomedical applications for blood or sweat monitoring.
Student Programme Leader: Graduate Teaching Assistant Programme
Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?
I enjoy GTA work as I find teaching quite fun. I felt that applying for this role allowed me to learn more about other aspects of teaching.
Three things you’ve found interesting:
- Speaking to other departments in the engineering faculty on how they run their GTA programmes.
- Understanding the different roles played by various GTAs in different departments.
- Conducting lectures for the GTA program.
Three things you’ve enjoyed most:
- I liked how different departments had their various viewpoints on how GTA work should be like.
- Talking about more in-depth teaching techniques applied, which probably bordered the field of psychology.
- Speaking to fellow GTAs and learning from their experiences.
What impact have you had on the programme?
We’ve managed to make some changes to the GTA program across departments by simply comparing them and explaining to these departments what the college standards are.
What advice would you give to other students thinking of applying for the SPL role in future?
Do it, it’s fun!
Why do you think professional development training is important?
It provides you with the soft skills required to perform your required administrative roles in whichever field your career path takes you.