Blog posts

Throwback Thursday: The Journey So Far (April 2013)

Victoria Burton profile

Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Programme (PhD)

Sometimes it is hard to think what to write on my blog posts, especially when I am supposed to be writing a 9 month report for my PhD! To help I have started a ‘Throwback Thursday’ looking back at some of the posts I made on my pre-Imperial College blog. This one was written in April 2013, when I was 6 months into MSc Taxonomy and Biodiversity at Imperial College London.

Soil biodiversity in the garden

Victoria Burton profile

Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Programme (PhD)

This week the Wildlife Gardening Forum held its conference ‘Soil Biodiversity in the Garden’ at the Natural History Museum in London. Being a keen gardener and researching soil biodiversity I had to go along.

The Wildlife Gardening Forum is a group of organisations and people who are passionate about wildlife in gardens and seek to help people value and enjoy wildlife in their gardens. While there has been quite a lot of interest in gardens as habitats for birds, mammals and pollinating insects, few consider the life below ground so this conference was a great way to raise the profile of soil organisms and discuss ideas.

Exam Freedom!

Isobel profile

BSc Biology with a year in Europe

I haven’t blogged in such a long time! But exams are now finally over, the summer ball was last night and term has finally drawn to a close. It’s crazy to think that this time last year I was moving out of halls. Second year has flown by and I’m frankly terrified by the speedy passage of time. I feel like things definitely go quicker the older you get! So I’ve been exam-free for a week and it’s been great! I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve been up to (and my apologies to the second year medics who haven’t even finished their exams yet… thinking of you guys!).

What’s Happening in Paddington?

Nebz

MSc Preventive Cardiology

When I first started my Masters here at Imperial, I loved the South Kensington campus. The tall periodic buildings that surrounded it, the open lawn and copious activities within the campus – it all looked great. When I realised that this wasn’t my main campus, but Paddington was, I was a tad disappointed. As nice as Paddington is, it didn’t have the same elegant feel as South-Ken.

Nevertheless, I’ve grown to love my campus and appreciate all it’s little treasures, so I’ve decided to give a brief guide on things you can do if you ever find yourself on this campus!

Freedom!

Bayan profile

Chemical Engineering

Symptom 1: uncontrollable shrieking.

Symptom 2: endless hours wasted.

Symptom 3: hypersomnia.

Symptom 4: watching an entire season in one day.

Diagnosis: You’re done with exams!!!

I can’t believe that I can finally say that I am done with my first year at Imperial. The end seemed so far away, almost unattainable and, yet, here we are. Allow me to give you a little insight to those past few weeks; a rare glimpse into the hectic life of Imperial students during exam season. Well, mine anyway.

Each day I would wake up with determination; I am going to revise Maths today and do a couple of past papers.

Exams are over!!!!!

Medicine

So much for blogging a bit over the past couple of weeks to keep me sane. Life has consisted of revise, eat, sleep, repeat for the past couple of weeks, and I think I may have gone (more) crazy. I’m still slightly in shock, both that exams are over and I can stop revising, and that I’ve finished my first year. Things are starting to wind down now – most subjects have finished exams, and although some still have projects to finish, everyone’s taking time to relax a bit. Just went down to the kitchen to get some lunch, and currently it’s pancakes and loud music.

Getting into the (public health) game with the Health Systems Development course

Master of Public Health

One of the highlights of the MPH is the optional Health Systems Development (HSD) course offered by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training. When we were first told about it back in October, it garnered quite a lot of interest for its hands-on approach to professional development and health systems management. It was the opportunity to learn the operations of international health systems while at the same time maintaining a focus on the English NHS, incorporate crucial management & leadership skills, and finding out more about key stakeholder interactions within health systems that initially caught my eye.

Volunteering at Cheltenham Science Festival

MSCi Physics

So, I’ve just got back from Cheltenham Science Festival. It was a really fun and hectic week!

Like most volunteering experiences, a lot of the work we were doing was basic slave labour—cleaning venues between talks, getting water for speakers, clicking people in and out of venues, making tea, carrying messages etc etc. Even while doing these routine tasks however, we were surrounded by such great communicators and lovely people, from the speakers in the talks we attended to the stall holders in the drop-in zones, and the other volunteers.

There was a wonderful atmosphere of inspiration and urgency in many of the talks—most of the speakers were funny and excellent at communicating, but even the ones who seemed initially slightly dumbfounded by the large audiences, had such a depth of knowledge and passion for their subject area that their talks were really brilliant.

Setting up for Cheltneham Science Festival

MSCi Physics

I’m volunteering at Cheltenham Science Festival this week and have just got back to the YMCA where we are staying after a long day of unloading chairs and tables and sofas and fridges off lorries and distributing them around the venues. I am not a very strong person (!) so this has been a tiring day, but absolutely worth it, because the venues look incredible now, and one of the things I got to help lift was a giant dinosaur head!

Cheltenham Festival looks like it is going to be a great experience– if anyone is interested in science communication I would thoroughly recommend applying next year.

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