First-ever Faculty of Medicine event to help widen access to postgraduate study

Think Imperial is an online event for prospective postgraduate students from underrepresented groups.

Think Imperial! is a new Faculty of Medicine-wide recruitment event aimed at prospective postgraduate students from Metropolitan and non-Russell Group universities. 

Students who attend Metropolitan and non-Russell Group universities for their first degree are currently an underrepresented group amongst applicants for postgraduate study at the Faculty of Medicine. 

"At Imperial, our students are at the heart of our community. We want to attract the best talent from as wide a population as possible. Think Imperial! gave us the opportunity to show that we offer a high-quality experience that is inclusive, outward-looking and responsive to our student’s needs." says Professor Laki Buluwela, Deputy Director of the Graduate School and MRC DTP Programme Director. 

Organised by the Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Education team, the first Think Imperial online event took place on 18 November 2020 and welcomed students from 55 different UK universities, as well as a number of international universities. The event featured a series of presentations to help students learn more about postgraduate study opportunities, both at Master's and PhD level. Topics included: 

• Funding. Funding is a common barrier to postgraduate study and was therefore one of the focus areas of the event. Tom Pearson who heads up the Student Financial Support Team at Imperial, provided an overview of funding available at the College, including the Imperial Bursary and FoM scholarships.
• PhD opportunities. Professor Laki Buluwela gave an insight into PhD opportunities, specifically the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership and Enterprise iCASE Doctoral Training Partnership opportunities.  

• Student support. Anna Maria Jones, Education Transformation Fellow, spoke about two short courses unique to the Faculty of Medicine which have been designed to help support postgraduate students, Adapt To Postgrad (ATP) and Attributes and Aspirations (AA).

Following the presentations, Imperial students, alumni and staff discussed their experiences of studying and researching at Imperial and how it compared to how they thought it would be, as well as answering questions from the audience. 

Reflecting on attending Think Imperial! 2020, one attendee said: "Overall, the event was informative and well-organised and definitely persuaded me to apply to Imperial for postgraduate studies. I enjoyed the live Q&A session especially!' 

Meg Carter, Postgraduate Education Administrator, involved in organsing the event, said: "The feedback from Think Imperial! was overwhelmingly positive, and showed us that 81% of attendees are now more likely to apply to Imperial after attending. As such we are looking forward to hosting another Think Imperial! event later this year."