Project team

  • Associate Professor Yusuf Ali, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU
  • Dr Aaron M. Lett, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial
  • Dr Richard Bale, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship, Imperial

Project summary

Collaboration between disciplines is essential for responding to today’s global challenges and developing the leading researchers of tomorrow.

Student Research Networks (SRNs) are a novel educational model for the enhancement and enrichment of research education developed by Dr Aaron M. Lett at Imperial College London (ICL). SRNs bring together students from across disciplines to form vibrant multidisciplinary student research communities around specific research themes, and provide value through events, activities and opportunities relevant to student researcher development. They allow for a more enriched, authentic, professional research experience alongside the student’s programme of study, and foster learning and development beyond their own degree programme and area of specialisation within the broader topic area.

The Food Student Research Network (FSRN) at Imperial was the first to be developed bringing students together from the faculties of Medicine, Engineering, Natural Sciences and Business researching within the food discipline. The FSRN at Imperial demonstrated to be an impactful and engaging initiative for student collaboration, community, professional and personal development, enrichment of perspectives, cross-disciplinary learning, and higher order skills development. Similarly, to Imperial, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has a strong, impactful, and diverse food research environment with a high number of students researching within the area across NTUs faculties/colleges.

As a result of this project, a university-wide FSRN, has been established at NTU. A student leadership board representing the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Humanities and Social Science, has been established, who will manage the NTU-FSRN alongside a senior staff academic support board. A/Prof. Yusuf Ali has taken up the position of Director of NTU-FSRN. We are excited to have the NTU-FSRN now operating across the university, and we encourage all students and staff researching in themes related to food to engage with their respective FSRNs at NTU and ICL.

With this we are excited to announce the FSRNs of Imperial and NTU have formed a formal partnership. Within this partnership, collaboratively we will deliver a programme of online events where students from Imperial and NTU can network, collaborate, discuss and disseminate their respective research. Furthermore, the realisation of this partnership provides further international, intercultural, and cross[1]disciplinary experiences to each FSRN