‌‌Welcome and Freshers’ Week

College Registration

You must enrol online before arriving on campus.  College ID cards can be collected from the PGR Student Office, Room 903a, Level 9, Huxley Building, or handed out in the halls of accommodation on arrival if you are staying in halls.  If you haven’t uploaded your photo prior to your start date, you will need to go to the ID card office, SAF Building G53, South Kensington, where they will take your photo and either send it to the department for you to collect or give it to you directly.  More information can be found on the College ID.  If you have already done an undergraduate or masters course at Imperial, please note that you will need to give your old card in to the ID Card office to be able to obtain the new one.

The October welcome reception at PGR Welcome is here for your perusal.

The slides for the October 2025 talk are available at PGR October Welcome talk.

The slides for the December 2025 Autumn talk are available at PGR Autumn Dec talk 2025.

Departmental Registration

The timetable Freshers’ Week is slightly different for each student and varies from section to section.  You should have received the information on where to go from your Community Administrator.  There is more information on Welcome week.

Departmental Welcome events

There are Welcome events for PG students which will take place mainly in the first week of term.  The main one to include in your calendar is on Wednesday, 8th October 2025 from 2:00 p.m. 

English Language Requirements for PhD Students

After fulfilling the English language entry requirement for admission, all doctoral students must fulfil Imperial’s Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement (DACR). This is done through completing initial communication training. 

There are two clear benefits to this initial training: it will make students more aware of their communication needs in relation to Imperial doctoral expectations; and in addition to the training’s self-diagnostic, students will be offered the opportunity to submit a writing sample for personalised feedback and targeted recommendations. 

Students are recommended to complete the short online training in the first 3 months of their doctoral programme so that they can benefit from the follow-on resources and recommendations. 

At the latest, the training must be completed by the university’s Early Stage Assessment (ESA) milestone: 12 months for full-time students; 24 months for part-time students.  Do check Centre for Academic English.

Induction checklist for research students

Here are some things you should know. If you don't know, just ask. A good starting point for information is your community administrator.

People

  • Research community administrator
  • Research Community Postgraduate academic mentor
  • Research Community Safety Officer
  • Postgraduate Tutor
  • Postgraduate Student Representatives
  • Postgraduate Office Support Staff

Domestic (on Campus)

  • Location of toilets
  • Location of local common rooms, local arrangements for tea and coffee etc.
  • Details of local security measures, including provision of your security card
  • Opening and closing hours of building and access
  • Where/when smoking is allowed; the College’s policy
  • How to dispose of or recycle items

Working environment

  • Location and correct use of common telephones, photocopiers, printers, etc.
  • How to get a Computer account and email address
  • Correct postal address for mail to reach you during your course
  • Local arrangements for picking up and sending internal and external post
  • Local arrangement for provision of stationery and every-day consumables
  • My Imperial

Health and safety

  • Location of emergency exits
  • Details of the emergency procedures, evacuation routes and assembly points
  • Location of the first-aid box and the identity of your local first-aiders
  • Location and operation of the fire alarm system
  • Location of fire extinguishers
  • Procedures to be observed in case of a fire
  • Details of any significant safety hazards or health risks in your working environment
  • Disposal of waste

View the Faculty health and safety webpages.

Facilities

Contact Vivienne Frater physics-facilities-office@imperial.ac.uk  for more information about facilities in the Department.

Other

Back to the postgraduate research student handbook