School of Medicine announces inaugural Societal Engagement Award winners

BSc Medical Biosciences student, Matylda Piatkowska, and MBBS Medicine student, Yasmin Baker, were selected for their broad range of involvement with engagement activities.

Introduced for the 2025-26 academic year, Imperial College School of Medicine’s (ICSM) Societal Engagement Award was developed to ensure recognition for students making significant contributions through engagement activities, including with internal Imperial communities, schools, local community groups, and patient groups.

Nominations could be made by students on their own behalf, by their peers or by staff.

Criteria for selection focussed on evidence of impact, collaboration, innovation, and alignment with Imperial’s core values: Respect, Collaboration, Integrity, Innovation and Excellence.

A panel of staff involved in the School of Medicine’s undergraduate programmes and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work received and considered a range of nominations for students on both the Medicine and Medical Biosciences programmes, awarding one winner for each programme.

The panel considered nominations on a range of areas: Quality of Engagement, Level of involvement of the nominee, Extent of collaboration and partnerships, Evidence of benefits achieved, and Sustainability.

Nominations needed to show how and where the nominee had displayed:

• Active Participation: Regular and sustained involvement in community service activities, such as volunteering at local organisations, or contribution to organising local events.
• Initiatives and Projects: Making significant contributions to community-based projects that address local or wider community priorities with evidence of sustained impact.
• Collaboration: Working effectively with local community groups/organisations and/or other relevant stakeholders to achieve agreed goals and create positive sustained impact.
• Inspiration and Motivation: Taking on leadership roles in student groups or community organisations and inspire and motivate others to participate in community-focused activities with evidence of sustained impact, for example mentoring, co-ordinating volunteers etc.

ICSM’s EDI directors, Dr Chris Harvey (Science) and Dr Channa Jayasena (Medicine), noted, “This award aligns with ICSM’s commitment to fostering an inclusive, supportive and socially responsible environment and is designed to highlight our key values of compassion, advocacy and support.

“Students on the School's undergraduate programmes make huge contributions to local efforts as well as wider ones, internally at Imperial and outside the university in a broad range of communities and networks.

"The qualities this award recognises are the ones we hope to see in our future graduates, and it is so important that we ensure those students putting in the time, effort and dediation are recognised for their efforts. We are committed to encouraging and facilitating them both to start and to get involved in projects whilst they are with us, and beyond."

Meet the winners

Matylda Piatkowska

A Wellbeing Representative for her BSc Medical Biosciences cohort for two years, Matylda’s nomination highlighted the variety of ways her actions and attitude had enhanced the academic and welfare experiences of a wide range of students.

Her nomination discussed the ways that she successfully designed, delivered and analysed student surveys with strong engagement, ensuring student voices were heard and translated into meaningful improvements in welfare provision, tutor group support, assessment formats and access to additional academic resources.

It went on to outline how she strengthened collaboration between staff and Students’ Union networks, sharing information openly and helping create more responsive support structures, ensuring the benefits extend beyond her own time at Imperial through establishing frameworks for supporting and training future student representatives.

Alongside her representation efforts, Matylda has been a prominent contributor to Imperial’s communications, serving as the face of several of its most successful and inclusive campaigns. Through content that “ensured content is an authentic representation of the student experience at Imperial”, she helped generate a combined reach of more than 500,000 views and supported a wide range of key institutional events and initiatives.

Her nomination noted that her “kindness and consistency have had a real impact on our community”, and that “It is not possible to overstate how Matylda’s efforts will have a lasting and positive impact on our student communities.”

Matylda said:

I am incredibly honoured to have received the Societal Engagement Award for the Medical Biosciences Course. It was rewarding to have my contributions recognised, particularly the work I have undertaken to improve welfare accessibility and enhance the student experience within the Faculty of Medicine. It has been a privilege to serve as the Welfare Representative for my cohort for two consecutive years, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside such a supportive faculty who are committed to improving the course. I would also like to acknowledge my fellow student representatives, as the progress we have made has been the result of a collaborative effort.

Societal engagement is an essential part of the university experience; while academics are at the heart of university life, it is equally important to build an inclusive community where feedback is valued. This includes ensuring support is continually evolving and making even the smallest changes to the course to reflect this. Receiving this award as one of only two recipients within the Faculty, and the first Medical Biosciences-specific award, is an honour, specifically as this nomination came from fellow students.

I hope the introduction of these awards continues to recognise the valuable contributions students make beyond their studies and inspires others to become involved in shaping the Faculty for future cohorts. My experience as Welfare Representative has been beyond rewarding, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with both students and staff to ensure that feedback is translated into meaningful improvements.”

 Yasmin Baker

Holding multiple positions on Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union committee over the years, including Academic Chair and Deputy President, Yasmin has been involved in a range of Imperial-based and external activities.

Her nomination featured her founding of Nutritank, a now five-year-old programme through which more than 100 student volunteers have been trained to deliver free nutrition and lifestyle education in local primary schools.

Yasmin also co-founded More Than Medics, a not-for-profit organisation focused on supporting aspiring healthcare professionals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds access guidance on medical careers across 14 countries. As Chief Research Officer for Aspiring Medics, she developed an AI-powered interview platform to support applicants who may not be able to afford private coaching, securing support from the Sutton Trust and Fair Education Alliance and helping expand the project to a longitudinal study spanning 10 medical schools.

As Co-Chair of the Sutton Trust Alumni Board, she has spoken at the House of Lords and contributed to discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on widening participation in medicine.

At Imperial, she has led StudentShapers projects that strengthened prescribing education and informed the University’s Physical Activity Strategy, while as ICSMSU Academic Chair she established Imperial’s first collaborative Faculty-SU mock finals programme, giving students valuable clinical examination experience.

Yasmin’s nomination noted that she “dedicated her time at Imperial to ensuring that where you come from does not determine where you can go”, and that she “believes, deeply and demonstrably, that inequity is not inevitable - and she has spent her time at Imperial proving it.”

Yasmin said:

“I was incredibly honoured and delighted to receive the 2026 ICSM Student Award for Societal Engagement. It was a wonderful surprise and a real privilege to have this work recognised. I was incredibly grateful to be nominated for the award as it recognised the importance of the work I have been fortunate to lead beyond my medical studies - whether that's teaching nutrition in local primary schools, addressing widening participation nationally or improving access to opportunities for medics through initiatives like More Than Medics.

I strongly believe that societal engagement is one of the most important parts of being a future doctor. As medical students, we already have the ability and responsibility to use our knowledge, experiences and voices to make a meaningful difference within our communities. Even small actions can have a lasting impact when they are driven by compassion, collaboration and a commitment to reducing inequalities.

I hope awards like this encourage more students to see societal engagement as something they can begin now. Recognising this work sends a powerful message that service, leadership and community impact are valued alongside academic achievement.”