Pioneering programme for year 12 students of Black heritages developed by masters' students

Master's students from the department of Immunology and Inflammation and Infectious Disease have developed a tailored programme of support for Year 12 students of Black heritages to improve their access to higher education.

The REFLECT programme is an outreach project to support and raise awareness of science in Year 12 students of black heritages who meet widening participation criteria.

The aim of the programme is to provide a structured programme of support, so that students enrolled can understand the differences between the different biosciences disciplines such as biomedical sciences, biochemistry, biological sciences and bioengineering and introduce them to the degrees offered by Imperial.

At Imperial College London, we recognise that Black students are underrepresented in our student population. We have established departmental initiatives to overcome these barriers, such as our MSc Immunology Scholarship for students of Black Heritages which is in addition to the university’s programme of support through the Presidential scholarships for students of Black heritage.

The REFLECT programme which is a two-week programme of lectures and activities has been developed by students Natasha Wheeler (MSc Immunology), Martina Williams (MSc Immunology), Camille Neal-Harris (MSc Immunology), Sia Gbondo (MSc Molecular Biology and Pathology of Viruses).

“Like many life sciences students, I felt overwhelmed by the process of selecting degree courses due to the overlapping titles and themes. And on top of that, I felt unsure about what my career would look like after the degree, and how I would fit in at university. Through our programme, we hoped to have a platform to demystify life sciences degree courses, encourage prospective life sciences students of Black heritage to find their place, and highlight that they have scientists of Black heritage to look up to!” said Natasha Wheeler, MSc Immunology student. 

Creating a programme of support

The first cohort of students for REFLECT ran from Monday 29 June to Friday 10 July 2026 with a total of 38 students. For the first week the students took part in a series of lectures which highlighted the difference between the bioscience disciplines. These were held each evening so that students were able to fit them around work and study. At the end of the first week, they are introduced to the group science communication poster project and for the next week, with the support of the master's students, the pupils can develop their presentation and poster.

The finale party which marked the end of the project was held on the 10 July and participants of the programme were invited to Imperial College London to hear a panel discussion, take part in a campus tour and network in person with other participants.

Testimonials from the first cohort:

“The programme was very insightful and I benefitted from it greatly and I know other student would to!”

“Thank you to the REFLECT programme leaders for coming up with this amazing programme (for a lack of any other words)! I loved the lectures, especially the biomedical science lecture, the cancer gene groups section was especially interesting.”

“I really enjoyed this 'REFLECT' programme”

“Thank you for this programme, it was really fun to participate in”

“It is something beneficial that I would be able to add on my personal statement so thank you.”

If you are interested in signing up to hear when the next REFLECT cohort is recruiting, sign up for the Imperial outreach newsletter.