Project Directory 25-26

Summary

This project aims to understand how skills and competencies in the area of sustainability are/can be developed in our Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Bioengineering and Biomedical Technology Ventures programmes in the department of Bioengineering. Whilst at an individual module level aspects of sustainability are discussed, how these fit together across the curriculum to allow our students to develop a deep understanding of the complex issues is not clear to our students, or to staff generally. Having a clear overview would allow the department to address gaps and build on best practice. 

To do this the project team, comprising of three teaching staff and three students will undergo a mapping exercise using a framework developed by the university of Sheffield, with support from their team.  

This project is a trial of the framework and methodology, which will allow us to examine how we can collaborate with students to understand their experience across modules and how they see skills to be developed. As a direct result of this project we expect to produce: 

• A map of our three undergraduate programmes in terms of where key competences in sustainability are introduced, developed and assessed.  

• Recommendations to module leaders for 'quick wins' 

• A summary identifying area of weakness to be addressed strategically by the departments teaching committee 

• A pilot of a student facing interactive mapping tool so our undergraduates can see how they are developing skills across our programmes 

Project Lead

Maria Parkes (maria.parkes04@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow,  Department of Bioengineering

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time at one half-day a week for ten weeks, starting 13th January.  

Undergraduate Bioengineering students from years 2-5, with an interest in sustainability are eligible and encouraged to apply.  

Mapping and Embedding Sustainability in Bioengineering UG ad

Summary

Are you a Mathematics student interested in how mathematical ideas are taught, explained, and communicated? Would you like to work in partnership with teaching staff to shape innovative teaching materials for future maths students?

This project brings together undergraduate Mathematics students and teaching staff to co-create learning materials for a Communicating Mathematics module.  The focus is on designing engaging resources that help students explain mathematical reasoning clearly and communicate quantitative analysis effectively.  

Student partners will play a central role in shaping both the content and delivery of these materials, ensuring they are relevant, accessible, and grounded in real student experience.  

As a student partner, you will be involved throughout the design, development, and evaluation stages of the project.  Your contribution may include:

• Working alongside staff in planning meetings and collaborative design sessions.
• Co-developing discovery-based activities focused on communicating mathematical ideas.
• Identifying where additional scaffolding or clearer explanations would support student learning.
• Testing draft materials and providing iterative feedback from a learner's perspective.
• Supporting dissemination activities, such as presenting at workshops or contributing to short blog posts or case studies.  

Exact activities will be agreed collaboratively by the project team.  

Project Lead

Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Principle Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time from the end of February to June, for 17 weeks (four hours a week).

Applicable to Undergraduate students in the Mathematics department, in Year 2 or above.  

Co-Creating teaching materials for a Communicating Mathematics module ad

Summary

The Silwood Language Exchange programme will facilitate a conversation exchange between students and/or staff, for practise speaking a language informally. The programme will be inclusive for our whole student body, and will encourage everyone to take part, overseas students may want to practice English conversationally, which home students could offer and learn a new language or brush up on their existing skills. The programme will match people with different language back grounds. Offering a weekly space where people can come together in arranged pairs and take turns practising a language. The programme will also offer a social event/s.
Student shapers will collaborate with staff to design and implement this programme, including facilitating the weekly Language Exchange Sessions, which will commence late October 2025. 
As part of this project our Student Shapers will develop their project management, communication, and resource development skills as they work in partnership with department staff to design and roll out the programme. 
This work is scheduled for three hours a week for four weeks in the autumn term and the spring terms (8 weeks of work 
in total).

Project Lead

Clara Bradberry (c.scott@imperial.ac.uk), Student Experience Coordinator, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for eight weeks over the Spring and Autumn term.  Eligible for incoming Life Sciences Masters and PhD students based at Silwood Park campus.  Those with an interest in student experience and languages would be particularly of interest.  3 positions available.  

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Silwood Park exchange recruitment ad

Summary

Statistics is fundamental to Chemistry, and there is real opportunity to better support students in developing their statistical skills alongside their practical and laboratory work. This project explores how that support can be strengthened through three collaborative phases:

• Phase 1 (Weeks 1–2): Curriculum mapping, reviewing measurement lab materials across all 3 years to identify where statistical analysis is absent or insufficient.
• Phase 2 (Weeks 2–3): Designing a progressive statistical framework showing how competence should build across the degree.
• Phase 3 (Weeks 3–5): Co-developing enhanced teaching materials, including clearer explanations, worked examples, and accessible resources for existing measurement labs.

Student partners will have genuine creative freedom in shaping outputs. Your understanding of how peers learn is invaluable. The project will culminate in a poster presentation at ViCEPHEC2026 (Nottingham, 27–28 August 2026), the UK's leading Chemistry & Physics education conference, with student partners as co-authors.

What You'll Gain

• Hands-on experience in curriculum development, which is rare for undergraduates and valuable for careers in research, education, or industry
• Experience presenting at a national academic conference (ViCEPHEC2026)
• Skills in interdisciplinary collaboration, project management, and academic communication
• Deep metacognitive insight into how learning and teaching work
• A tangible legacy: materials that will improve statistics education for future Chemistry cohorts

Project Lead

Jakub Radzikowski (j.radzikowski@imperial.ac.uk) Culinary Education Designer, Department of Chemistry

Benji Fenech-Salerno (b.fenech-salerno@imperial.ac.uk), Teaching Fellow in Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Joao Pedro Malhado (malhado@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Chemistry

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available - two for Chemistry undergraduate students (3rd or 4th year, Dept of Chemistry), two for Mathematics students (2nd or 3rd year, BSc Mathematics with Statistics)

Five weeks full-time during Summer break - Starting 22^nd of June and finishing on the 24^th of July.

Improving Statistics Literacy recruitment ad

Summary

This project will research the development of competencies through I-Explore. It will draw on student and staff perspectives from their different departments and faculties to consider the different contexts from which students engage with I-Explore.

The project will use its findings to offer suggestions for how competencies could better be signposted in the communication of I-Explore. It will also provide insight into the competencies that students and teachers would like opportunities to develop further.

Project Lead

Mark Pope (mark.pope@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 20 weeks between October 2025 and March 2026.  Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty.  Particularly interested in recruiting students studying in the faculties of Engineering or Medicine, or with experience of STEMM or BPES modules on I-Explore.

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

I-Explore Competencies recruitment ad

Summary

Following a grant from Presidents Community Fund the Chaplaincy Multi-Faith Centre aims to build a new community garden to create a space of belonging and well-being. The Chaplaincy seeks to collaborate with students to design and build this space for the community.

These support roles seek to reward and formalise the organic “knowledge-share” between students and staff that already exists at the garden. Students will work under a stewardship model with the space, sharing agency over its design, evolution and maintenance. 

Project Lead

Andrew Willson (chaplaincy@imperial.ac.uk) , College Chaplain, Chaplaincy

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 25 weeks from Autumn term.   Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty.  Particularly those interested in gardening and regeneration of university space.

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Chaplaincy Gardening Project continuation recruitment ad

Summary

Do you want to help shape how future Imperial students understand assessment and feedback from day one? This project will bring together students and staff to co-create engaging, practical resources that make assessment expectations and feedback processes clearer, more accessible, and more useful for new students.
The project builds on recent StudentShapers work and the university-wide Assessment & Feedback Review, which have highlighted that many students still find assessment requirements unclear and feedback hard to access or use. Together, we’ll explore what’s currently offered to new students, identify gaps, and design new resources that are relatable, student-informed, and ready for departments to use in their 2026 inductions.
As a StudentShaper, you will be a partner in all stages of the project, from discovery to creation to testing. You’ll contribute your own perspective on assessment, help gather and analyse feedback from peers and staff, and work with other students and staff to design and trial new resources. Possible outputs might include short videos, podcasts, workshop activities, and practical guides – but the exact format will be shaped by the project team, including you.

Project Lead

Emma Passmore (e.passmore@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow in Statistics, Department of Mathematics

Timothy Kimber (timothy.kimber06@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Computing

Jonathan Rackham (j.rackham@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Strategic Teaching Fellow, Department of Materials

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 20 weeks between October 2025 and March 2026.  Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty or department, from Year 2 or above.  

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Effective A&F Literacy Materials recruitment ad

Summary

SIM-AI is a pilot within Imperial's Synchronous Interactive Media (SIM) project, led by the Digital Media Lab (DML) and the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication. SIM develops interactive 3D visualisations for teaching. SIM-AI uses generative AI to bridge between student-built prototypes and the DML's production implementations.
This pilot aims to define precisely where the student-built prototype ends and where the DML's production work begins. You will create a functional prototype of your visualisation in whichever programming language suits you; AI-assisted pipelines will translate your prototype into a form the DML can take forward to deployable quality.

Your engagement comprises three activities:
(i) Identify a small, well-defined conceptual challenge from a lecture course you are currently taking, have taken, or have taught. Scope should resemble a simple interactive visualisation. Examples are https://impvis.co.uk/launch/wave-at-a-boundary/pulse_anim.html and https://impvis.co.uk/launch/3d-transformations/TransformationsIn3D.html?teach=1. If you already have a concept in mind, please state it in your Expression of Interest: this is preferable, though not essential.
(ii) Prototype an interactive visualisation of that concept in a programming language of your choosing (Python, MATLAB, R, etc.), with generative AI as a coding collaborator.
(iii) Work alongside other student partners, Dr Clewley, and the DML to define the handover point between the student deliverable and the DML production pipeline.

Project Lead

Caroline Clewley (c.clewley@imperial.ac.uk), I Explore Lead and STEMM Module Stream Lead, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available - students from any department or faculty, or level of study.  Applicants should be currently taking, have recently completed, or have taught a STEM lecture course containing a concept they wish to visualise

6 weeks full time during Summer break, June and July.  

Code a Concept recruitment ad

Summary

This StudentShapers project focuses on co-creating resources to help students “learn how to learn” with AI, moving beyond productivity and shortcuts towards critical thinking, verification, and responsible use. The resources will be used as part of the Business School induction activities on Learning to Learn with AI that are run across all our programmes.

Previous research in the Business School shows that students want:

- More practical, programme and course-specific guidance on using AI

- Support that connects AI use directly to learning, assessments, and disciplinary expectations
In this project, you will act as a co-researcher and co-creator, working in partnership with staff to co-design learning materials including:

- Content for a new section in our Study Skills Primer linked to the ‘Learning to learn with AI’ theme

- Activities for Programme-specific “Learning to Learn with AI” live on campus sessions

You will develop the materials and test and refine them with a student-eye view, bringing in peer insights where possible

Project Lead

Cloda Jenkins (c.jenkins@imperial.ac.uk), Associate Dean, Education Pedagogy and Innovation, Business School

Nai Li (nai.li@imperial.ac.uk), Head of Research and Impact, Business School

Stephen Vaz (s.vaz@imperial.ac.uk), Director of Learning Innovation, IDEA Lab, Business School

Further Details/Experience Required

4 positions available - 3 undergraduate positions and 1 postgraduate position.  Students within the Business School are eligible.

Undergraduate students  - 3 weeks full-time engagement (June) and 1 half-day (part-time) engagement (early July)

Postgraduate student - 4 half-days (part-time across June – early July)

Learning How to Learn 25-26 recruitment ad