Financial worries can prevent students like Sowmitra from accessing extra-curricular opportunities but, thanks to alumni like you, he has travelled abroad to meet the scientists who inspired his research. 

I have always been attracted to interdisciplinary research. From being an avid participant in Math Olympiads at high school, to now studying for a Master's in Applied Mathematics here at Imperial, I have found it fascianting to use the ideas of one field to make discoveries in another. My current research in Quantum Information Theory brings together Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, and Engineering, connecting them in remarkable ways to do things that no classical system can do. 

This year, thanks to support from the Faculty of Natural Sciences Dean's Fund, I was able to travel to Vienna to attend the Quantum Thermodynamics Conference 2023. 

This is the flagship conference in this field, and the biggest gathering of leading researchers in Quantum Information Theory, Quantum Thermodynamics, and Quantum Foundations. It was an amazing experience to meet some of my research heroes, the people whose work inspired my own interests, in person. Many of them are pioneers whose research I had been following for years, wondering how people had such amazing ideas and what it would be like to speak with them. 

At the conference, I was able to make these dreams a reality. Through questioning them on their recent work, and even bonding with them over dinner, I gained insight into researchers on the cutting-edge of their field think. I know the connections I made will spark fruitful collaborations in the future. 

Sometimes, just a little bit of support is enough to change someone's whole life trajectory.

I am so grateful to the donors of the Dean's Fund for helping me to nurture my passion. There is so much untapped potential in students all over the world who are unfairly held back by societal and economic barriers. Believing in students like me, and bringing a little more equity to a world full of inequalities, is perhaps one of the greatest things a person can do. 

The generosity of Imperial alumni is enabling students like Sowmitra to make life-changing academic connections. Can you give today to help more students seize these opportunities and acheive their dreams?