Since 2019, we have developed various in-person and remote courses for undergraduate Chemistry, Medical Biosciences and Medicine students. We have also worked collaboratively with the Technical University of Munich to deliver our teaching to their students, and worked on various outreach activities. An iExplore module is also under development to be implemented this academic year.
Our Courses and Activities
Chemical Kitchen
Chemical Kitchen, our first and flagship project, aims to introduce all incoming undergraduate Chemistry students to laboratory practice through the transdisciplinary parallel of gastronomy.
The students engage in a series of experiments mimicking the work in a Synthetic Chemistry laboratory, ranging from simply following a protocol to make cheese, designing an experiment to cook the perfect egg yolk, and exploring their creativity through molecular gastronomy recipes, all while learning how to work in a laboratory and take detailed notes. In the end, they create three small dishes utilizing the products of their work.
Medical Kitchen
The Medical Kitchen course addresses the skill gap experienced by 2nd year students when they start their clinical skills training by having them practice meticulous culinary knife skills.
The students engage in two activities: turning vegetables - a classic French culinary skills, and suturing a banana - resembling suturing a patient. They explore the similarities in learning these skills, and complexities that arise from performing these skills in front of their colleagues, with reflective sessions consolidating their learning.
Biomedical Kitchen
Biomedical Kitchen aims to introduce 1st year Medical Biosciences students to laboratory practice through the transdisciplinary parallel of gastronomy. An adaptation of Chemical Kitchen, it has been tailored to suit the particular skills needed in their further studies.
To resemble the LabPod 1 module, the students engage in extensive eModule activities. In the Biomedical Kitchen, they learn how to work in a sterile and organized way by designing a yogurt experiment, have their first experience handling delicate thin gels, and engage with creative molecular gastronomy techniques to create 10 identical canapes.
Our Courses and Activities
Science, Cooking and Performance - iExplore
We are currently offering an I-Explore module called Science, Cooking and Performance, provided by the Department of Chemistry in close collaboration with the Centre for Performance Science. This is an advanced 10-week course, in which UG students from across the College explore interdisciplinary teamwork, establish a sense of agency, and focus on themselves as "performers" all while developing a sustainable food product.
Collaboration with Technical University of Munich
In 2020, we have started a collaboration with the Technical University of Munich within the Imperial–TUM Strategic Partnership in Education, Research and Innovation. Since then, we have delivered both the Chemical and Medical Kitchen courses to Neuroscience and Medicine students remotely and in person.
We have now secured funding from the Technical University Munich - Imperial Education Seed Fund to develop a new teaching intervention focussing on career development.
Community and student events
In the last few years, we have engaged with and contributed to the undergraduate and postgraduate student communities at Imperial College London.
Our recent flagship project are the World of Food workshops, in which we promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as Imperial Values of Collaboration and Respect. The workshops give our staff and students an opportunity to co-host events in which they showcase their culture through food - and engage other staff and students in cooking, eating, and discussion.
Moreover, on annual basis, we are organizing welcome week Chemical Kitchen workshops for incoming postgraduate students, together with ICB CDT, MRes Cancer Biology, and MultiSci MRC DPT programmes, as well as community events with student societies.
Outreach activities
The universal nature of gastronomy, or working in the kitchen, makes it uniquely suited to be a transdisciplinary parallel for public engagement and outreach activities in STEMM. Everyone has a relationship with food, and almost everyone has access to a kitchen - making the activities engaging and deliverable both in person in remotely.
The Chemical Kitchen has engaged, among others, students from Year 12 Sutton Trust Summer School, STEM Potential, and the Levelling Up programme; the general public during Imperial Lates and the Great Exhibition Road Festival; as well as young children through the Saturday Science Club at the Invention Rooms. The activities and workshops focus on and introducing and engaging them in practical laboratory work through the lens of the kitchen.
Contact us
For any questions about our courses, outreach and collaboration please contact Dr Jakub Radzikowski (j.radzikowski@imperial.ac.uk)