The Life Sciences undergraduate research seminar series is a series of online seminars open to all first and second year undergraduate students in the Department, across the Department's two degree streams: Biochemistry and Biological Sciences.

Each week one or two members of academic staff prepare a talk discussing the work of their research group. This is pre-recorded in Panopto and is played 'live' in the seminar, which is a Microsoft Teams session.

Following the talk, there is a live Q&A session, facilitated by a member of staff. Students ask more about the research presented using the chat functionality of Teams.

The first seminar was given by Prof Jake Baum on Wednesday 20 May 2020. The organisers of the series are Dr Cathy Mansfield and Dr Laurence Bugeon, with Ed Tech support from Lynn Danzig.

The first session worked really well with excellent engagement from students. This is a chance for them to learn about primary research being undertaken in the Department and to 'meet' one of the PIs.

One student commented: "A very inspirational seminar and a great opportunity to learn more about our professors' research.... Helps to feel like we're still on campus and regain that community feeling."

This interaction with leading scientists is a fantastic opportunity for Imperial students and it is excellent that it can continue even when we are all off campus. The seminars (Teams meetings) are recorded so both the talk and the Q&A can be accessed online in Blackboard by students who couldn't attend in person.