Imperial Horizons students have had a successful fortnight, securing an award and three finalist positions in two cross-disciplinary competitions.

In the first of a series of articles featuring Imperial Horizons award-winners, the College highlights the success of Ms Francine Tran, Mr Sebastian Lim, and Ms Junxi Peng.

Creative writing

"Francine’s imaginative story and her success in this prize underlines the importance of creative perspectives for public engagement in STEM" Dr Aifric Campbell The Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Final year Electrical and Electronic Engineering student Francine Tran achieved the runner-up position in the Royal College of Science Union’s Science Challenge 2018. Francine entered the Creative Writing category, which was open to international competitors.

The final day of the competition was held at the House of Lords on 6 March and overall winners were decided by Lord Robert Winston, in his role as ambassador for the Science Challenge.

Francine was shortlisted for her short story submission which focused on the future of technology and how it will integrates into society.

“As a female in Engineering I aspire to be a role model for secondary school students who are interested in pursuing it as a career.

"My degree specialisation is in the areas of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The piece that I entered imagines how anthropomorphic sex robots might change the dynamics of human relationships and the consequences of this.

“Outside of my degree I am an avid writer, maintaining two technology-oriented blogs. I aim to produce original, easily digestible content for a non-tech audience and am passionate about outreach in STEM."

Francine is enrolled on Imperial Horizon’s Advanced Creative Writing course and is tutored by Dr Aifric Campbell, of the College’s Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication .

Dr Campbell said: “Francine’s imaginative story and her success in this prize underlines the importance of creative perspectives for public engagement in STEM”

Learning a foreign language

"Hopefully by the time I reach the highest level of proficiency I will be able to convince my employer to send me to Japan to keep my language skills fresh" Mr Sebastian Lim Undergraduate, Aeronautical Engineering

Fourth year Aeronautical Engineering student, Mr Sebastian Lim, earned second prize in the Individual Presentation Category in this year’s Japanese Speech Contest. Third year Chemistry student Ms Juxi Peng was also shortlisted as a finalist in the highly competitive event.

The Final Day of the competition was held at King’s College London on 24 February.

Sebastian and Juxi’s success in reaching the final was especially impressive given all other finalists studied Japanese as their main degree subject. However, both students made an exceptional effort to prove their skills.

Sebastian said: “I first started learning Japanese in 2014, a few months before arriving at Imperial. 

“My examinations ended on 17 January, the same day as the deadline for my video submission. I literally had to memorise my script only when I was on the way home from the College every evening. After my final paper at 4.30pm I rushed to meet Yuki Sensei, recorded my video, and submitted it that night.

“I will certainly continue classes and learning Japanese after graduation. Hopefully by the time I reach the highest level of proficiency I will be able to convince my employer to send me to Japan to keep my language skills fresh.”

Both students are enrolled in Imperial Horizons and were tutored by the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication’s Dr Yuki Tokumaru.

Dr Tokumaru said: “Sebastian and Junxi both made extraordinary efforts to be selected as finalists of the Japanese Speech Contest, while they study their own main degree subjects full time.

“They worked very hard to prepare for the competition through and beyond their tough exam period, and I am very happy that Sebastian got the second prize, which he totally deserves with the standard he achieved and the efforts he made. Junxi’s presentation was also of a very high standard, as well. I cannot be prouder of their achievements!””

Find out more

In 2016-2017, 4547 undergraduates enrolled on the Imperial Horizons programme.

Course feedback consistently demonstrates that Imperial Horizons supports students to place their studies in a wider context and improve their employability.

For more information visit the Imperial Horizons webpage.