This new initiative offers international networking opportunities for PhD students.

A new collaboration between the Karolinska Institutet (KI), the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS), and Imperial College London’s MRC Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) for Interdisciplinary Science in Health (MultiSci) is providing students with opportunities to network and collaborate with international peers during their PhD training.   

This initiative was officially launched with a hybrid networking quiz that took place in late spring.  Cross-institutional teams were tasked to work together via Zoom on a set of questions and puzzles by quiz master Dr Elaina Maginn (MultiSci Senior Teaching Fellow). These covered a wide range of scientific and general topics, challenging the students to combine strategic teamwork and research skills - as well as giving them a chance to show their creative abilities, creating memes and pictures that depict the realities of being a researcher.  

Mirroring the real-life challenge of hybrid working, not everything went without a technical hitch. However, students impressively rose to the challenge of international and hybrid teamworking, providing some very entertaining answers such as these haikus on the hallmarks of cancer: 

After the quiz, students generated some great ideas about how to take this new Imperial-KI network community forward, including research visits and lightning talks.  

To facilitate continued Imperial-KI student networking a ‘buddy system’ has been set up, matching Imperial and KI students according to common research interests. Participants can also access online bios and initiate direct contact with others in the wider network. The next challenge that has been set for students is to design a cross-institution research project which they will pitch in a friendly competition later this year.  

We hope that new connections and collaborations between Imperial and KI will thrive, giving students insights into PhD training beyond their own institution and potentially leading to academic placement opportunities or exchanges.  

Special thanks to Professor Pete Williams and Ms Lotta Lundqvist at KI for arranging the buddy allocations and helping to arrange the logistics for the quiz.  

About MultiSci 

Imperial’s MRC Doctoral Training Programme for Interdisciplinary Science in Health (MultiSci) welcomed its first cohort of students in October 2022. MultiSci is a one and three and half year, DTP which supports the training and development of a new generation of life-scientists equipped with the quantitative, technological, and bioscience skills required to conduct cutting edge research across the fundamental and applied medical biosciences. Students are also supported throughout with MultiSci-specific training related to the broader personal and professional skills and attributes needed to develop leading careers in academia, industry and elsewhere. One such essential skill is networking - vital for building successful collaborations both within a research institution and beyond. By working with international partners like the Karolinska Institutet, MultiSci aims to provide students with opportunities to do this alongside their global peers.