Gabriel
I’m in the third year of my PhD in the Department of Materials. The aim of my PhD is to help the research community design the future of batteries.
An important area is safety. Currently, the best-performing batteries contain a liquid ionic conductor called the electrolyte that is flammable and can trigger fire, or even explosions. The obvious thing to do to solve challenges around battery safety is to remove the flammable liquid electrolyte and replace it with a non-flammable solid electrolyte. Making batteries safer will also relax the currently tight constraints around design, which are an issue when recycling batteries at the end of their life. Safe and solid batteries aren’t commercialised because we have not found suitable materials yet.
My research is looking at discovering solid electrolytes using atomistic modelling and machine learning.
When I was looking for universities to do my PhD, I knew about Imperial’s reputation for world-leading research and I wanted to be part of that community.
Imperial has some of the world’s best researchers, so when it comes to PhD projects it’s great to be supervised by those people.
It’s also good to know you’re going to have high-impact research out of your PhD, which makes it more exciting.
I knew I wanted to use my time wisely during my PhD to think about what I wanted to do in the future. I went to a Graduate School course which was on career planning and it introduced the timeline of when you should start applying for jobs.
I had a few ideas but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do after my PhD. I met with a Careers Consultant who was brilliant at helping me explore my options and work out my next steps.
We spoke about what I enjoy the most about my PhD, my interests and how I like to work. From the conversations I had, I realised I’m really interested in working with policy makers to put environmental strategies in place and I’m now looking for internships in science policy.
The great thing about living in London is that it’s so big and all the areas are so different. London is made up of lots of different neighbourhoods, rather than having one specific city centre. This year I’ve chosen to have a longer commute to campus and live a bit further away, which I’ve really enjoyed – I have a great house share, and I really like the area I’m in.
London can be expensive, with rent probably playing the biggest part. I’d recommend taking time to look around at different areas, as prices do vary depending on where you are.
It’s really worth taking the time to explore to find out which neighbourhood you want to live in and which one you’d enjoy the most.
Don’t overwork yourself – being at Imperial surrounded by intellectually competitive people can bring out your competitive spirit. You should try and do your best, but definitely have boundaries around your time and take time for yourself too.