On 27 April, a Doctoral Conference was held at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Westminster. All the PhD researchers of the faculty presented their research work either by oral presentation or poster presentation. I got the chance to join the programme and was so excited to learn about the wide range of research currently taking place at the university!
It was a full day programme, which kicked off with a warm welcome and introduction by Prof. Annie Bligh, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology and Prof. Taj Keshavarz, Research Director of the University of Westminster. The oral presentations were chaired by Prof. Keshavarz and he made the session very lively. Respective supervisors were present throughout the day.
Wareed Hassan Alenaini, a PhD researcher in Health Services was the first presenter and her presentation topic was related to the role of ethnicity in body fat distribution. She talked about the related metabolic syndrome too. I also enjoyed the presentation of Tayebeh Azimi about in vitro tumour model. She has found that three dimensional (3D) cell culture performed better to reduce breast cancer cells than two dimensional (2D). At the end that presentation, Prof. Taj explained a normal photo of a nature in such a scientific way that amazed everyone in the room.
The posters were presented in the Pavilion and C1.15 of the Faculty of Science and Technology. Everyone joined in the presentations during the coffee breaks. I was so excited to see all the members including my supervisor Prof. Ipsita Roy there! The posters related to Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) drew most of my attention as it is related to my own research work. I found a fair number of posters related to polymer. These were very helpful for me as it led me to think more about my research work. In addition, I found the poster about the music and memory fascinating, “Which music would you take to a desert island? A naturalistic investigation of music and memory”. “A transcriptomic approach to uncovering novel driver genes in breast tumourigenesis” was also very attractive. I enjoyed the presentation of Moyinoluwa Odugbemi, as she presented very well about the development of bioartificial pancreas by using biopolymer. Next to her, research on improved wireless transmission in 4G and 5G telecommunication, presented by Oludotun Olukoya gave me a completely different insight into the Technology field compared to my usual Life Sciences and Biomedical Sciences area. The Doctoral Conference really motivated me to do further research work in my own field. MSc students were definitely encouraged to think about their PhD work by having an opportunity to participate in the conference. It was great to see all the current and exciting research taking place at the Faculty under one umbrella.
