You can now browse through a curated list of projects from various schools, featuring project titles, supervisor names, and their descriptions below. We encourage you to broaden your horizon and explore opportunities beyond your respective school.
Here is the full information on STRIDE Programme and send your application via STRIDE Application Form. For additional inquiries, please reach out to doctoralcollege@qmul.ac.uk.
Email: m.lockley@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The relative fitness of PARPi-sensitive and resistant cells is flipped by PARPi.Background: Maintenance PARP inhibitors (PARPi) significantly extend progression-free survival in high grade ovarian cancer (HGOC) following platinum response. Chronic PARPi therapy is associated with treatment-related toxicities and health economic costs but optimal treatment duration is poorly defined. Moreover, PARPi resistance is an emerging clinical challenge.
Evolutionary theory can help to explain cancer drug resistance. Cell populations adapt to environmental changes, but adaptations occur with fitness costs. PARPis represent an environmental change that drive adaptations within cancers.
Hypothesis: The relative fitness of PARPi-sensitive and resistant cells is flipped by PARPi therapy: in the presence of drug, PARPi-resistant cells are fitter, whereas in the absence of drug, PARPi-sensitive cells have higher fitness. The Lockley lab has created a panel of paired sensitive and resistant HGOC cell lines and transfected the with green and red fluorescent protein (GFP) so that they can be used to estimate population dynamics over time in co-culture in vitro.
Aims:
Outcomes: If the hypothesis above is correct, then switching on-off therapy at the correct intervals would prevent the emergence of resistant cells and enable continued sensitivity to PARPi over the long-term. This concept is called Adaptive Therapy (AT). Prof Lockley’s team previously demonstrated efficacy of AT with carboplatin resulting in the ACTOv clinical trial (Adaptive ChemoTherapy in Ovarian cancer). The student will work alongside existing lab members, contributing to our objective of using evolution-based treatment regimens to improve the long-term effectiveness of PARPi therapy.
Email: a.m.berner@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: LGBTQIA+ individuals, unique barriers to healthcare and risk factors related to cancer incidence, screening, treatment, and survivalBackground: Cancer is an understudied topic among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other (LGBTQIA+) individuals due to paucity of available data. Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) are not routinely collected in medical records, population-based surveys, or cancer registries. LGBTQIA+ individuals experience unique barriers to healthcare and risk factors related to cancer incidence, screening, treatment, and survival. Most studies to-date have relied upon convenience sampling or inference of SOGI from electronic health records (EHR).
Our Future Health (OFH) aims to be the UK’s largest health research programme, recruiting up to 5 million adults to complete a questionnaire, provide physical data and a blood sampling for genome sequencing, and link these to their EHR. The OFH questionnaire includes SOGI reporting and their current dataset of 751,264 participants includes 46,377 identifying as LGB and 2043 as gender-diverse.
Utilising OFH, Dr Berner and collaborators at the NIH and third-sector organisations are studying self-reported cancer risk factors (tobacco and alcohol use, physical activity, and obesity), screening, and history of LGBTQIA+ individuals. The student will participate in this project and its patient and public involvement (PPI).
Goals & Outcomes:
Email: cedric.john@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Research methods in data science and artificial intelligence for environmental studies
Background: This project will expose the student to the research methods in data science and artificial intelligence for environmental studies. In 8 weeks, the candidate will work with Professor John to collect image and tabular data related to marine sediments and their properties. The goal will be to try to predict temperature and environmental conditions through time thanks to this new archive. Skills that the student will learn will include web scraping to retrieve data, data cleaning to ensure only high-quality data is retained, plotting the data to gain insight, and data analysis. This will equip the candidate with a good view of the entire data pipeline used in data science for research. Depending on the interest from the candidate, the data analysis portion of the work could be focused on machine learning or deep learning, or on building a principled database for future analysis. Some coding knowledge in Python would be preferred for this role but is not essential.
Email: h.hassan@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Exploring the use of a mobile phone app (OSRA) to facilitate safer and more efficient assessment, recommendations and diagnosis for procedures in the oral surgery department.
Project Statement: Our aim is to create an innovative mobile app that will facilitate a more safe, efficient, and consistent way for dental professionals to assess, advise, diagnose, and carry out various dental procedures in the oral surgery department.
The app will achieve this by:
Outcomes: Within an 8-week timeframe, we anticipate completing the initial app development phase, followed by a pilot study to assess its effectiveness in improving diagnostic accuracy, time efficiency, and clinician confidence. Our outcomes will include a functional app prototype and preliminary data on its potential to improve oral healthcare delivery, enhance decision-making processes and promote a positive safety culture.
Email: a.golkari@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Studying and Comparing Factors Influencing the Choice of Dentistry and Job Prospects from Year 1 to Year 5 of Dental Education. "Title: Studying and Comparing Factors Influencing the Choice of Dentistry and Job Prospects from Year 1 to Year 5 of Dental Education
Project Statement: This research aims to investigate and compare the factors influencing the choice of dentistry and perceptions of job prospects among first-year and final-year (Year 5) dental students. Utilizing a comprehensive questionnaire, administered online, the study will collect data from both cohorts to identify trends and changes in factors influencing career decisions and perceptions. The primary goals of this research are to:
We aim to provide the involved UG students with a valuable learning experience in research methodology, data collection, and analysis. The student will have the opportunity to contribute to meaningful research within the field of dentistry and gain practical skills in survey administration, data management, and report writing.
Email: h.yusuf@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Title: A feasibility trial of an obesity school-to-home intervention delivered by teachers to reduce sugar sweetened drinks consumption among 12–13-year-olds in secondary schools (Study Acronym: DISS-Diss Sugar Sweetened Drinks)
Project Statement: The trial encompasses the implementation of an innovative school-to-home intervention aimed at reducing sugar-sweetened drink (SSD) consumption among 12–13-year-olds in secondary schools. The initial phase involved meticulous planning and execution, including the recruitment of a participating school, enrolment of school children, pre-intervention data collection, and the delivery of the intervention. Key intervention objectives included the empowerment of teachers to facilitate behaviour change through the PSHE (personal, social health and economic education) curriculum using Group Motivational Interviewing (GMI), promoting universally applicable skills for supporting various behaviours, developing a mobile app utilizing Motivational Interviewing techniques to target SSD intake and obesity among young people, and fostering parental engagement in creating a healthy home environment. This multifaceted approach is structured into three distinct work packages tailored to address each stakeholder group effectively.
The subsequent phases of the trial will involve post-intervention data collection in July, followed by comprehensive data analysis and report writing in August. These efforts will culminate in the evaluation of the intervention's feasibility in achieving its intended outcomes.
Email: j.perussolo@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Regenerative treatment of intrabony defects with GTR and PRGF. A randomised, single-blind, parallel-group clinical trial.
Project Statement: The student will have the opportunity to contribute to the above clinical trial. This will provide hands-on experience in clinic observing and assisting patient assessment, and data entry; and also data management and contribute directly to the research process. Additionally, the student will observe study visits, gaining insight into various aspects of clinical research methodology and patient care. The goals of this research experience are to enhance the student's understanding of clinical studies, fundamental components of a clinical trial conduct, data collection procedures, documenting research data and patient interaction, and also explore various clinical procedures within the field of Periodontology. The outcomes for the student include developing practical skills in data entry and management, gaining exposure to clinical research protocols, and fostering a deeper appreciation for the complexities of conducting research in a clinical setting.
Email: a.caetano@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Investigate developmental heterogeneity among neuroglia using multiplex immunohistochemistry and three-dimensional reconstruction of glial states
Background: Functional interactions between the neuronal and non-neuronal systems have been recently associated with tissue regeneration and inflammation in barrier tissues (Progatzky et al. 2021; Baghdadi et al. 2022; Parfejevs et al. 2018). These studies revealed that neuronal, immune, and epithelial stem cells share anatomical localisation and interact functionally to orchestrate tissue integrity. Adult oral tissues contain complex neuroglia circuits derived from cranial neural crest cells during development; however, the precise mechanisms dictating fate acquisition or their immunoregulatory role are unknown. In the human oral mucosa, peripheral glial cells arise early in development, suggestive of relative maturity compared to other compartments; we hypothesise that this developmental timing may explain non-canonical or plastic roles in adulthood. This project will chraracterise oral glia morphology, position, and specification across developmental time with a combination of advanced imaging and computational modelling. We will investigate developmental heterogeneity among neuroglia using multiplex immunohistochemistry and three-dimensional reconstruction of glial states and interacting partners in human and mouse samples. These study will help elucidate neuroglia spatiotemporal diversity to understand its immunoregulatory and regenerative roles in barrier function.
The student will benefit from a multidisciplinary project across the fields of craniofacial development, neuroscience and computational biology. Within the 8-week period, the student will learn immunohistochemistry techniques and confocal microscopy. Advanced image analyses will be taught using Imaris for 3D reconstruction of cellular circuits. Finally, the student will have access to various -omics data in the lab and will become familiar with basic bioinformatics skills.
Email: n.karpukhina@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The evolution of the materials in a simulated oral environment.
Background: The project(s) are available within the area of oral dental research that will include use of bio- or dental materials, either recently added to the market or currently under development in the research group of the Centre for Oral Bioegnineering. The essence of the research project will be an experimental short-term study looking at the evolution of the materials in a simulated oral enviornment. This can also include a characterisation of the drug delivery via mucoadhesive patches. The project will be aligned with the ongiong research projects at the Centre, but consitute an individual study. It is expected that the results of the experimental work will be published on its own or as a part of the bigger study. The project will be designed taking into account research interests of a potential student.
Email: s.howard@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The master hormone regulating the reproductive axis and its pulsatile secretion is crucial for puberty onset and fertility.
Project Statement: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is the master hormone regulating the reproductive axis and its pulsatile secretion is crucial for puberty onset and fertility. Disruption in GnRH neuron development or hypothalamic function can lead to hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, characterized by absent or delayed puberty due to GnRH deficiency (GD). Recently, our group have focused on the increasingly recognised association of congenital disorders of puberty and reproduction such as hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autistic spectrum disorder.
By applying an integrated transcriptomic analysis of immortalised and primary GnRH neurons with exome sequencing data of human patients, we identified rare or ultra-rare variants in BRINP2 in four unrelated probands from our patient cohort, who display a phenotype of GD, in combination with ASD or other NDD features. Our group have been working to characterize the role of BRINP2 in the pathogenesis of GD. BRINP2 is a member of a 3-gene bone morphogenetic protein/retinoic acid inducible neural-specific family (BRINP1/2/3) with overlapping expression and molecular roles in embryonic development.
Our international consortium – DPGen – includes nearly 400 patients with GD from 8 countries. One consortium partner has identified a novel splice variant in the gene BRINP1 in a family with severe delayed puberty and requested that we investigate this in our laboratory. We propose in this student project to investigate the pathogenicity of this variant via splicing assay and to characterize tissue expression in key hypothalamic areas during pre- and postnatal development in mouse sections.
Email: johannes.schroth@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Investigating the stress response during T cell senescence.
Project Statement: Immune function declines with age, leaving older individuals susceptible to infections and cancer, as well as impairing wound healing. Immunity is governed by cellular metabolism, which is particularly perturbed in T cells with older age and co-morbidities. This causes T cell to differentiate towards a senescent state, characterised by replicative-arrest and the expression of inflammatory factors, termed the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). A decline in mitochondrial activity engages a series of evolutionarily conserved stress responses, which contribute to the production of the SASP. These responses include ribosomal stress, mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) specific unfolded protein responses, as well as dysregulated protein trafficking via lysosomes. To what extent and how these stress-responses are causally related in senescent T cells is not known.
This project aims to address these gaps in our understanding. Using T cells isolated from older individuals who are healthy or living with type two diabetes (T2D) we apply various laboratory techniques to gain an understanding of stress responses in senescent T cells.
Project aims:
Successful applicants will gain invaluable experience in fundamental laboratory techniques, such as processing blood samples and cell culture, as well as having the opportunity to work with cutting edge technologies such as spectral flow-cytometry.
Email: e.a.steed@qmul.ac.uk and s.j.c.taylor@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Understanding primary care priorities for implementing supported self-management of asthma.
Project Background: This project will be an independent project nested within a large (approx. £2.7m) programme grant of work funded by the National Institute of Health Research involving 144 primary care practices participating in a cluster randomised controlled trial. This project will contribute to the process evaluation of this trial. Seventy-seven intervention arm practices have received support from a facilitator to develop and implement their own team action plans to improve their delivery of supported self-management for asthma. This project will use previously collected data from all 77 practices.
The research goals of this programme will be:
The outcomes for the student will be:
Email: p.baptiste@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Prescribing patterns and sociodemographic inequalities by ethnicity in patients with hypertension in North East London.
Project Background: This is a quantitative project which will utilise electronic health record data from GP practices in North East London to provide insight into ethnic variations in prescribing patterns for patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), particularly in patients of mixed ethnicity who are typically understudied. The project will also explore sociodemographic inequalities in hypertension management including differences in socioeconomic status, sex and age.
The successful candidate will gain valuable experience of using electronic health record data to answer clinically relevant questions and learn about research methodology, ethical research and confidentiality, as well as data collection, processing, visualisation and analysis. The student will learn the complexities of using data of this nature and have the opportunity to learn and use simple statistical programming using Python and/or Stata.
The student will also gain skills in communicating scientific health research to broad audiences and writing summary reports and will present their findings with other researchers as part of the Population Health Data Science seminar series. This will provide the candidate with an opportunity to gain feedback on their work, present to a supportive and expert audience and make connections for future or ongoing research.
Email: g.black@qmul.ac.uk
Project title: Interpreter services in UK primary care (INTERPRET-X study).
Project Background: The INTERPRET-X study is a large, mixed methods project which seeks to explore how interpreter services are delivered in GP practices for people who do not speak English well. Being able to communicate with healthcare team has a strong impact on healthcare access and outcomes; poor uptake and delivery perpetuate inequalities. This project is strongly linked to the QMUL values and Strategy 2030 including tackling inequalities, extending opportunities and widening access.
As citizens in a multicultural city and university, QMUL undergraduate students are likely to relate to the importance understanding of language needs in healthcare. This project has immediate relevance to students of all disciplines. Our STRIDE candidate will have an exciting opportunity to contribute to the project, mainly working on our preparations for a stakeholder event with policy makers, operational and clinical healthcare staff, charities and patients.
Our research goals for the student:
The student will gain a diverse range of skills and experiences in:
This project will be supervised by both Georgia Black and Judith Yargawa.
Email: c.morris@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Outsider Solicitors
Background: Outsider Solicitors is a discrete project which is part of a wider work exploring the experiences of early women solicitors in the UK and Ireland. Little is known about the women who wrestled with the barriers imposed not only by their sex, but also their race, class, religion, and disability as they sought to make their way as lawyers. In some cases, we know little more than their names. The goal of this project is to unearth as much information as possible and sort it into meaningful categories to prepare it for analysis by Dr Morris.
The student would conduct desk-based database and archival research into the lives and work of women solicitors who were subject to intersectional disadvantage because of their race, religion, disability or other now-protected characteristic. Specifically, the student will conduct online research into e.g. newspaper archives, local history archives, Ancestry.com (birth, death & marriage information), probate services (wills), legal bulletins such as The Law Times, and The Law Society Gazette to gather as much information as possible on these individuals. There may also be liaison with archives such as the Women’s Library at the LSE, the Law Society, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
The student would be provided with a template for each individual which should be populated with as much data as possible from these searches. Template categories include biographical data, education and work history, activism (eg involvement with the suffragette movement or other women's organisations), writings, and non-legal work.
Key skills to be developed would include data retrieval and assessment (including of reliability), an ability to think creatively about potential sources of information, clear and concise written expression, and a meticulous, careful, and persistent attitude to research.
Email: rehana.ahmed@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1830s to the Present
Project Background: This is an AHRC-funded research project based at QMUL and Bristol University, in partnership with the British Library. Its aim is to document and explore the ways in which South Asian people and communities have affected cultural, social, political and economic change in Britain through this period. The main output will be a free, public digital resource which will include several hundred entries on people, organisations and events, and a collection of oral history interviews. At QM, we are leading on the oral history strand of the project. We are conducting oral history interviews with British South Asians from a diverse range of backgrounds across the UK. Clips from these interviews will be featured on our digital resource, and the whole of each interview deposited with the British Library in perpetuity. Once we’ve conducted an interview, we write a summary and conduct a sensitivity review of its content and identify and edit clips for the resource.
The student will listen to a selection of interviews, write their content summaries and sensitivity reviews, and identify and edit audio clips. From this process, the researcher will learn about oral history interview techniques, as well as about the stories of British Asians, whilst gaining the full spectrum of transferable research skills relevant to post-interview work: summarising content, identifying significant clips and sensitive material, and audio-editing. Their contribution will become part of the digital resource as well as the BL’s oral history archive.
Email: k.m.fleming@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Nancy’s Corpus: the body in western philosophy
Project Background: Currently working on an article, first to be delivered as a paper at UC Berkeley in September, on Jean-Luc Nancy’s work, Corpus. This text - at once philosophical, sociological, phenomenological, and theological in appearance - reflects on “the body,” and the many ways in which the idea of the corpus might be thought as mortal body, spiritual or divine body, a body of work, the body politic, and so on. Among its many intertexts are classical works by Plato and Aristotle, and it is primarily from the perspective of classical reception and the classical tradition with which I am interested in this masterwork. I examine the theoretical, ethical, and political significance of the classical tradition Nancy draws upon in this metonymic and fragmentary philosophical narrative of the body, and ask, given the text’s questions regarding the changing and emerging conditions of contemporary “bodies,” what continued place the classical has in the horizons of modernity and with what consequences.
The project on which the student would work would be to research and compile a relevant and thorough bibliography, annotated where applicable, on “the body,” adjacent to my work for the Nancy paper. It would be intended to support the student in developing and demonstrating the necessary research skills and focus for embarking on rigorous postgraduate level research in the humanities. It would also allow the student access and exposure to interdisciplinary research. I anticipate that such a project would be coherent and achievable within 8 weeks.
Email: n.d.valman@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The Cockney Yiddish Podcast: Yiddish culture in London’s East End in the twentieth century.
Project Background: The objective of this student project is to support The Cockney Yiddish Podcast, an AHRC-funded project by Professor Nadia Valman and Dr Vivi Lachs to produce a series of podcasts on popular Yiddish culture in London’s East End in the twentieth century. Several of the episodes look at the ways in which Jewish immigrants in east London developed hybrid cultures in this period, and will also discuss examples of cultural hybridity among other migrant communities in east London.
The student will conduct research for two episodes, one on language and one on food in east London communities of migrant heritage. The eight weeks of the project will be divided into two sections: four weeks will be spent on each topic. During each four-week period the student will identify and summarise four academic articles on the topic, identify four experts in the field (this may include staff or postgraduate researchers at QMUL) who might be interviewed as guests on the podcasts, and record audio of six examples (e.g. words or phrases that combine English and another language, with the speaker explaining them) which may be used in the podcast. Research goals for the student include identifying and summarising relevant academic sources, researching in the field, learning to use an audio recorder and making field recordings.
Email: a.dunstan@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Art and Literature in Nineteenth Century Britain: Building Skills in Periodical Research
Project Background: This project will focus on primary research towards building a database of nineteenth century periodical sources, largely undertaken from the Nineteenth-Century Periodicals full-text database (available via Senate House and online).
The project aims to recover articles and press interviews explicitly considering the relationship between literature and visual culture in the long nineteenth century, with selections to be published a 4 volume edition of primary materials for Routledge (contracted 2023 for publication in 2025) titled Art and Literature in Nineteenth Century Britain. I will support the student researcher in developing the following skills in order to meet these goals: setting up a research database, defining research parameters, development of keyword terms, using full-text databases, literacy in navigating historical periodicals, evaluating usefulness of primary research outcomes, research organisation. The student researcher would be acknowledged in any resulting publications that draw on their research.
Email: k.datta@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Gender, remittances and climate change mitigation
Project Background: The aim of this project which is international and interdisciplinary – is to explore the potential role that remittances - the money that migrant women and men send back to their families and communities – can play in climate mitigation strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. Given that one of the key challenges to addressing climate change is a lack of financial resources, and that remittances are a growing, stable, and resilient financial flow, this project stands to make an important contribution to academic and policy debates. The project will be of interest to students interested in global development, migration studies, and in African migrant and diasporic communities; and who are interested in developing both critical academic and project management skills. Key activities will involve: (i) organisation of a workstream team; (ii) a preliminary review of literature; (iii) community partner mapping. The latter might entail some travel within London and to neighbouring cities which will be funded through additional sources.
Email: a.j.owens@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Untold stories: creating a new Bengali heritage trail in east London
Project Statement: The aim of this project is to make the Bengali history of east London more visible. It will research and create a new, mobile-accessible, self-guided heritage trail for use by the public exploring the struggles and achievements of Bengali people in the nation’s capital. The trail will be centred on Shadwell – specifically, the neighbourhood south of Commercial Road bisected by Cannon Street Road (not as well-known as Brick Lane and Banglatown to the north, but no less important as a hub of British Bengali culture and heritage).
The project will be undertaken in collaboration with the Swadhinata Trust (London-based secular Bengali community group promoting Bengali culture and heritage) and Four Corners Gallery (renowned local centre for film and photography where artists, trainees and local people work together, including on projects on Bengali east London, e.g. 1978: The Turning Point).
Guided by the applicant, Swadhinata Trust and Four Corners, the intern will:
Outcomes for intern: experience of historical research (archival and oral history); collaborative working (with academic, arts and community organisations); communicating research to public audiences; creation on digital platforms.
Email: jeremy.schmidt@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Minecraft and the politics of geological knowledge
Project Statement: Canada has a long history of using geological knowledge to erase Indigenous histories and to undermine Indigenous sovereignty. Historically, geological knowledge was published in scientific outlets or exchanged in learned societies. Today, knowledge sharing includes popular games through which people can ‘explore’ the geologic past.
This project examines a case in Alberta, the Canadian province with the world’s 4th largest reserve of fossil fuels. There, the Alberta Geological Survey has partnered with the Alberta Energy Regulator to produce digital geological histories in the popular game Minecraft. Systematically examining this digital environment—including one of Alberta’s oil sands regions—this studentship offers an opportunity to critically examine the politics of geological knowledge. The studentship is part of a larger project in which the history of mapping and geology in Alberta is examined with respect to the role of environmental knowledge in political legitimacy.
The Minecraft project is open to significant student direction as this aspect of the research is exploratory and one through which the student will: (a) describe the kinds of knowledge included or excluded in Alberta’s Minecraft extensions; (b) learn how to critically assess the politics of geological mapping and representation in relation to geological maps and data used in the larger project, and (c) advance digital geographies that have not yet focused in a sustained ways on extractive issues affecting Indigenous peoples. The ideal student for this project enjoys digital worlds and is keenly interested in the politics of environmental knowledge.
Email: g.l.harvey@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Understanding when and how life (animals, plants, microbes) leaves a geomorphological signature within landscapes represents a major rese arch frontier in the study of Earth surface processes and landforms.
Project Statement: Recent research led by Prof Gemma Harvey and funded by the Leverhulme Trust has established the first global data set of animal impacts on landform and landscape evolution. Bringing together diverse evidence across over 500 published studies, the data set includes over 600 animal species, genera or family groups: more than previously recognised, and exceeding our own expectations.
The unexpectedly large size of the data set offers multiple new research avenues. This STRIDE project enables the candidate to contribute to quantitative analysis of relationships between landform size and geometry and animal traits (size, behaviours, sociality), and quantitative text-based analysis to identify patterns and trends in the focus and outcomes of zoogeomorphological research. The work involves exploration and statistical analysis of the existing database, and extraction of quantitative information from published sources on landform size and geometry. Full guidance will be given on data extraction, management, analysis and interpretation.
The outcomes for the student: (i) experience working as part of diverse team of researchers at different career stages; (ii) developing skills in data management, analysis and visualisation; (iii) developing skills in formulation of research questions and academic writing; (iv) new interdisciplinary understanding of interactions between biodiversity and geomorphology. Successful completion of the project work will be recognised by co-authorship of relevant published journal papers.
Email: v.g.davis@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Research the careers and experiences of female historians who taught in the Schools of History at Westfield College and Queen Mary College since their foundation.
Project Statement: This research studentship offers opportunities to research the careers and experiences of female historians who taught in the Schools of History at Westfield College and Queen Mary College since their foundation. The research will draw on preliminary work already undertaken to identify these women. It will link up with existing research resources, including the 2008 Women at QM: A virtual exhibition - with which the supervisor was involved. Many of these women played an important role in the development of their profession nationally as well as within QMUL.
The key resource will be QMUL Library archives which are a rich and diverse resource for those interested in women’s history. The successful candidate will also use material held by National Archives at Kew and British Library, including the British Newspaper Archives.
The research outcome will be a corpus of research material about female academics in the QMUL School of History. This will underpin a poster exhibition in the School of History celebrating the contribution of female historians to the development of the modern School. The student will also produce a sample poster about one female historian, enhancing their communication research skills.
This studentship will offer a combination of advanced skills training, in-depth historiographical knowledge and archival experience guided by professional archivists. It will provide an understanding of the wide variety of careers in research and heritage. Expert training will be provided to enhance bibliographical and archival skills. The student will be given membership of the Women’s History Network, a national association for the promotion of women’s history committed to inclusivity which offers opportunities to contribute to their blog and engage in seminars.
Email: a.apergis-schoute@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Investigating the Relationship between Anxiety, Physiological Signals and Safety Learning.
Project Statement: This research project aims to explore the intricate relationship between anxiety, physiological signals, and safety learning, utilizing the EmotiBit open-source physiological sensing platform (emotibit.com). Over an 8-week period, the intern will conduct a comprehensive investigation into how skin conductance and heart rate variability, measured through EmotiBit, correlate with anxiety and avoidance behaviour, particularly focusing on the aspect of safety learning in 100 university students (taking only 25 minutes of their time).
At the nexus of brain and behaviour, peripheral physiological signals offer valuable insights into understanding the body and mind. Traditional consumer-grade devices lack accessibility to raw data, while research-grade devices remain costly and closed-off. EmotiBit bridges this gap by providing open-source access to multi-modal sensor data, including electrodermal activity (EDA) and multi-wavelength PPG (Photoplethysmography), enabling detailed analysis of physiological responses in a wearable device.
The primary research goals include:
The outcomes of this project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the physiological underpinnings of anxiety-related disorders and inform potential interventions aimed at improving safety learning processes. Additionally, the project will showcase the utility of EmotiBit as an accessible and versatile tool for mental health research, opening avenues for further exploration in this field.
Email: a.galilee@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation on University Students’ Well-being and Academic Outcomes
Project Statement: With rising concern for mental health issues among university students, this study proposes to explore the efficacy of mindfulness meditation in enhancing well-being and academic performance. Previous research findings consistently show that mindfulness can significantly decrease symptoms of anxiety. Preliminary data also show that working memory, attention and response inhibition can be enhanced by using mindfulness. However, there is still limited evidence on the effectiveness of short-term practices for improvement of academic outcomes. The intern will analyse secondary data collected by my final year project students. The overall study is specifically focused on assessing students’ improvement in response inhibition and working memory after engaging in body scan practice. In addition, students in my second-year psychology module received access to asynchronous resources on mindfulness which include guided practices designed specifically for studying for exams, recorded by a qualified mindfulness teacher at QMUL. Students who agreed to take part have been using these resources throughout the term. The intern will 1) analyse the data collected by final year project students; 2) conduct semi-structured interviews with the students who used mindfulness resources. The results of the study will highlight the importance of mindfulness meditation as a tool to enhance students well-being and academic performance which could encourage universities to incorporate mindfulness practices into their programs. The intern will gain experience in gathering data through interviews and analysing both quantitative and qualitative datasets. Additionally, they will play a role in drafting the study's findings for publication.
Email: t.fayle@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Biotic interactions bind species together into ecosystems.
Project Statement: Biotic interactions bind species together into ecosystems. There are large amounts of data available on the structure of species interaction networks at small scales, but the way network structure changes at large scales remain poorly understood. I run the LifeWebs database (www.lifwebs.net), the world’s largest collection of terrestrial network data, collated from existing literature and other data sources. One challenge of working with such data is the lack of standardisation of sampling effort. During her third-year research project with me, Ms Jeevanjot Lall has been pioneering an approach to quantify and correct for differences in sampling effort between studies. She has used rarefaction of networks (stepwise removal of interactions between species) to simulate variation in sampling effort and has assessed resulting changes in a number of commonly-used metrics of network structure. I believe that this work has great potential if Ms Lall could expand on her project work, through further development of her R code to run on multiple interaction types, and for a broader range of network metrics.
This work would then have the potential to inform our group’s work on analyses of the LifeWebs data, allowing minimisation of the additional noise generated from variation in sampling effort. I envisage that the methods explored by Ms Lall would be of great use to the wider ecological community, both in terms of similar meta-analyses, and in terms of informing field sampling of ecological networks. I also believe that this work has the potential for publication in a good ecological journal.
Email: e.ozkan@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Intuitive physics and animacy : Representing the gravity in our minds.
Project Statement: Do you know how gravity affects the movement around you? Understanding how the human mind can perceive and predict the trajectories of moving objects is important to support our everyday life and to plan training programmes for astronauts in microgravity. Interestingly, we have previously shown that baby chicks, with no previous visual experience, have specific expectations on how objects move, since they are more attracted by stimuli that move upward, against gravity (Bliss et al. 2023). Building on this work, the student will identify how different parameters that are crucial for human beings to judge how a trajectory matches expectations of movement of inanimate objects (that move according to physical laws only), and animate objects (that can partially “defeat” gravity). More specifically, for this study, human participants will be recruited to rate animations with intuitively divergent motion characteristics.
The student will be embedded in our vibrant research group, practicing all the stages of research, from literature review and experimental design to producing video animation via computational tools such as JavaScript frameworks, JSPsych, PsychoPy, create a digital experiment on the online platform Gorilla, write an experimental protocol, test participants. We will also provide support in data analysis and visualisation with R/Python, oral and written scientific communication. This project has the potential to lead to a peer-reviewed publication, and the student will participate in it.
Email: jin.zhang@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Microwave Enabling Nuclear Fusion: simulation design of a high power microwave magnetron as heating source for plasma in nuclear fusion.
Project Statement: Nuclear fusion is the process that takes place in the heart of stars and provides the power that drives the universe. If nuclear fusion can be successfully recreated on Earth it holds out the potential of virtually unlimited supplies of low-carbon, low-radiation energy. The challenge is that the fuel (plasma) needs to be heated to the 150 million °C for fusion reactions to occur, which requires powerful heating typically enabled by high power microwave radiation.
In this project, we plan to design a novel recreated high power magnetron to explore the possibilities of its application in the heating of plasma in nuclear fusion facility. The magnetron is an important vacuum electronic microwave device, with a variety of advantages such as high efficiency, simple anode structure, low working voltage and easy assembly, etc., but traditional magnetrons have limited power compared to the requirements of plasma heating. We will push up the power level in an optimised and upgraded redesigned magnetron to suit applications in plasma heating, using simulation in CST Studio Suite.
Email: rehan.shah@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Sway and Play: Investigating the Dynamics of a Yo-Yo
Research Goals: This project involves mathematically modelling the motion of a yo-yo using a combination of theoretical, computational and experimental approaches to investigate the dynamics of various spinning maneuverers. In addition to the standard gravity-induced vertical upward and downward motion of the yo-yo, it is also possible to model the yo-yo as a pendulum of varying length to analyse its motion at an angle with respect to the vertical.
By applying core concepts from applied mathematics and classical mechanics, the student will gain first-hand research experience by employing analytical and numerical techniques to model variations in the yo-yo's principal kinematical quantities (height, velocity, rotational angle and speed) and obtain trajectory plots depicting the spatial dynamics of its path. There is also scope for the student to compare theoretical results with experimental observations obtained through sample testing using a small-scale yo-yo and electronic measuring apparatus including a microcontroller, accelerometer, solenoid and ToF sensors (included in research consumables budget). Outcomes for the Student include:
Email: e.avital@qmul.ac.uk
First Project Title: Nature inspired blade aerodynamics innovation
Project Aim: In this project we will pursue wind tunnel tests and reduced order modelling to study the effects of bio-inspired innovative solutions to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of small proprotor blades. Small wind turbine and propeller blades suffer from early flow separation and thus reduced aerodynamic efficiency due to the dominance of laminar boundary layer over the blade. In recent PhD and ResM projects we have pursued several bio-inspired solutions such as leading edge protuberances and Gurney flaps to enhance the blade efficiency. The blade models exist as well as reduced order modelling codes. Objectives and work-packages:
Outcomes:
Second Project Title: Indoor natural ventilation for low-income countries.
Project Aim: Seek and assess simple natural ventilation solutions as solar chimney for indoor air quality in low-income countries.
Indoor air quality is of severe problem in low-income countries where solid fuel is largely used for cooking, heating and light. As result and for example, over 23k Kenyans die annually due to indoor pollutants, more affecting women and children who spend significant time at home. Limited access to electricity supply means that solid fuel is here to stay for the near future and use of modern air purifiers and mechanical ventilation is not practical. Hence, there is a pressing need to enhance natural ventilation in generic domestic settings of low-income countries while accounting for social-economic constraints. Objectives include:
Email: f.eisner@qmul.ac.uk and m.ribadeneyra@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Design an efficient and sustainable integrated photo-battery, where we will couple an organic photovoltaic cell to a (light-rechargeable) Na-ion rechargeable battery to simultaneously generate and store photon energy.
Project Statement: Through this project we aim to design an efficient and sustainable integrated photo-battery, where we will couple an organic photovoltaic cell to a (light-rechargeable) Na-ion rechargeable battery to simultaneously generate and store photon energy. Our project responds to the need of reliable and low-cost off-grid power generation/storage to provide energy in rural areas, autonomously, as well as for wireless power generation for the internet of things (IoT). This project would be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the collaboration between Dr Flurin Eisner and Dr Maria Crespo, experts in the field of next-generation photovoltaics and sustainable materials for secondary batteries, respectively.
The project will firstly involve the fabrication of solution-processed organic solar cells using a solar ink to then match the cell voltage of a Na-ion battery (NIB) employing hard carbon anode and Na3V(PO4)3 commercial cathode (HC/NVP). Batteries will be characterised using galvanostatic (dis)charge testing and cyclic voltammetry and while solar simulators will be used for solar cells (weeks 1 -4). The second step will then be to fabricate our hybrid devices in a vertical device stack. These will be optimised in terms of efficiency and performance (weeks 4-8). The student on this project will gain hands-on experience of fabricating next-generation sustainable organic solar cells and Na-ion batteries, as well as a variety of characterisation techniques such as current-voltage measurements under solar illumination, external-quantum efficiency and electrochemical battery testing techniques and materials characterisation. The broad research gained by the student will be timely for a career in sustainable energy research.
Email: a.zolotarev@qmul.ac.uk
Project title: Predicting Atrial Fibrillation Treatment Outcome with Digital Twins
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting over 37 million people worldwide. AF is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and death. Treatment for AF includes anti-arrhythmic drugs and catheter ablation therapy. However, treatment outcomes are suboptimal because it is challenging to predict patient response to different treatments, making it difficult to tailor therapies to an individual patient. We recently performed the large in-silico AF cohort study to demonstrate the potential of combining personalized biophysical simulations with machine learning approaches to predict ablation therapy outcomes [1].
While biophysical simulations of cardiac electrophysiology create a digital twin of atrial electrical activity based on CT or MRI scans, testing various treatment strategies on them is time-consuming and impractical on clinical timescales. Our proposed pipeline, incorporating Siamese architecture, fuses latent representations of multi-modal features extracted from atrial digital twin before any therapy and predicts the outcomes of several treatment strategies. By accurately predicting freedom from atrial fibrillation, the pipeline paves the way for personalized atrial fibrillation therapy with a fast and precise selection of optimal treatments [2]. The student will focus on the following objectives:
A key practical outcome of the project will be the improvement of existing pipeline for predicting AF ablation outcomes. The results for the student will consist first of learning and a real implementation of deep learning and biophysical modelling tools for partial differential equations solver and second to have experience working on a supercomputer’s CPU (ARCHER2) and GPU (Andrena). The student will gain training in image processing, computer vision and deep learning (Dr Alexander Zolotarev) and biophysical simulation (Dr Caroline Roney).
Email: z.tse@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The hardware development of obtaining human vital signs from inside of the ear, paired with simple signal analysis of the obtained data.
Project Background: Cardiovascular health has always been held of great importance. Despite efforts in medical advances, cardiovascular health has been on the rapid rise. With that comes the need of a more accessible, convenient, and affordable method of cardiac health monitoring and diagnosis. The proposed project aims to develop an in-ear cardiovascular monitoring device – namely a hearable for the purpose of unobtrusive cardiovascular health monitoring, as an alternative to the existing monitoring methods.
The project will focus mostly on the hardware development of obtaining human vital signs from inside of the ear, paired with simple signal analysis of the obtained data. The end goal is to produce clinical interpretable parameters for the purpose of health monitoring. These vital signs data can then be used for cardiac health monitoring and subsequently even achieve diagnosis. Alongside the hands-on research, the student will be expected to conduct a comprehensive review of the current technology in the field of hearables for cardiovascular monitoring.
At the end of the project, the student will be expected to produce a high-quality literature review, and a working hearables prototype. Through the proposed project, the student can gain much experience in conducting research in an academic environment. This includes technical skills and techniques in 3D printing, electronics, signal processing, etc. The student will also develop transferrable skills such as academic writing, communication skills, collaboration skills, research methodology skills, project planning, etc. The scope of the project is designed to be feasible within the 8-week.
Email: c.roney@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: The improvement of the existing pipeline for predicting AF ablation outcomes.
Project Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting over 37 million people worldwide. AF is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and death. Treatment for AF includes anti-arrhythmic drugs and catheter ablation therapy. However, treatment outcomes are suboptimal because it is challenging to predict patient response to different treatments, making it difficult to tailor therapies to an individual patient.
While biophysical simulations of cardiac electrophysiology create a digital twin of atrial electrical activity based on CT or MRI scans, testing various treatment strategies on them is time-consuming and impractical on clinical timescales. Our proposed pipeline, incorporating Siamese architecture, fuses latent representations of multi-modal features extracted from atrial digital twin before any therapy and predicts the outcomes of several treatment strategies. By accurately predicting freedom from atrial fibrillation, the pipeline paves the way for personalized atrial fibrillation therapy with a fast and precise selection of optimal treatments.
The student will focus on the following objectives:
A key practical outcome of the project will be the improvement of the existing pipeline for predicting AF ablation outcomes. The results for the student will consist first of learning and a real implementation of deep learning and biophysical modelling tools for partial differential equations solver and second of having experience working on a supercomputer’s CPU (ARCHER2) and GPU (Andrena).
The student will gain training in image processing, computer vision and deep learning (Dr Alexander Zolotarev) and biophysical simulation (Dr Caroline Roney).
Email: s.smoukov@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Infrared thermography to capture heat distribution and derive mathematical expressions specific to our experimental setup.
Project Background: Cold-drawn polyethylene is a workhorse polymer in industry and the basis for “stronger-than-steel” materials (fibres, films, etc). Yet, their anisotropic thermal conductivity in thin films is very difficult to measure. In SEMS we have developed several types of expertise (extrusion, modelling, infrared thermography, etc) which together can solve the problem. The sample design and infrared thermography operation are simple enough for an undergraduate student to do in research, which would be a great opportunity for them to be involved in a cutting edge project that would result in a prominent publication. We’ll use infrared thermography to capture heat distribution and derive mathematical expressions specific to our experimental setup.
The student would learn not only careful instrument operation, record-keeping, analysis of results, but also be exposed to a real research group and real-time problem solving that goes on with any research project. We aim to successfully interpret data from a variety of sources, such as IR cameras, UV-Vis spectra and perhaps even Scanning Electron Microscopy. As such, Denisha will be exposed to a range of new experimental techniques and problem-solving scenarios, where she can implement the theory learnt from her degree modules into real, hands-on practicals. Having written multiple reports recently, she will further enhance her research and report writing skills, but this time, she is required to plan her own experimental methods to gather the necessary information and data. This challenging yet stimulating project will result in both transferrable skills and a publication.
Project Title: Research in pharmaceutical companies for their stability and ability to incorporate hard to deliver anti-cancer drugs, as well as the opportunity to target specific kinds of cancers.
Project Background: Solid lipid nanoparticles are intensely researched in pharmaceutical companies for their stability, ability to incorporate hard to deliver anti-cancer drugs, as well as the opportunity to target specific kinds of cancers. The Smoukov lab has developed a novel “cold-burst” method for generating monodisperse suspensions by only gentle heating and cooling as opposed to very high shear methods that are common in industry. They also developed a continuous method for their synthesis which is now being tested on commercial flow chemistry instruments.
This research is accessible and appropriate for undergraduates to take part of. It will teach them to take careful measurements, learn to characterize nanoparticles with dynamic light scattering, and will result in a paper publication by the end of the summer. Tahira would be exposed to design of experiments, lots of theory about the way light scattering measures particle sizes via the Stokes-Einstein expression for the diffusion coefficient of Brownian particles, as well as mechanisms for self-emulsification due to phase transitions. She will be a regular participant in group meetings with more senior researchers and will learn to communicate her research as well as learn from others. Written updates on the research will hone her writing skills and she will learn time management planning her own experiments. Many transferrable skills will be emphasized, and a publication would strongly benefit her CV.
Email: matthew.lewis@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Rotation Numbers are values generated from maps between circles and can be viewed as asymptotic averages of the number of times a given point will be rotated around the circle through a single iteration.
Project Statement: Rotation Numbers are values generated from maps between circles and can be viewed as asymptotic averages of the number of times a given point will be rotated around the circle through a single iteration.
In [2], it was shown that the long-term behaviour of solutions of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation involving the p-Laplace operator could be identified via the construction of such a rotation number (now a function dependent on a spectral parameter within the equation).
The work of [1] included a short exposition on numerical methods used to approximate this function for all values of the spectral parameter. The techniques used here however, were comparatively rudimentary and relied on the approximation of solutions of the ODE over a large domain, causing massive propagation of errors.
The intern on this project will be tasked with:
References:
[1] Lewis, M., 2019. Stability of solutions of a one-dimensional p-Laplace equation with periodic potential (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff University).
[2] Zhang, M., 2001. The rotation number approach to eigenvalues of the one-dimensional p-Laplacian with periodic potentials. Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 64(1), pp.125-143.
Email: c.giordano@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Synthesis of metallic ceramics nanoparticles (namely metal carbides and nitrides) from mere binary systems to multimetallic compounds and nanocomposite materials.
Project Statement: The project concerns the synthesis of metallic ceramics nanoparticles (namely metal carbides and nitrides) from mere binary systems to multimetallic compounds and nanocomposite materials. The nanomaterials will be prepared from biomass derived sources (forest waste) and will be applied as novel catalysts in processes related to biomass valorisation to produce green fuels, which will contribute to solve part of the current energy issues.
Email: c.jones@qmul.ac.uk
Project Title: Replace conventional organic solvents used in aryne reactions with greener and more sustainable alternatives.
Project Goal: Overall, aim to replace conventional organic solvents used in aryne reactions with greener and more sustainable alternatives. Building upon our exciting discovery that green solvent can be used in an aryne reaction for the first time, this project will investigate the scope of amenable aryne reactions.
Background: Solvents comprise most of a chemical reaction (~85% of total waste); however, most regular solvents have undesirable properties (e.g. toxicity, flammability, carcinogenicity, etc.). Arynes are versatile species used to access valuable compounds found in pharmaceuticals and materials. Hence, combining aryne chemistry with green solvents constitutes an important academic advancement, with associated reductions in hazard and waste disposal especially beneficial in large-scale industrial settings.
Plan: The student will begin by repeating our preliminary results. This provides an excellent introduction to experimental techniques, familiarisation with the lab environment and benchmarking of the known reaction against previous group data. Following successful reproduction, attention will turn towards investigating examples from 5 main classes of aryne transformations: (i) cycloaddition; (ii) nucleophilic addition; (iii) insertion; (iv) metal-catalysed & (v) multicomponent. All starting materials are commercially available, and no reaction purification is required, therefore maximising time to investigate the project goals.
Outcomes: Excellent training in synthesis, purification and characterisation of organic molecules; all valuable assets for careers in industry or academia. The student will gain experience in analytical techniques (e.g. NMR & mass spectrometry), become skilled at performing reactions under anhydrous and anaerobic conditions and develop myriad transferable skills (e.g. presentation, communication, project management).