³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

Summary

This project aims to understand how skills and competencies in the area of sustainability are/can be developed in our Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Bioengineering and Biomedical Technology Ventures programmes in the department of Bioengineering. Whilst at an individual module level aspects of sustainability are discussed, how these fit together across the curriculum to allow our students to develop a deep understanding of the complex issues is not clear to our students, or to staff generally. Having a clear overview would allow the department to address gaps and build on best practice. 

To do this the project team, comprising of three teaching staff and three students will undergo a mapping exercise using a framework developed by the university of Sheffield, with support from their team.  

This project is a trial of the framework and methodology, which will allow us to examine how we can collaborate with students to understand their experience across modules and how they see skills to be developed. As a direct result of this project we expect to produce: 

• A map of our three undergraduate programmes in terms of where key competences in sustainability are introduced, developed and assessed.  

• Recommendations to module leaders for 'quick wins' 

• A summary identifying area of weakness to be addressed strategically by the departments teaching committee 

• A pilot of a student facing interactive mapping tool so our undergraduates can see how they are developing skills across our programmes 

Project Lead

Maria Parkes (maria.parkes04@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow,  Department of Bioengineering

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time at one half-day a week for ten weeks, starting 13th January.  

Undergraduate Bioengineering students from years 2-5, with an interest in sustainability are eligible and encouraged to apply.  

Mapping and Embedding Sustainability in Bioengineering UG ad

Summary

This is a chance to help redesign a core third-year Aeronautics lab and make a real contribution to how AERO60007 is taught in future years.

Working in partnership with staff, you will help review the current lab, test possible replacement platforms such as a micro-quadrotor, hovercraft, or indoor blimp, and shape recommendations for the future laboratory. You will get involved in hands-on prototyping, usability and robustness testing, and discussions about what makes a control lab engaging, practical, and educationally valuable for students.

Project Lead

Eric Kerrigan (e.kerrigan@imperial.ac.uk), Professor of Control and Optimization, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Siti Ros Shamsuddin (s.shamsuddin07@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Aeronautics

Further Details/Experience Required

3 positions available.  8 weeks full-time during Summer break.  

Current Year 3 Aeronautics students taking AERO60007 are especially encouraged to apply. We will also welcome strong applications from Year 2 Aeronautics students, or students in related departments with relevant experience or a clear interest in control, coding, and experimental systems.

Redesigning the AERO60007 Control Systems Lab recruitment ad

Summary

The project aims to develop a prosthetics based design challenge, to become the major assessment in the compulsory design and professional practice module from 2027 onwards. Potential ideas include development of a 2 finger gripper or a sport prosthetic.  

This StudentShapers project aims to use the design process to identify a suitable project idea and develop the appropriate resources to enable this to become part of the curriculum. 

Project Lead

Maria Parkes (maria.parkes04@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Bioengineering

Further Details/Experience Required

We are looking to recruit two students starting Monday 29th June 2026, full-time for 8 weeks. 

Students would ideally be recruited from Bioengineering, with experience of the Design and Professional Practice module. Students from other engineering departments at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ could also apply.  Membership of the prosthetics society or project experience in prosthetics would be highly desirable. 

Students must have experience of an engineering design module and an interest in prosthetics. We are looking for students with good team-working skills, who can manage their time effectively and can demonstrate that they are proactive in working towards goals. Practical workshop skills and/or prior experience with generating digital content are desirable. 

Redesigning the design challenge recruitment ad

Summary

This project aims to transform structural engineering education by introducing haptic, touch-based feedback to help kinaesthetic learners intuitively understand counter-intuitive physical concepts. As a co-designer during a 12-week summer placement, you will draw on your own experience of learning structural engineering in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering to identify threshold concepts where students historically struggle to translate mathematical theory into physical intuition. You will implement specific learning scenarios using the OpenSoftHaptics toolkit (jointly developed by researchers at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and MIT), designing virtual structural components and calibrating the interface so that a virtual structural failure feels physically instructive in the user's hand. Finally, you will co-lead an evaluation lab session during Freshers’ Week to determine if this pioneering physical digital twin approach successfully lowers the barrier to understanding these vital engineering principles.

Project Lead

Joshua Brown (joshua.brown@imperial.ac.uk), Research Fellow, Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery

Demetrios Venetsanos (d.venetsanos@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow (Student Experience), Department of Aeronautics

Further Details/Experience Required

One position available for 12 weeks full-time,  ideally to be filled by a student in the final two years of a degree in Aeronautical Engineering (any stream).

Haptics for aeronautical structures recruitment ad 25-26

Summary

This project translates the findings of last year’s StudentShapers evaluation into deployable learning resources that directly improve how students learn computational and simulation skills across the Aeronautics curriculum. The work is structured as a co-creation partnership in which students act as educational designers rather than feedback providers.

Topics include:

• Programming: MATLAB, Python, C++
• Simulation Tools: 3DEXPERIENCE (CAD), StarCCM+ (CFD), Abaqus (FEA)

Common concerns raised:

• Difficulty accessing beginner-friendly guidance (especially for 3DEXPERIENCE)
• Inconsistent software usage across modules
• Gaps in supporting resources and confidence-building materials

Project Aims

1. Improve teaching materials, aligning them with real-world applications and industry standards, based on the feedback we received from students and staff
2. Recommend evidence-based improvements to module structure, duration, and delivery

What You’ll Do

Student partners will function as co-developers of curriculum materials and decision-makers in pedagogical design. Their role is not limited to testing resources; they will actively determine how material should be explained, sequenced, and presented to make learning accessible to peers.

Students will:

• Identify where expert explanations fail novice learners
• Redesign workflows into learnable steps
• Define clarity and usability standards
• Iteratively test resources with peers
• Co-author guidance materials and documentation.

Project Lead

Masoud Seifikar (m.seifikar@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow in Computational Engineering, Department of Aeronautics

Further Details/Experience Required

Two positions available - UG students from 2-4 year of Aeronautics, or Postgraduates who have recently completed their Undergraduate in Aeronautics

8 weeks full-time during Summer break commencing 29th June

Educational Resources for Computing and Simulation Education recruitment ad

Summary

As part of the ongoing curriculum review of Materials 2, we are developing a new laboratory focused on lightweight metals used in aerospace applications. Aluminium and magnesium are widely used due to their low density and high strength-to-weight ratio, as introduced in the lectures, but students currently have limited opportunities to see how these materials are processed in practice.

In this project, you will help design a hands-on lab where students:

• roll aluminium and magnesium into sheet form using a real rolling machine
• explore why magnesium needs elevated temperatures while aluminium does not
• examine how processing changes the microstructure using optical microscopy

You will be involved from the start: testing the process, shaping the lab, and helping decide how it should be taught. This is not a typical assistant role. You will work in partnership with the academic staff to co-create a lab that future students will experience.

What you’ll do

• Work hands-on with metal rolling and sample preparation
• Co-design the structure and flow of a new teaching lab
• Co-develop student-facing materials (instructions, prompts, etc.)
• Test and refine the lab before it is rolled out

What you’ll gain

• Hands-on experience with metal processing and microscopy
• Insight into how real engineering labs are designed
• Experience working closely with academics and researchers
• Skills in teamwork, communication, and problem-solving
• A chance to directly shape teaching in our department

Project Lead

Qianqian Li (qianqian.li@imperial.ac.uk), Associate Professor in Lightweight Materials and Composites, Department of Aeronautics

Siti Ros Shamsuddin (s.shamsuddin07@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Aeronautics

Further Details/Experience Required

2 positions available - 5 weeks full-time during Summer break between August and September.  

Undergraduates in Aeronautics, Y2 and above, but not final years are eligible.  

AERO50005 Materials Laboratory recruitment ad

Summary

Developing a strong foundation of professional behaviour is essential for undergraduate
computing students preparing to enter modern academic, research, and industry environments. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s
Computing Department is looking to integrate into the curriculum a dedicated Professional Readiness /
Professional Behaviour module, that will provide all undergraduate computing students with consistent,
accessible training, aligned with ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ values and professional standards.

Co-creating this module through a StudentShapers project ensures that the design is student-centred and
focuses on real examples experienced by our student community. Students bring insight into how these
themes are currently understood, how training can be made genuinely engaging, and what formats or activities
would lead to lasting behavioural impact. In this project the selected students will co-design the learning
outcomes and scope for a new Professional Behaviour module in partnership with staff members, bringing
together themes such as active bystander principles, consent, ethics, and responsible behaviours.

Project Lead

Maria Valera-Espina (m.valera-espina@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Computing

Jackie Bell (jaclyn.bell@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Computing

Further Details/Experience Required

2 positions available.  Six weeks full-time during Summer break.  

Undergraduate Computing students, who are enrolled on an undergraduate Computing or JMC programme are eligible.  

Professional Readiness in Computing recruitment ad

Summary

The project involves designing, manufacturing, and testing a demonstration rocket engine for undergraduate labs and for outreach activities. The engine will be specifically targeted at educational demonstrations, which means high reliability over many cycles of usage - these are challenging requirements; but it will have lower requirements for example on power-to-weight as the engine is not designed to fly. The project will be led by students who will ensure that the project prioritises value as a demonstrator, and integration into the curriculum.

Project Lead

Peter Johnson (peter.johnson@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Aaron Knoll (a.knoll@imperial.ac.uk), Associate Professor in Spacecraft Engineering, Department of Aeronautics

David Wright (david.wright@imperial.ac.uk), Thermofluids & Teaching Technician, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Further Details/Experience Required

Two positions available - students from Aeronautics or Mechanical Engineering are eligible, with an interest in chemical rocket propulsion.  

6 weeks full-time during Summer break.  

Rocket Engine for Demonstrations recruitment ad

Summary

 Are you a Mathematics student interested in how data can be used to inform understanding, support decision-making and enhance learning? Would you like to work in partnership with teaching staff to help shape innovative teaching materials for future Mathematics students?

This project brings together undergraduate Mathematics students and teaching staff to co-create interactive learning materials for Probability and Statistics modules across the undergraduate curriculum. The focus is on building engaging, accessible, and reusable learning resources that help students and educators explore complex datasets through interactive visualisations and simulations. For example, students could investigate how the properties of a Poisson distribution change as its parameters vary and connect these changes to real-world applications such as call arrivals, website activity or rare events.

Student partners will play a central role in shaping both the content and delivery of these materials, ensuring they are relevant, accessible, and grounded in real student experience.

As a student partner, you will be involved throughout the design, development, and evaluation stages of the project. Your contribution may include:
• Working alongside staff in planning meetings and collaborative design sessions.
• Identifying engaging datasets from different application domains.
• Contribute to the development of an interactive data platform using R Shiny.
• Designing visualisations and interactive teaching demonstrations.
• Testing and evaluating learning resources from a student’s perspective.
• Supporting dissemination activities, such as presenting at workshops or contributing to short blog posts or case studies.
Exact activities will be agreed collaboratively by the project team

Project Lead

Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Principle Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics

Further Details/Experience Required

Full-time for up to 10 weeks between July and September.  4 positions available.  

Applicable to Undergraduate students in the Mathematics department, in Year 2 or above.

Co-Creating Teaching Material for Communicating with Data recruitment ad

Summary

Are you a Mathematics student interested in how mathematical ideas are taught, explained, and communicated? Would you like to work in partnership with teaching staff to shape innovative teaching materials for future maths students?

This project brings together undergraduate Mathematics students and teaching staff to co-create learning materials for a Communicating Mathematics module.  The focus is on designing engaging resources that help students explain mathematical reasoning clearly and communicate quantitative analysis effectively.  

Student partners will play a central role in shaping both the content and delivery of these materials, ensuring they are relevant, accessible, and grounded in real student experience.  

As a student partner, you will be involved throughout the design, development, and evaluation stages of the project.  Your contribution may include:

• Working alongside staff in planning meetings and collaborative design sessions.
• Co-developing discovery-based activities focused on communicating mathematical ideas.
• Identifying where additional scaffolding or clearer explanations would support student learning.
• Testing draft materials and providing iterative feedback from a learner's perspective.
• Supporting dissemination activities, such as presenting at workshops or contributing to short blog posts or case studies.  

Exact activities will be agreed collaboratively by the project team.  

Project Lead

Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Principle Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time from the end of February to June, for 17 weeks (four hours a week).

Applicable to Undergraduate students in the Mathematics department, in Year 2 or above.  

Co-Creating teaching materials for a Communicating Mathematics module ad

Summary

The Silwood Language Exchange programme will facilitate a conversation exchange between students and/or staff, for practise speaking a language informally. The programme will be inclusive for our whole student body, and will encourage everyone to take part, overseas students may want to practice English conversationally, which home students could offer and learn a new language or brush up on their existing skills. The programme will match people with different language back grounds. Offering a weekly space where people can come together in arranged pairs and take turns practising a language. The programme will also offer a social event/s.
Student shapers will collaborate with staff to design and implement this programme, including facilitating the weekly Language Exchange Sessions, which will commence late October 2025. 
As part of this project our Student Shapers will develop their project management, communication, and resource development skills as they work in partnership with department staff to design and roll out the programme. 
This work is scheduled for three hours a week for four weeks in the autumn term and the spring terms (8 weeks of work 
in total).

Project Lead

Clara Bradberry (c.scott@imperial.ac.uk), Student Experience Coordinator, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for eight weeks over the Spring and Autumn term.  Eligible for incoming Life Sciences Masters and PhD students based at Silwood Park campus.  Those with an interest in student experience and languages would be particularly of interest.  3 positions available.  

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Silwood Park exchange recruitment ad

Summary

The Bridges Programme is a flagship initiative in the Faculty of Natural Sciences designed to support the transition of first-year undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds into university life. Building on the success of the programme, we are now seeking student partners to help co-create a new Bridges Leadership & Skills Development Programme.

This project will explore how the Bridges Programme can support students from underrepresented identities beyond their first year by developing leadership skills, confidence and a stronger sense of belonging at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ.

You will contribute to designing the future direction of the Bridges Programme by co-creating a leadership and skills development initiative that reflects the diverse experiences and ambitions of students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

You may be involved in researching leadership development programmes, gathering student and staff feedback through surveys or focus groups, and co-designing the vision, structure and activities for a new Bridges leadership initiative for its launch in the 26/27 academic year.

Project Lead

Emma Mattin (fonsedandedi@imperial.ac.uk), Education and EDI Coordinator, Faculty of Natural Sciences

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available, two undergraduate Faculty of Natural Sciences students.  

Eight weeks full-time during Summer break.  

Bridges 2026 recruitment ad

Summary

The project will involve the creation of 3-4, five-minute instructional videos demonstrating key practical chemistry techniques and 3D digital twin simulations using the exact equipment found in our teaching laboratories. The primary focus for implementation in the 2026–27 academic year is the pre-lab videos. However, we also intend to begin work on the 3D digital twin simulations.

We will also involve students in identifying common errors, misconceptions and procedural challenges encountered in the lab, as well as their consequences to include in the simulations. Students would be able to use their expertise to best advise on how to present the content/theory and the level of explanation. These resources will provide undergraduate students with a realistic, risk-free environment in which to familiarise themselves with laboratory techniques and equipment prior to in-person sessions.

To facilitate an authentic staff-student partnership, student partners will participate collaboratively with teaching fellows and staff at the Digital Media Lab. Students will assist throughout the design and production process, including:

• deciding on a practical skill they would like to demonstrate and co-edit the scripts
• carrying out laboratory demonstrations for the pre-lab videos
• recording voice-overs
• identifying common errors, misconceptions and procedural challenges encountered in the lab as well as their consequences.

Students will be able to choose what they would like to specifically participate in in the outlined tasks based on their interests. Through this student-staff collaboration, we hope that the resources will be engaging to students and pedagogically effective with the aim of improving the students’ lab experience.

Project Lead

Julie Kalmoni (j.kalmoni@imperial.ac.uk), Teaching Fellow, Department of Chemistry

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available - undergraduate Chemistry students from 1st, 2nd or 3rd year are eligible.  

6 weeks full-time during Summer break between July and September. 

From Virtual to Practical recruitment ad

Summary

Statistics is fundamental to Chemistry, and there is real opportunity to better support students in developing their statistical skills alongside their practical and laboratory work. This project explores how that support can be strengthened through three collaborative phases:

• Phase 1 (Weeks 1–2): Curriculum mapping, reviewing measurement lab materials across all 3 years to identify where statistical analysis is absent or insufficient.
• Phase 2 (Weeks 2–3): Designing a progressive statistical framework showing how competence should build across the degree.
• Phase 3 (Weeks 3–5): Co-developing enhanced teaching materials, including clearer explanations, worked examples, and accessible resources for existing measurement labs.

Student partners will have genuine creative freedom in shaping outputs. Your understanding of how peers learn is invaluable. The project will culminate in a poster presentation at ViCEPHEC2026 (Nottingham, 27–28 August 2026), the UK's leading Chemistry & Physics education conference, with student partners as co-authors.

What You'll Gain

• Hands-on experience in curriculum development, which is rare for undergraduates and valuable for careers in research, education, or industry
• Experience presenting at a national academic conference (ViCEPHEC2026)
• Skills in interdisciplinary collaboration, project management, and academic communication
• Deep metacognitive insight into how learning and teaching work
• A tangible legacy: materials that will improve statistics education for future Chemistry cohorts

Project Lead

Jakub Radzikowski (j.radzikowski@imperial.ac.uk) Culinary Education Designer, Department of Chemistry

Benji Fenech-Salerno (b.fenech-salerno@imperial.ac.uk), Teaching Fellow in Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Joao Pedro Malhado (malhado@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Chemistry

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available - two for Chemistry undergraduate students (3rd or 4th year, Dept of Chemistry), two for Mathematics students (2nd or 3rd year, BSc Mathematics with Statistics)

Five weeks full-time during Summer break - Starting 22^nd of June and finishing on the 24^th of July.

Improving Statistics Literacy recruitment ad

Summary

The student team will create a series of short (1 – 5-minute) videos to supplement the Y1 undergraduate Lab and Computing courses. The videos will demonstrate some of the key skills, equipment, and methods Y1 students develop throughout the year, e.g. how to use an oscilloscope, how to make a plot in Python, etc. During the project, the students will work closely with the Head of Y1 Lab (Isabel Rabey) to select topics and to develop a set of clear explanations, while the student team will have full creative control over the visual style and editing of the videos.

Project Lead

Isabel Rabey (isabel.rabey@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Physics

Further Details/Experience Required

Two positions available - students currently enrolled in any Y1 undergraduate Physics programme are eligible.  

8 weeks full-time during Summer break.  

Video Tutorials for Y1 Physics Lab and Computing recruitment ad

Summary

Join EduVision, an innovative project using machine vision to enhance automated feedback in hands-on learning. Work across disciplines, collaborating with Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Physics, Aeronautics, and Electrical Engineering to develop smarter, real-time assessment methods.

There are two exciting opportunities available collaborating with the team on this project:

Virtual Workshop

This project aims to extend an existing virtual reality machining workshop into a more accessible, cross-platform learning environment that can run on tablets and laptops (programming done by the Digital Media Lab). The current provision relies on a live VR setup; the studentship will focus on creating a fully interactive digital model (CAD) of key workshop equipment, starting with a milling machine, and later incorporating a pillar drill, to enable students to practise machining operations in a virtual setting.

The role will involve developing structured virtual exercises that guide students through safe and effective use of subtractive manufacturing equipment, with a strong emphasis on engagement, usability, and clarity of interaction. Working closely with the Digital Media Lab and technicians, the student partner will help translate real workshop practices into intuitive virtual tasks that support skill development prior to physical lab sessions.

A core component of the project is the integration of mechanisms to capture student feedback and usage data, allowing the educational impact of the virtual machining environment to be systematically evaluated and refined.

RC Racing Car

This project focuses on developing a machine vision–based student experience enhancement application within EduVision. The current prototype can recognise artefacts and components of a radio-controlled racing car, but the learning workflow is only partially implemented. The studentship will transform this prototype into a complete educational experience by designing structured, engaging follow-up tasks and automated feedback that are triggered after each recognised component.

The role will involve content generation, UX design, and pedagogically informed interaction design to ensure that each recognition event leads to meaningful learning activities that support conceptual understanding and practical skills. A key requirement is the integration of an in-app feedback collection mechanism so that student engagement, perceived usefulness, and learning impact can be systematically monitored and evaluated.

The project will be delivered in collaboration with the Aeronautics Department and will contribute to research on technology-enhanced learning, automated feedback, and student feedback literacy within hands-on engineering education.

Project Lead

Alexis Ihracska (a.ihracska@imperial.ac.uk) Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Further Details/Experience Required

Both positions are for nine weeks and 3 days full-time during Summer break, with some flexibility on timings.  

Both positions would be appropriate for students with an Engineering background, although students with a strong analytical approach, solid CAD skills and a keen interest in educational technology and research will be considered.  All year groups eligible apart from final year students.  

EduVision - Machine vision Virtual Workshop recruitment ad

EduVision - Machine vision RC Racing car recruitment ad

Summary

This project will research the development of competencies through I-Explore. It will draw on student and staff perspectives from their different departments and faculties to consider the different contexts from which students engage with I-Explore.

The project will use its findings to offer suggestions for how competencies could better be signposted in the communication of I-Explore. It will also provide insight into the competencies that students and teachers would like opportunities to develop further.

Project Lead

Mark Pope (mark.pope@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 20 weeks between October 2025 and March 2026.  Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty.  Particularly interested in recruiting students studying in the faculties of Engineering or Medicine, or with experience of STEMM or BPES modules on I-Explore.

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

I-Explore Competencies recruitment ad

Summary

Following a grant from Presidents Community Fund the Chaplaincy Multi-Faith Centre aims to build a new community garden to create a space of belonging and well-being. The Chaplaincy seeks to collaborate with students to design and build this space for the community.

These support roles seek to reward and formalise the organic “knowledge-share” between students and staff that already exists at the garden. Students will work under a stewardship model with the space, sharing agency over its design, evolution and maintenance. 

Project Lead

Andrew Willson (chaplaincy@imperial.ac.uk) , College Chaplain, Chaplaincy

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 25 weeks from Autumn term.   Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty.  Particularly those interested in gardening and regeneration of university space.

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Chaplaincy Gardening Project continuation recruitment ad

Summary

The two StudentShapers will engage with the staff partner to facilitate the transfer of the Learning How to Learn training programme to an online format for broader student reach. The training programme aims to help students learn and use effective learning strategies. The partnership will involve familiarisation with the programme, designing active learning exercises, and script writing for videos that will form part of the online programme.

The partnership will finish with producing these videos and we envisage that StudentShapers will take an active role in their development. On-screen appearances are up to the StudentShapers but are highly recommended for further career development. Opportunities for two-way feedback will be incorporated throughout all stages of the partnership.

Project Lead

Magda Charalambous (m.charalambous@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Lecturer, Department of Life Sciences

Vlad Grozev (v.grozev@imperial.ac.uk), Research Associate in Educational Research, Department of Life Sciences

Further Details/Experience Required

Two positions available - students from any department or faculty, or level of study

2 weeks full-time during Summer break - 13th-24th July.  

Learning How to Learn recruitment ad

Summary

Do you want to help shape how future ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ students understand assessment and feedback from day one? This project will bring together students and staff to co-create engaging, practical resources that make assessment expectations and feedback processes clearer, more accessible, and more useful for new students.
The project builds on recent StudentShapers work and the university-wide Assessment & Feedback Review, which have highlighted that many students still find assessment requirements unclear and feedback hard to access or use. Together, we’ll explore what’s currently offered to new students, identify gaps, and design new resources that are relatable, student-informed, and ready for departments to use in their 2026 inductions.
As a StudentShaper, you will be a partner in all stages of the project, from discovery to creation to testing. You’ll contribute your own perspective on assessment, help gather and analyse feedback from peers and staff, and work with other students and staff to design and trial new resources. Possible outputs might include short videos, podcasts, workshop activities, and practical guides – but the exact format will be shaped by the project team, including you.

Project Lead

Emma Passmore (e.passmore@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow in Statistics, Department of Mathematics

Timothy Kimber (timothy.kimber06@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Computing

Jonathan Rackham (j.rackham@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Strategic Teaching Fellow, Department of Materials

Further Details/Experience Required

Part-time for 20 weeks between October 2025 and March 2026.  Four positions available.  

Undergraduate students from any Faculty or department, from Year 2 or above.  

(See recruitment ad for Project Skills details)

Effective A&F Literacy Materials recruitment ad

Summary

Students often encounter process control in laboratory and practical settings before fully understanding the underlying theoretical principles. While simulation tools exist, many are static and idealised, limiting opportunities for exploration, experimentation, and deeper engagement with real-world control challenges. The aim of the project is to develop an AI-driven, game-based learning environment that bridges theory and practice, helping students learn and apply process control concepts while interacting with realistic system behaviour in an inclusive, accessible and interactive format.

Student and staff partners will co-design and implement the tool, integrating AI-driven methods, including Large Language Models and Reinforcement learning, within a human-in-the-loop framework to generate dynamic, realistic control scenarios that adapt to user interactions. The tool will personalise scenarios and explanations based on learners’ responses, offering alternative perspectives when concepts are not yet fully understood. Rather than following predefined instructions, students will be able to experiment freely, learn through trial and error, and progressively develop confidence and an intuition for how control systems behave in practice.

As a student partner, you will:

• Co-design simulation scenarios, helping shape features that make them intuitive and educationally valuable.
• Test the simulator’s usability and evaluate its clarity and learning impact.
• Collaborate with staff in a shared decision-making process to innovate curricula and improve students’ learning experiences.

Project Lead

Mohamed Maher (mohamed.maher18@imperial.ac.uk), Process Control Engineer, Department of Chemical Engineering

Further Details/Experience Required

2 positions available.  Undergraduates from Chemical Engineering, Computing or Mathematics would be most eligible.  

Eight weeks full time during Summer break.

AI Driven PC Simulator recruitment ad

Summary

Lambda Feedback is a web platform for self-study, developed at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ. It hosts course content (such as tutorial sheets) that can be viewed in the browser or by PDF. Students can receive automated feedback on their answers, including hand-writing mathematical expressions. The platform also hosts step-by-step worked solutions and comment threads.

Lambda Feedback was first deployed in 2021-22, and is now used across College in all four faculties and by thousands of students. This summer we will be expanding the subjects that use Lambda Feedback, and improving features of the app.

We are looking for students to partner with academic staff to adapt and improve content when moving modules onto Lambda Feedback. We are also looking for students to contribute to the broader project, for improving the user experience, developing feedback algorithms, or conducting data analysis.

Project Lead

• Peter Johnson (peter.johnson@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering
• Rhodri Nelson (rhodri.nelson@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow in Computational Data Science, Department of Earth Science & Engineering
• Maria Parkes (maria.parkes04@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Engineering
• Ioanna Papatsouma (i.papatsouma@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics
• Tomasz Kosmala (t.kosmala@imperial.ac.uk), Teaching Fellow in Statistics, Department of Mathematics
• Zohaib Akhtar, (z.akhtar@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Further Details/Experience Required

Five positions available - undergraduates (aside from final year) from all department are eligible, however students from ESE, Bioengineering, Maths, EEE and Mech Eng will have advantage due to these specific departments working on this phase of Lambda development.  

6 weeks full-time over Summer break. 

Lambda feedback 25-26 recruitment ad 

Summary

SIM-AI is a pilot within ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's Synchronous Interactive Media (SIM) project, led by the Digital Media Lab (DML) and the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication. SIM develops interactive 3D visualisations for teaching. SIM-AI uses generative AI to bridge between student-built prototypes and the DML's production implementations.
This pilot aims to define precisely where the student-built prototype ends and where the DML's production work begins. You will create a functional prototype of your visualisation in whichever programming language suits you; AI-assisted pipelines will translate your prototype into a form the DML can take forward to deployable quality.

Your engagement comprises three activities:
(i) Identify a small, well-defined conceptual challenge from a lecture course you are currently taking, have taken, or have taught. Scope should resemble a simple interactive visualisation. Examples are and . If you already have a concept in mind, please state it in your Expression of Interest: this is preferable, though not essential.
(ii) Prototype an interactive visualisation of that concept in a programming language of your choosing (Python, MATLAB, R, etc.), with generative AI as a coding collaborator.
(iii) Work alongside other student partners, Dr Clewley, and the DML to define the handover point between the student deliverable and the DML production pipeline.

Project Lead

Caroline Clewley (c.clewley@imperial.ac.uk), I Explore Lead and STEMM Module Stream Lead, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Further Details/Experience Required

Four positions available - students from any department or faculty, or level of study.  Applicants should be currently taking, have recently completed, or have taught a STEM lecture course containing a concept they wish to visualise

6 weeks full time during Summer break, June and July.  

Code a Concept recruitment ad

Summary 

The below projects are part of Transforming Digital Assessment: Automation, Security, and Scalability, a cross-departmental project aiming to modernise digital summative assessment at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ by developing scalable, secure, and pedagogically robust assessment models.  

This large-scale project focuses on automation to reduce staff workload and improve feedback consistency, secure delivery to protect academic integrity, and scalable processes to support large cohorts and cross-departmental adoption. 

• ‘AI-Assisted Grading and Feedback for Programming Assignments’ – recruiting Chemical Engineering students              (AI Assisted Grading and Feedback for Programming Assignments - Muller ad) 

• ‘AI-Enhanced Flashcard Tool for Assessments’ – recruiting from any department in Faculty of Engineering                        (AI Enhanced Flashcard tool - Ladipo ad) 

• ‘AI-Resilient Design and Secure Delivery of BYOD Digital Assessments’ – recruiting EEE students                                         (AI-Resilient Design and Secure Delivery of BYOD Digital Assessments - Akhtar ad) 

• ‘Multiple Choice Question Generation Using an AI Skills Agent’ recruiting across all UG departments, with particular relevance to Earth Science and Engineering students (MCQ Generation Using an AI Skills Agent - Nelson ad) 

• ‘Prototype Automated Exam Marking Using AI’ – recruiting Mechanical Engineering students     (Prototype Automated Exam Marking Using AI - Johnson ad) 

• ‘Scalable Auto-grading for Python-Based Assessments’ – recruiting FoE or Natural Sciences students           (Scalable Auto-Grading for Python-Based Assessments - Seifikar ad) 

Project Lead 

• AI-Assisted Grading and Feedback for Programming Assignments – Erich Muller, (e.muller@imperial.ac.uk), Professor of Thermodynamics, Department of Chemical Engineering 

• AI-Enhanced Flashcard Tool for Assessments – Lekan Ladipo (o.ladipo17@imperial.ac.uk), Ed Tech Learning Design and Innovation Manager, Faculty of Engineering 

• AI-Resilient Design and Secure Delivery of BYOD Digital Assessments, Zohaib Akhtar, (z.akhtar@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Teaching Fellow, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

• Multiple Choice Question Generation Using an AI Skills Agent, Rhodri Nelson (rhodri.nelson@imperial.ac.uk), Senior Teaching Fellow in Computational Data Science, Department of Earth Science & Engineering 

• Prototype Automated Exam Marking Using AI, Peter Johnson (peter.johnson@imperial.ac.uk), Principal Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering 

• Scalable Auto-grading for Python-Based Assessments – Masoud Seifikar, Senior Teaching Fellow in Computational Engineering, Department of Aeronautics 

Further Details/Experience Required 

6 positions are available in total, with each sub-project aiming to recruit 1 student in their respective area.  All sub-projects are 4 weeks full-time during Summer break.   

Please refer to the relevant recruitment ad above for full project details.   

Summary

This StudentShapers project focuses on co-creating resources to help students “learn how to learn” with AI, moving beyond productivity and shortcuts towards critical thinking, verification, and responsible use. The resources will be used as part of the Business School induction activities on Learning to Learn with AI that are run across all our programmes.

Previous research in the Business School shows that students want:

- More practical, programme and course-specific guidance on using AI

- Support that connects AI use directly to learning, assessments, and disciplinary expectations
In this project, you will act as a co-researcher and co-creator, working in partnership with staff to co-design learning materials including:

- Content for a new section in our Study Skills Primer linked to the ‘Learning to learn with AI’ theme

- Activities for Programme-specific “Learning to Learn with AI” live on campus sessions

You will develop the materials and test and refine them with a student-eye view, bringing in peer insights where possible

Project Lead

Cloda Jenkins (c.jenkins@imperial.ac.uk), Associate Dean, Education Pedagogy and Innovation, Business School

Nai Li (nai.li@imperial.ac.uk), Head of Research and Impact, Business School

Stephen Vaz (s.vaz@imperial.ac.uk), Director of Learning Innovation, IDEA Lab, Business School

Further Details/Experience Required

4 positions available - 3 undergraduate positions and 1 postgraduate position.  Students within the Business School are eligible.

Undergraduate students  - 3 weeks full-time engagement (June) and 1 half-day (part-time) engagement (early July)

Postgraduate student - 4 half-days (part-time across June – early July)

Learning How to Learn 25-26 recruitment ad