Category Archives: Science

Changing careers from the corporate to clinical world

Wardah Jadran, an international student from Pakistan, graduated this week with a Master’s in Health and Clinical Psychological Sciences. Here she tells her story.

Wardah Jadran

It’s always been a dream of mine to study abroad in England. I actually received offers from three UK universities, but I chose Birkbeck for its amazing location in Bloomsbury, central London. I was willing to study in London as it felt familiar from movies, and I was keen to visit famous landmarks such as Oxford Street and the British Museum which are a very short walk away from Birkbeck.

I did a BSc Psychology undergraduate degree in Islamabad, Pakistan, but after that I took a different career path into Corporate sales/marketing and later human resources. I secured a number of promotions and worked my way up to manager level and was doing really well, winning awards including employee of the year. But I greatly missed clinical psychology, feeling a sense of emptiness and wanting to pursue my dream of undertaking a degree in England to secure a job working in mental health psychology.

This led me to applying for a MSc Health and Clinical Psychological Sciences degree. When I started I was so happy to be back studying my passion and was very impressed with how helpful Birkbeck staff were with everything, and how excellent the teaching was. I started volunteering at St Pancras Hospital as a Mental Health Assistant and working as a Special Education teacher, counselling and supporting special needs children whilst studying, and commuting for both work and study from South West London which was remarkably easy. The huge difference for me was that for the first time I wasn’t living with my parents anymore. Whilst I found this hard at times, it meant I became much more independent, and my horizons greatly expanded.

I’ve ended up making friends for life at Birkbeck, with people from all over the world of all different ages. Studying with people aged 21 to 42, was beneficial as I learnt how to communicate with everyone, regardless of age. The blend of cultures was so interesting and something which I didn’t get exposure to in Pakistan – I made friends with people all over the globe, including England, South America, China, India and other parts of Europe. I was friends with everyone in my classes – we frequently got snacks or lunch together from the Birkbeck café after the lectures. We also loved trying foods from around the world at the farmer’s market by the university every week. Spending time in spring and summer in Russell Square Gardens, just around the corner from Birkbeck, was also lovely. But what I loved the most was the Birkbeck Library – I used to spend hours and hours in there!

Overall, I just loved my Birkbeck experience. I’m now interviewing for Assistant Psychologist and other related roles in mental health, hoping to specialise in neurocognitive and personality disorders, and I’m excited to begin this new chapter of my life.

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Bringing together young leaders and academics from India and the UK to debate global challenge

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Monday 20 March was a busy day of events on Birkbeck’s campus. Read Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, Sanjib Bhakta’s blog to find out how international connections played a part in public engagement with schools.

On Monday 20 March, Birkbeck hosted the second day of the Y20 Young Minds Conference in conjunction with UCL in the morning. The Y20 is the official youth engagement group for the G20 (Group of 20), the forum for the world’s largest and most advanced economies. The event was a Y20@G20 and ‘Young India Dialogue’ initiative, and featured prominent speakers, offering keynotes on major areas of the G20, and therefore Y20, global development agenda.

Areas addressed included Health and Wellbeing, Innovation and Industry, Energy Access and Climate Change, Gender Rights, and Collective Global Activism. Mr Sidharth Yadav, Founder President of Young India Dialogue chaired the Speakers Session of the conference. Speakers included: Mr Layne Robinson, Head of Social Policy Development Section; Mr Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, India’s Former Sherpa to G7 & G20; Mr Falit Sijariya, India’s Y20 delegate; Mr Mohammad M. Karim and Birkbeck’s Professor Sanjib Bhakta, who spoke about the importance of antibiotic resistance research for the Health and Wellbeing portion of the event.

Birkbeck’s International Pro Vice-Chancellor, Kevin Ibeh welcomed the distinguished guests and student attendees, highlighting Birkbeck’s 200-year endeavour to reach out to the world with leading research and education.

The morning’s events linked neatly to the afternoon public engagement event, Breaking Barriers in Science, run by the Birkbeck and UCL Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (ISMB) Mycobacteria Research Laboratory and hosting participants from local schools.

Professor Franca Fraternali, Director of ISMB, inaugurated the event and Professor Bhakta addressed the audience regarding the alarming global concern with antimicrobial resistance in tuberculosis. All attendees then had the opportunity for informal interactions with research scientists and were able to observe demonstrations and attend sessions on the topic of antimicrobial drug resistance and infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and leishmaniasis.

The afternoon’s events were attended not only by representatives of Y20@G20 from India as in the morning event, but also by Layne Robinson, the Head of In2scienceUK, a charity promoting social mobility and diversity in STEM, and Patrick Shepherd, a member of the Social Outreach Team of the Wellcome Trust.

If you are an international student interested in studying at Birkbeck, please get in touch with our International Marketing and Recruitment Team at globalrecruitment@bbk.ac.uk.

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Find out more about the ISMB Mycobacteria Research Laboratory
Study in Birkbeck’s School of Science

Bringing staff, students and internationally acclaimed artists together to celebrate Diwali

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The event, hosted by Birkbeck School of Science in collaboration with local Indian community ‘Adda’, attracted students and staff eager to celebrate Diwali and learn more about the folk culture and rural artistry of Bengal.

Group picture with Dr Ana Parejo Vadillo (School of Arts); visiting artists Prasenjit Bhattacharjee, Esha Chakravarty, Babu Fakir, Subho Karmakar; and Professor Sanjib Bhakta

As part of this year’s celebration of Diwali, Birkbeck was delighted to support an international community-based project between the Government of West Bengal, India and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The project, called Rural Craft and Cultural Hubs (RCCH), is a collaboration between the Government of West Bengal, UNESCO and selected ambassadors to promote folk culture and rural artistry of Bengal.

Three internationally acclaimed artists, Subho Karmakar, Babu Fakir and Saurav Moni, attended Birkbeck’s 2022 Diwali on Campus event on Monday, 24 October, performing and exhibiting a selection of arts and crafts to Birkbeck students and staff.

Professor Sanjib Bhakta, based at Birkbeck’s School of Science, and ambassador for the project was one of the event’s organisers. He explained: “Diwali follows the epic story of ancient India, ‘Ramayana’, to represent the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. The symbolism of Diwali is appropriately summarised in the simple act of lighting a lamp or ‘diya’. This is said to ward off evil and welcome the Goddess Lakshmi (the Hindu Goddess of wealth and prosperity) into the house. The positive vibe that comes with the Diwali festival continues to be highly needed in the current challenging environment around the world.”

An example of the traditional bites served during the event

Brought up in West Bengal, Professor Bhakta was excited to welcome the artists to the event and share with students and fellow staff more of his culture. The artists played Baul music of Bengal and wore traditional clothing. The Baul are a group of mystics from the Bengal region who mix elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism. Considered to be both a religious sect and a musical tradition, Bauls are a very diverse group with many sub-sects but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They are often identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments, which the artists at the Diwali event also wore.

The event was well attended, and some Indian students dressed in traditional clothing for the occasion. To reflect the importance of food in Indian culture, and particularly during Diwali celebrations, traditional sweet bites, fresh fruit and drinks were served alongside the entertainment.

Birkbeck School of Science Celebrated World Refugee Week 2022

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A recount of an important and community focused event held for World Refugee Week.

World Refugee Week honours the strength and courage of refugees and is held to cultivate compassion for others. This week, Birkbeck School of Science hosted an interactive event exploring the theme of ‘Healing,’ to celebrate global community, mutual care, resilience, and the human ability to rise above.

The event enjoyed a full-house audience and started with a couple of short presentations to highlight some of the work going on to support refugees and forced migrants at Birkbeck.

Stories and Supper is a refugee and migrant supper club project based in Walthamstow, East London which seeks to challenge the myths surrounding the migration ‘crisis’ and provide a welcome space for refugees living in London. Helen Taylor and Olivia Sheringham shared the journey of their project in an engaging presentation.

Isabelle Habib then presented an outstanding success of Birkbeck’s very own Compass Project, while some students from the School of Science shared their learning journey and experiences. Staff from the School of Science attended the event and interacted with the students too. After the presentations, the community spirit continued over refreshments, where good food and stories were shared.

Co-organisers of the event, Katherine Thompson and Sanjib Bhakta commented:

“It was great to hear the success ‘Stories and Supper’ and ‘Compass’ projects and appreciate the enormous contribution that they are making to our diverse international community. We really hope the event leads to more support for refugees and hopefully new links at Birkbeck for such collaborative initiatives.”

Hosts:
Katherine Thompson (AD Equalities, Diversities, and Inclusion)
Sanjib Bhakta (AD Internationalisation and Partnerships)
School of Science