Nisha Gehl Sampath

Bioengineering (UG): Year Four Academic Representative (Molecular Bioengineering)

Hi everyone, I’m Nisha, and I’m running to be your Year 4 Academic Representative.

Our final year will be challenging in a new way; balancing our Master’s projects with taught modules, and preparing for what comes after Imperial. I want to make sure our concerns are heard and followed up throughout the year. Most importantly, I want to ensure that we are all supported throughout the year, both by each other as a cohort and by the faculty members/department.

As your representative, I would focus on:

Final-year workload: Raise concerns about overlapping deadlines and the balance between research projects and coursework.
Clear academic expectations: Advocate for clear assessment criteria, useful feedback, and consistent guidance on project milestones and submissions.
Fair project assessment: Communicate with staff about how grading accounts for differences between projects, including experimental timelines, wet-lab constraints, and opportunities to start earlier. I think we should all be given assessment that fairly reflects the quality of our work and reasoning within the circumstances of each project.
Research project support: Represent concerns about supervision, access to resources, and the support we need to progress with our projects.
Communication: Provide an accessible way to share feedback, including anonymously, and keep you informed about the department’s responses and any progress.