University of Edinburgh CMVM On-Campus Students' Postgraduate eZine - June 2016

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Postgraduate Offer-holders

On-campus Taught and Research Students’ eZine

JUNE 2016

In this issue Nwamaka Idigo Student, PhD Genetics and Molecular Medicine

“…getting involved with something entirely new to me is very exciting.”

Page 1

Simon Riley Programme Director, Reproductive Sciences

“Frequently, I come into work, and find myself doing something I wasn’t anticipating!”

Academic tips Edinburgh City 4 Tips to Make Your Stay in Edinburgh Totally Awesome Exciting places to visit in Edinburgh and Fife by a Blue Badge Tour Guide!

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Welcome

In this issue

Congratulations on your offer! We are excited that you will be coming to study with us at Edinburgh and that’s why we’ve devoted such a large part of this e-zine to the city.

Welcome .......................................................................2

Hello,

We sincerely hope that you will enjoy your stay – to make the most out of it, we suggest the 4 Tips to Make Your Stay in Edinburgh Totally Awesome article on page 6! Also on page 7 a list of amazing things to do and places to visit in Edinburgh and Fife as reviewed by a Blue Badge Guide from the Scottish Tour Guides Association!

If you’d like to meet one of our students, scroll to page 5 to read about Nwamaka Idigo’s experience. Study life may be tough, but she concludes that it is worth the rewards!

Simon Riley, one of our Programme Directors, talks about the uniqueness of the MSc by Research Reproductive Sciences programme in the Academic Matters section, and our student bloggers are featured under the Social section – read about Chiara’s experience of the Neuroscience Day 2016 event or Rebekah recommends BitesizeBio as an invaluable resource for research students!

Hope you find all this information useful - look out for two more ezines before you join us in September.

See you soon, The Graduate School Team

Research news...............................................................3 News from around the University..................................4 Student perspective.......................................................5 4 Tips to Make Your Stay in Edinburgh Totally Awesome!......................................................................6 Exciting places to visit in Edinburgh and Fife Tips from a Blue Badge Tour Guide!.....................................7 Academic matters Interview with Simon Riley, Programme Director of MSc by Research Reproductive Sciences....................9 Helping your academic development...........................10 Social Featured: Our Student Bloggers...................................11 Discover the University community...............................11 Edinburgh City...............................................................12

Page 2

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Research News Arthritis treatment hope

Brain wipes memories to forget, study finds

Dolly celebrated at science festival event

Arthritis and other inflammatory conditions could be helped by new insights into how the immune response is switched off.

Scientists have discovered how compounds produced by the body’s immune system help to dampen inflammation and prevent damage to healthy tissues. Their findings suggest that therapies based on these compounds could help to treat rheumatoid arthritis, which occurs when the immune system attacks the joints, causing pain and swelling.

Vital clues about how the brain erases long term memories have been uncovered by researchers. The study in rats reveals how forgetting can be the result of an active deletion process rather than a failure to remember.

Dolly the sheep will be celebrated at an event at the 2016 Edinburgh International Science Festival as experts share their memories of her life and legacy.

Almost twenty years after her birth, Professor Sir Ian Wilmut - who led the research project that created Dolly - will share his reflections on how one sheep helped to turn scientific thinking on its head.

Read more

Page 3

Read more

Read more

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

News from Around the University Close to 300 events took place during Innovative Learning Week 2016

The Advice Place’s guide to mobile phones & internet

Student counselling funding boost

Innovative Learning Week is a festival which inspires, supports, and celebrates creative learning at Edinburgh University.

As one of the largest University-run festivals for creative learning, ILW was a unique opportunity for staff and students to explore and share their learning experience in a new way through collaborative events and activities in February 2016.

Around the theme Ideas in Play, this year’s festival hosted nearly 300 events and reached over 5,000 students, staff, and community members in five days.

The University’s Advice Place - a professional advice team offering students free, impartial and confidential information has recently released a new guide to sorting out your mobile phone and internet.

Have a look at their amazing guides and get free advice if you feel like you are struggling with anything else!

The University is to invest an extra £140,000 in its Student Counselling Service over the next two years. The move is the latest in a series of initiatives that has seen the University more than double its investment in services since 2010.

The new funds will be used to pay for additional counsellors to increase the capacity of the service to meet growing demand.

Read more

Read more

Page 4

Read more

Official University of Edinburgh Student News Channels Although you have not arrived yet, you can be part of what’s going on at Edinburgh even now. Join here!

Student Perspective Nwamaka Idigo, our PhD student, tells us about her experience at the University of Edinburgh.

Nwamaka Idigo, PhD in Genetics and Molecular Medicine.

Hi, my name is Nwamaka Idigo. I am from Nigeria and I am currently doing a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Nwamaka at Cramond Island

What were you doing immediately before you started studying?

I went for a Master’s degree in Genetics of Human Disease at University College London (UCL). It was a one year taught Master’s programme.

Why have you chosen to study at the University of Edinburgh?

During the last term of my Master’s programme, I started searching for a PhD position. A friend of mine told me of my current supervisor. I went through her research profile and I was very much interested in her area of research. I went ahead to contact her and I was really impressed with her response and all the necessary assistance she offered to me when I started the admission application process into the University of Edinburgh.

Page 5

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

“I have lots of nice people both in my research group and the Institute that are ever ready to help in any way they can.”

How demanding are your courses? How much time do you have to dedicate to studying in a week?

I find the programme quite challenging especially because it involves lots of molecular techniques that I am not familiar with.

I have to study both during the week and Saturday as I don’t have to be in the lab then. However, getting involved with something entirely new to me is very exciting and the excitement outweighs the challenges. Most importantly, I have lots of nice people both in my research group and the Institute that are ever ready to help in any way they can.

Tell me one place that you recommend students visit in Edinburgh (or beyond)?

I recommend on one of those very special sunny days to visit Cramond Village. You can have a walk on the beach and just might be able to cross to the Cramond Island if the tide is low.

It is a very relaxing casual outing with nature all around you.

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

4 Tips to Make Your Stay in Edinburgh Totally Awesome!

Stay in shape without lightening your wallet!

Edinburgh is one of the best natural city playgrounds on earth with the dramatic volcanic peak of Arthurs Seat only minutes from the bottom of the Royal Mile.

By exploring here, Holyrood Park and Blackford Hill you can burn off the calories without ever needing to pay gym membership fees!

Find out more

Page 6

Join the culture club

Bag a Bargain

The List is an excellent guide to everything cultural in Scotland’s capital city. With detailed listings and reviews of an incredible mix of events it’s a great place to find something new to do if you are short on ideas!

Located just minutes from the Central University area of George Square, Nicholson Street has an incredible range of second hand goods in its many thrift stores.

So whether you are on the hunt for a vintage jacket, or a cheap JK Rowling paperback, you’ll probably find it in Newington!

Find out more

Find out more

Get involved and make new friends Edinburgh has over 240 student societies covering an incredible range of topics. From Baking to Buddhism, Engineering to Estonia, societies are a great way to meet like-minded people or compare experiences with other students from your homeland!

Find out more

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Exciting places to visit in Edinburgh and Fife Tips from a Blue Badge Tour Guide

Edinburgh is celebrated as one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals, enjoying a unique blend of architecture, monuments and extraordinary natural setting. It also possesses a wonderful range of attractions, museums, bars and restaurants to sample throughout the year.

Whilst the city environs offer enough to amply fill your time we still recommend that you also explore a little further afield in order to make the most of your time studying in this wonderful country. Therefore here are a couple of other places, easily explorable from Edinburgh that we are sure you will enjoy experiencing!

...here are some other places, easily explorable from Edinburgh that we are sure you will enjoy experiencing!

Cramond Island Situated less than an hour from the city centre via local bus Cramond is a delightful fishing village perfect for escaping from everyday hustle and bustle! Its picturesque harbour of sailing boats and welcoming local pub provides a relaxing atmosphere but many visit to explore its famed tidal island which is a great picnic location for a sunny day. Adding to the islands rugged charm is that you can only reach it by foot but make sure you check the tide times carefully as it is only safe to cross at certain times. Many a visitor has in fact been temporarily marooned on the island!!

Cramond Island

Page 7

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Exciting places to visit in Edinburgh and Fife (continued)

Whilst the city environs offer enough to amply fill your time we still recommend that you also explore a little further afield...

Glasgow

Perthshire For a true taste of Highland adventure why not take a trip into Big Tree country to the north of the city in Perthshire. Perthshire is a great area to try new pursuits such as abseiling, white water rafting or even zorbing at places like Nae Limits near Dunkeld.

Or If you want to do less and just appreciate the beautiful surroundings then Glen Lyon is the longest Glen (Valley) in all the country and offers true isolation and wilderness to recharge your batteries! Perthshire also has a range of whisky distilleries such as the Famous Grouse near Crieff if you want to sample a drink of Scotland’s own ‘Uisce beatha’ water of life.

Glasgow For something totally different to Cramond why not visit Scotland’s largest city Glasgow, also under an hour away but this time by train. This bustling metropolis is described as offering the UK’s best shopping outside of London and has a fantastic range of shops, bars and nightlife. Glasgow is also a fantastic city to catch some live music, holding on average around 300 gigs a week and being the UK’s only Unesco recognised city of Music!

Like Edinburgh Glasgow also offers wonderful free access to many museums including Kelvingrove which has over 8000 objects in its 22 themes galleries including Salvador Dali’s iconic Christ of Saint John of the Cross.

Perthshire

Page 8

Academic Matters

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Simon Riley, Programme Director of MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences, gives us a snapshot into life as the leader of an MSc by Research programme.

Simon Riley, Programme Director of MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences.

Tell me a little about yourself.

My name is Simon Riley. I gained both my Pharmacology Honours degree, and then my PhD working on hormones in the uterus, from Edinburgh. For the next 6 years, I worked my way around the world, with two post-doctoral fellowships. It was never in my plan to come back to Edinburgh, but a junior academic job came up which I applied for, and got.

Over the last 10 years, I have become increasingly interested in education, and particularly developing effective learning environments at the research-teaching interface. This includes the MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences, for which I am the Director. I was very involved in setting up our Honours programme in Reproductive Biology, and I am also Director of Student Selected Components, the choice element in the undergraduate Medicine curriculum.

What is your average day like?

Busy – but you wouldn’t expect me to say any different! I work a great deal at this research-teaching interface, to make projects work for both student and supervisor. Some of my work is strategic, setting up effective learning environments.

Page 9

Some of it is solving problems, for instance it is important to solve any issues quickly for a student on a short project, so they can move forward – the clock will be ticking and time running out for them. In Reproductive Sciences, I have several ongoing research collaborations, and a PhD student to supervise. Frequently, I come into work, and find myself doing something I wasn’t anticipating!

What is unique about the MSc by Research Reproductive Sciences programme?

I think we are the only one world-wide that offers this specific field of study, by research. Students do two 20 week research projects in different laboratories over the year, and gain real insight into the field and into working in this academic biomedicine environment.

They gain cutting edge technical skills in the laboratory, and most importantly they develop their science communication skills, particularly their academic writing. You can do a brilliant experiment that produces really important findings, but it isn’t any use if you can’t inform the world about it! These projects are usually embedded within a research group, so their work is frequently published with the student as a co-author, which is a great help to their early careers.

“You can do a brilliant experiment that produces really important findings, but it isn’t any use if you can’t inform the world about it.”

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Academic Matters (continued)

What do you hope your students will get out of the programme to help them in their future career path?

Most students are using the MSc for career exploration – whether they want to work in an academic laboratory-based research environment, often to work out if they want to do a PhD, or perhaps technical support. Over the year of the MSc, they gain that insight.

Students frequently find that the actual laboratory work is not the really difficult element. The biggest challenge is often gaining a critical view of the scientific research literature in the field, and then incorporating this into their academic writing. When they graduate, I think students have started to really establish these skills, gained insight into this working environment, which they are able to clearly demonstrate when they attend that interview to move them to their next career step.

What kinds of careers are open to students of your programme and what roles have your recent graduates gone on to?

As I’ve indicated, most of our students have gone into PhDs, and we have a very good success rate in achieving this. Others have gone into laboratory technical work, science communication, or returned with some research experience to medicine or veterinary medicine. We have had a couple of recent students who were junior academic staff from Africa, who were receiving some support from their home institutions. I am sure that the MSc will really help their career development. Recently, I was delighted that one of our students, from the previous academic year, who showed real determination and resilience, was accepted onto a PhD programme, about 6 months after finishing the programme.

Page 10

Helping your Academic Development

Institute for Academic Development The Institute for Academic Development (IAD) provides University level support for teaching, learning and researcher development; through leadership, innovation, collaboration and direct provision that benefits students, staff and the University’s international reputation.

This remit includes a mixture of direct support for students and staff (e.g. workshops, online resources, networks and advice), much of it delivered in partnership with Schools and other Services, alongside support for curriculum innovation and enhancement. Save this link to find out more about how the IAD can help you during your postgraduate studies.

Postgraduate dissertation tips It’s never too early to start thinking about your dissertation. The Institute for Academic Development is here with courses, tips, and training to help you minimize stress and sail into your research with confidence.

Get the tips now!

Not a native English speaker?

Language support for non-native speakers is offered from a range of University support departments, from English Language Teaching Centre, the Institute for Academic Development and from student volunteers.

You can find out about various external sources as well as exciting events such as the Tandem café at this website!

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE

Social nt bloggers

: Our stude Featured

h

arc ation Rese lls m e m K a fl h a In k r Rebe ntre fo te t at the Ce n e d arch Institu tu s e s D e R Ph l a ic en’s Med in the Que

t BitesizeBio a y it n u m m o line c “Ask the on answer from n a t c e p x e .” and you can field all over the world e th experts in aluable ds this inv en h recomm a k e b e R r dents!

- blogge search stu re r fo e rc resou Read here

tion uroregenera g e o N z r r e fo H e tr a Chiar the Cen science in ro u e N in PhD

tes sis in 3 minu e th le o h w r “...pu tt ing you art.” is a form of e erience of th p x e ’s ra ia t Ch ent!

Read abou ay 2016 ev D e c n ie c s Neuro

Page 11

Discover the University community through films, blogs and social media. Click on the icons below: A community where we encourage offer-holders speak to each other online.

Click here if you are on a taught programme and here if you are on a research programme!

Keep up to date with the latest news from the Graduate School.

We have our own channel and are adding student experience films all the time.

Take a sneak peak at postgraduate life through our students.

View our e-zines featuring interviews and key information for applicants.

Edinburgh city We thought that you would like to get a glimpse of what Edinburgh is like - there’s more to the city than you can possibly imagine before experiencing it on your own!

• Edinburgh was recently voted the 4th most beautiful city in the world • Spoiler: 53 Reasons Why Edinburgh Ruins You For Life!

Page 12

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE