Our Team
Please get in touch with Carmel Howe (carmel.howe@imperial.ac.uk) if you would be interested in joining the committee.
Executive Committee
President - Helena Dodd (she/her)
Helena is a 1+3 MRes and PhD student in the Institute of Chemical Biology CDT. Her research is split between Chemistry, Biomaterials and Life Sciences and involves the synthesis and characterisation of novel graphene-based nano-reagents and their subsequent testing for potential cancer immunotherapy applications.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, playing the piano and volunteering her time doing science outreach activities in local schools and science fairs.
Vice President - Carmel Howe (she/her)
Carmel is a Research Associate in the Department of Bioengineering. Her research combines the fields of neurophysiology, optical engineering, signal and image processing to develop a high-speed, three-dimensional imaging modality to track network-level neuronal activity in the mammalian brain. In her spare time, she likes to practice yoga, climb, hike and roller skate.
Executive Committee 2
Sponsorship and mentoring coordinator - Xiaotong Meng
Xiaotong is a first year PhD student from the department of bioengineering. Her PhD project entails early cancer detection via electrochemical detection of biomarkers. She has a physics degree for undergraduate and a biophotonics master's degree. She loves learning new things and doing invention. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, climbing, singing and reading.
Communications Manager - Joana Salvado Correia
Joana is a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Materials. Her research focus on the synthesis and characterisation of novel cationic polymer structures and their potential for gene delivery and cancer therapy. In her free time, Joana enjoys spending time with friends, travelling and cooking.
Secretary - Petra Paizs
Petra is currently a PhD student in the Department of Surgery and Cancer (Faculty of Medicine). She has completed 4 years of medical school at Imperial and is due to finish her clinical training after the completion of her PhD. Her PhD centres around the use of ambient mass spectrometric techniques as early diagnostic tools for gastrointestinal disease. In the future, she is hoping to combine her passions of research and clinical practice and become an academic clinician. In her spare time she enjoys running, hiking, climbing, and yoga.
Executive Committee 3
Outreach Officer - Emily Xu
Emily is a third-year Chemical Engineering undergraduate and Kingsbury Scholar. She won GSK UK Young Scientist of the Year in 2018 for her project on chiral separation of racemic mixtures using liquid phase separation techniques with metal organic frameworks. In her spare time she likes to run with her dog, cycling and baking.
Mentoring Coordinator - Victoria Klein
Victoria is a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics on the Mathematics of Random Systems CDT, run jointly between Imperial and Oxford. Her research lies in the intersection of dynamical systems, stochastic analysis and deep learning. Outside of research she enjoys spending time with friends, running and reading philosophy.
Executive Committee 19/20
President - Helena Dodd
Helena is a 1+3 MRes and PhD student in the Institute of Chemical Biology CDT. Her research is split between Chemistry, Biomaterials and Life Sciences and involves the synthesis and characterisation of novel graphene-based nano-reagents and their subsequent testing for potential cancer immunotherapy applications.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, playing the piano and volunteering her time doing science outreach activities in local schools and science fairs.
Vice President - Chiara Heide
Chiara is a PhD student & Marit Mohn Scholar in the Dept of Chemical Engineering working on cell-free protein synthesis factories, an interdisciplinary project between Bioengineering, Chemistry & Synthetic Biology. She is an Ordinary Council Member of WES, & founded a medical device company, called Brightcure Ltd. developing a novel light therapy for patients suffering from urinary tract infections. She enjoys spending time with friends & family, kitesurfing, boxing, ballet and travelling.
Communications Manager - Carmel Howe
Carmel is a Research Associate and postdoc rep in the Department of Bioengineering. Her research combines the fields of neurophysiology, optical engineering, signal and image processing to develop a high-speed, three-dimensional imaging modality to track network-level neuronal activity in the mammalian brain. In her spare time, she likes to practice yoga, climb, hike and cross-stitch.
Executive Committee 2
Sponsorship and mentoring coordinator - Xiaotong Meng
Xiaotong is a first year PhD student from the department of bioengineering. Her PhD project entails early cancer detection via electrochemical detection of biomarkers. She has a physics degree for undergraduate and a biophotonics master's degree. She loves learning new things and doing invention. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, climbing, singing and reading.
Treasurer - Onalethata Diane
Onalethata Diane is a second-year undergraduate student studying chemical engineering. Her inspiration behind her choice of study is to be part of a team which develops processes to support the energy transition, leading to a more sustainable environment. During her free time, she enjoys tutoring, spending time with friends and going to church.
Secretary - Petra Paizs
Petra is currently a PhD student in the Department of Surgery and Cancer (Faculty of Medicine). She has completed 4 years of medical school at Imperial and is due to finish her clinical training after the completion of her PhD. Her PhD centres around the use of ambient mass spectrometric techniques as early diagnostic tools for gastrointestinal disease. In the future, she is hoping to combine her passions of research and clinical practice and become an academic clinician. In her spare time she enjoys running, hiking, climbing, and yoga.
Executive Committee 18/19
President - Chiara Heide
Chiara is a PhD student and Marit Mohn Scholar in the Department of Chemical Engineering working on cell-free protein synthesis factories, an interdisciplinary project between Bioengineering, Chemistry and Synthetic Biology. She is an Ordinary Council Member of WES, and co-founded a non-profit with Parth, called Humans of Science. She enjoys spending time with friends & family, planning new projects, kitesurfing, boxing, practicing ballet and travelling.
Vice President - Jess Wade
Jess is a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Plastic Electronics working on circularly polarised organic light emitting diodes. She works closely with the Institute of Physics on their projects to improve gender balance, and is a member of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Young Women’s Board and Women’s Engineering Society (WES) Council. She spends almost all her ‘free’ time trying to get girls to study physics.
Secretary - Parth Shah
Parth is a PhD student in the Chemical Engineering department working on the continuous synthesis and separation of nanoparticles in Dr Chris Tighe's group. With Chiara he runs a non-profit called Humans of Science (HOS). HoS inspires society with personal stories of the greatest scientists of our time and shows how they are trying to make our world a better place. In his free time he enjoys listening to music, cycling, reading, watchmaking, and debates.
Executive Committee 2
Treasurer - Eloise Matheson
Eloise is a PhD candidate at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in the Mechatronics in Medicine Lab. She is passionate about robotics - in medicine and in space. She is working on the control and human-machine interface of a flexible, steerable needle used for neurosurgery in the EDEN2020 project. In her spare time she enjoys playing basketball, hanging out in the sunshine and developing treasurer-worthy spreadsheets.
Communications Officer - Silvia Di Lecce
Silvia is a Research Associate at the Department of Chemical Engineering. She is working in the Molecular Systems Engineering Group developing molecular models to predict phase behaviour of complex mixtures. She is a member of Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and WES student groups board. She is very passionate about science and art. In her spare time, she loves to wander around museums, hiking, playing violin, listening to music and reading.
Mentoring Coordinator - Helena Dodd
Helena is a 1+3 MRes and PhD student in the Institute of Chemical Biology CDT. Her research is split between Chemistry, Biomaterials and Life Sciences and involves the synthesis and characterisation of novel graphene-based nano-reagents and their subsequent testing for potential cancer immunotherapy applications. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, playing the piano and volunteering her time doing science outreach activities in local schools and science fairs.
Executive Committee 3
Event Team - Huriye Korkmazhan
Huriye is a 1st Year Bachelor of Science (Chemistry with Management) student who has also undertaken a working year in industry.
Events Team Photographer - Pavan Inguva
Pavan is an undergraduate in the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is keen on pursuing a research career and correspondingly can be found in the lab most of the time. He is currently trying his hands on computational modelling which he finds rather fascinating. In his free time, he enjoys reading mostly literature, photography and travelling around in an attempt to see the world and get that perfect shot.
Academic Advisers
Our Advisers
Our academic advisers provide us with invaluable advice and support in order to help best align our group's initiatives with those of the College.
Cleo Kontoravdi
Cleo is a Reader in Biosystems Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering. She leads an interdisciplinary group in the field of bioprocessing and industrial biotechnology. She has been the Department’s Athena SWAN Co-ordinator since 2012 and received the College’s 2017 Julia Higgins Award for her significant contribution to the support of academic women at Imperial.