Author: The Secretariat

Posted on Around Campus, Events, RCSA Trust

Exploration Board Report Back Evening

The Exploration Board ‘Report Back Evening’ is a wonderful opportunity for our student expedition members to showcase their achievements and share their experiences with us from expeditions that took place during 2022 and 2023. Many of those students will, of course, have benefitted from your generosity via the RCSA Trust who financially support these expeditions. There will be tales to tell alongside some wonderful images, so we would be delighted if you were to join us on:

Wednesday 6 December, 18.00-19.30
Royal School of Mines, Room 1.47,
South Kensington Campus,
London SW7 5HF

The presentations will be followed by an informal reception held at Eastside Bar, in Princes Gardens.

If you can, please let Ellie know, by Monday 4 December, if you are able to attend by emailing e.rimmer@imperial.ac.uk or by telephoning +44 (0)20 7594 2416, along with any access requirements. But if not, turn up unannounced. Room 1.47 is large and we’ll be sure to squeeze you in.

We’ll be very happy to see you. [...] Read more...

Posted on Around Campus, Events

FoNS 2024 Make-A-Difference Launch

The curtain was brought down on the 2023 FoNS Make-A-Difference competition, at a star-studded final which took place on the 1st of November 2023.

But 2024 will be a bit special. It brings us, not only another MAD competition, but also its 10th anniversary. Yes! It is ten years already, since the competition was begun in 2014.

And so we start another round of the contest with the launch of the 2024 competition taking place in just a few day’s time on 22nd November 2023.

To remind you, the FoNS-MAD competition is open to undergraduates of FoNS (or to undergraduates of RCS if you prefer traditional parlance) who work in small teams to develop low-cost technology that would have an impact on Society.

The top teams will be given funding, space and a bursary so they can work on their project for eight weeks over the upcoming summer. As the grand finale, they will present their findings to an expert panel of VIP Judges. That will take place around this time next year, where the teams will compete for prizes of up to £7,000.

The competition proceedings are always of interest to RCSA members, and our members feature as judges and mentors. [...] Read more...

Posted on News

The RCSA Prize

Try as we may, we just couldn’t separate the two wonderfully talented RCS women that were our top nominations for the prestigious 2023 ‘RCSA Prize‘. So, as has happened on three previous occasions, BOTH candidates were awarded the prize.

At a brief ceremony in front of Queen Victoria’s statue on Commemoration Day, Professor Richard Craster, Dean of RCS (or Dean of FoNS if you want to be terribly modern), and Mike Munroe, President of the RCSA, shared the officiating duties and presented Bilgesu Aydin from Physics, and Vanessa Madu from Mathematics with their their framed certificates and with cheques for £300.

The occasion is captured in the photograph above and you can see, from left to right, Mike Munroe (RCSA President), prize winner Vanessa Madu, Professor Richard Craster, (Dean of RCS), prize winner Bilgesu Aydin, and Oscar Farrell (RCSA Hon Sec).

Our members will recall that the RCSA Prize was instigated in 1997 and awarded annually at Commemoration Day to a student “who has excelled academically and made a great all-round contribution to the College“ and Bilgesu and Vanessa certainly fit the requirements. To give you a flavour, here are a few extracts from the award citations….. [...] Read more...

Posted on Around Campus, Events, Member Benefits, News

Celebrate with the youngsters

You are very welcome to celebrate with the youngsters (though perhaps you still ARE a youngster!)

The RCSU are delighted to extend an ‘invitation to party’ to all RCSA members and their friends. The youngsters are celebrating with anyone and everyone who is graduating that Commemoration Day and you are most welcome to join them. The party takes place at Infernos, Clapham from 9pm on Wednesday the 18th October. Tickets are just £6.00.

You can click here for tickets and further details…..  (you can create an account here…. or click on the head and shoulder avatar at top right. There are a few ‘trip hazards’ when purchasing from the Union…..so check out our top tips here….).

We are promised lively DJs, a generous happy hour, and a 100% takeover of one of the most renowned clubs in London.

Unmissable! Hope to see you there. [...] Read more...

Posted on Around Campus, Events, News, Sport

‘Ordinary Punters’ Win the SKADL League

The Summer 2023 SKADL Darts League has been won by the Ordinary Punters having seen off their opposition in twelve of their sixteen fixtures. They become the second winners of the “RCSA Purse”: £100 of prize money.

Our very own ORCS, the “Old Royal College of Science” darts team, were victorious in nine of their fixtures and came in at third place. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, our RCSA Double Elevens team ended up in a very creditable 9th position – an impressive achievement for their very first season.

To remind you, the various teams in SKADL (the South Kensington Academic Darts League) have their roots in the Union Bar, in the Holland Bar, in the RCS and in various other academic institutions ‘not so far from South Kensington’. The RCSA Double Elevens team play on a Monday night with their home fixtures being in the Union Bar, and their away fixtures taking place in a variety of excellent pubs across London.

The new Captain of the RCSA Double Elevens is Oscar Farrell (Yes….Stephen Davies, the wonderful Captain of the inaugural season is stepping down). So if your Monday evenings can be freed up and you fancy throwing a few darts, then do contact Oscar. [...] Read more...

Posted on Around Campus, Events, News

Contribute to the success of the Imperial Brand Project

As alumni of Imperial College, you should have already been approached about the Imperial Brand Project.

You will have received a pdf copy of the report, “Imperial College London Brand identity Discovery: A summary August 2023“, and given access to a 20 minute password-protected video. The password is to be found in your email from Zoe Paxton, Imperial’s Director of Communications but if you have problems finding it, get in touch and we will help.

Finally, and most important, is the feedback form. The deadline for responding through this feedback form is Friday 13 October – a date that will soon be upon us. So please share your views with College without delay and ensure the this project benefits from the input of the entire ‘Imperial family’.

[...] Read more...

Posted on News, RCSA Trust

Lofoten Islands, Norway 2023 Expedition

Seven students, two of whom are scientists, along with two recent alumni have won the support of the RCSA Trust and of the IC Exploration Board for their Lofoten Islands, Norway 2023 Expedition. The Lofoten Islands are a collection of seven main islands and countless smaller islands 300 km to the north of the Arctic Circle.

All accomplished mountaineers and associated with IC Mountaineering Club, the nine young adventurers will spend two weeks in August in a self-skippered cruising sailboat, stopping at various cliffs and climbing areas, as they make a counter-clockwise lap of the archipelago.

The sailing will be challenging, as most of the group are relative novices. The climbing, too, will be challenging as the climbing environment is mostly granite slabs and cracks, the majority of which are left unbolted.

We wish the group, and particularly our two intrepid scientists, the best of luck with this expedition and look forward to reading their post-expedition report and attending their post expedition presentation, to which RCSA members will be invited.

As one part of its programme, the RCSA Trust have been supporting the adventurous activities of our science students since 1990. Please consider making a donation to the Trust. Any amount, however small, will be gratefully received and every penny will be faithfully applied to assist the students of the Royal College of Science. [...] Read more...

Posted on Member Benefits, News

CEP and the RCSA

The name, ‘The Centre for Environmental Policy’ or CEP for short, came into existence eighteen years ago in 2005, but its history can be traced all the way back to 1976 and the formation of ICCET – the Centre for Environmental Technology. So, a mere fifty years too late, we think it is about time we formally welcomed all CEP students, alumni and staff into the RCSA.

CEP is a postgraduate-only department which focuses on the interface between science and policy in key environmental subjects, through interdisciplinary study of science, technology and innovation. There are several such interdisciplinary groups within College, but CEP was the first, and it sits firmly within the Royal College of Science (or FoNS if you prefer modern parlance) and we are immensely proud of what they are achieving and the work they do.

This is how CEP describe themselves:

The Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) is a unique interdisciplinary Department in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College conducting policy-focused fundamental and applied research to solve environmental and sustainability issues.

Environmental policy safeguards our natural world. It provides tangible and measurable strategies for government, corporations, other public and private organizations, and individuals to plan for a future in which people and nature can thrive together.

[...] Read more...