With a remarkable display of confidence, and professionalism, Barbaros Zeren (first-year student in Aerospace Engineering), Yash Vaghela (first-year student in Mechanical Engineering), Emma Nicolai (second-year student in Aerospace Engineering), and Xiang Li (second-year student in Materials Science), all enrolled as student researchers at the Queen Mary Centre for Undergraduate Research (QMCUR), presented their work at the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR).

The annual event was held at the London School of Economics and Political Science on April 25th-26th, 2024, and hosted over 350 undergraduate students from across the UK and various universities abroad, with more than 250 oral presentations. The overall quality of the research presented was exceptional, testifying to the significant contributions that undergraduate students can make to knowledge creation.

After just a few months of research engagement, our students were able to match the standard quality of the event and delivered excellent talks that attracted considerable interest from their respective audiences.

Their presentations highlighted the depth of talent and intellectual curiosity nurtured within QMCUR, reflecting the excellent guidance provided by their respective supervisors. They engaged in interesting discussions during the question-and-answer sessions, demonstrating remarkable confidence in addressing the questions received.

Reflecting on their experience, Barbaros said "Presenting in BCUR 2024 was an eye-opening experience that greatly benefitted me. Seeing substantial amount of research done on very different topics makes you feel like you are in a knowledge hub. I hope to continue attending this kind of conferences in in the future”.

"It was an honour attending such a fantastic event hosted by LSE. There was an amazing display of research from many different disciplines, as well as three presentations from QMCUR, all of which I was intrigued by, since the passion and effort put into these works was clearly visible”, said Yash.

On meeting students from other universities, Emma said that they felt “united by our common desire to learn." She also commented on the skills the event helped them to develop, "I had the chance to present in a professional environment, learn interdisciplinary skills and had opportunities to networking”.

Xiang encourages other students to get involved, saying “I am very grateful for QMCUR to support us in participating this conference and I truly recommend any undergraduate student with a research project to participate in this event.”

The participation of these students, along with Muhie Sultan Faisal Al Haimus and Bohdan Skulimovskyi (both first-year students in Dr Shah’s mathematics research group), underscores the excellent supervision the students received and QMCUR’s commitment to fostering research-driven education and empowering students to make meaningful contributions to their fields.

QMCUR congratulates these students for their outstanding achievements and looks forward to continuing support for undergraduate research initiatives, aiming to involve more students in similar dissemination events. QMCUR hopes that this experience will serve as an example and increase the confidence and enthusiasm of academic staff and research groups in hosting undergraduate research projects, contributing to continue training the next generation of scientists, researchers, and innovators.