Science Magazine Society: First Year Rep

As one of the writers and illustrators of my high school’s science magazine (the Chelt Scientist), I am confident and passionate about being first year representative in the UCL Science Magazine Society. I enjoyed writing articles and having science discussions with my peers and founders of the Chelt Scientist, and I wish to challenge myself and take on a leadership role to further contribute to the UCL Science Magazine Society. Because UCL’s Science Magazine Society is a relatively new society, I am excited to promote this club to my fellow year 1 classmates through hosting social events. I am creative, responsible, sociable and enjoy working in a team. As class representative, biochemistry club founder and house official in the past, I have been a part of organizing school events and activities, such as the annual fun fair, cheerleading competition and lab activity sessions. I am delighted to utilize my leadership skills and past experiences to create memorable events for the STEM and first year community. Moreover, as my high school’s science magazine included a news section where I also contributed to reporting news, I am eager to contribute my ideas to organizing the news-bites newsletter. Being a first year representative allows me to organize a wide range of STEM-related events and engage in different communities, and as my diligence and perfectionism push me to perform to the best of my ability, I am more than prepared to take on and commit to this new responsibility.

Hi everyone!

My name's Diya Asawa and I'm studying Biomedical Sciences at UCL - I'd like to apply for the position of First Year Rep.

As a First Year Rep, I would love to help recruit a stronger community of first year student writers and designers, especially students who are keen to contribute but feel as if they don’t have enough experience within science/scientific communication. Joining a new society as a first-year student can feel daunting, and I hope to decrease any barriers to entry by helping plan and host more fun socials, writing workshops, and peer feedback sessions. 

I have also gained valuable skills working as a Marketing & Resources assistant at my secondary school, where I learnt how to communicate more effectively with both in-house and external professionals to deliver high-quality projects for the school’s external marketing initiatives, whilst meeting strict deadlines. 

Writing is one of my favourite hobbies and I am thrilled to be a member of the UCL Science Magazine this year. I have really enjoyed reading some of the online articles in the magazine since they are engaging and cover important, relevant topics across all three sciences and the growing contribution of technology in scientific advancements. 

I believe that I would be a good First Year Rep for the UCL Science Magazine, since I enjoy meeting and collaborating with new people and would like to use my role to help the society achieve its goals and implement new initiatives for this year!

As someone who has always craved an opportunity to express and share their passion for science research through both writing and having deep, insightful discussions about intriguing scientific concepts, I'm particularly excited to take part in this initiative that provides this amazing opportunity for all who share this passion! I believe making scientific concepts accessible to a wide audience by communicating science clearly and engagingly is the cornerstone of sparking innovation and a source of inspiration for many of us. I hope to be able to contribute to the Science Magazine Society's role in this by helping organize impactful talks and promote ideas for articles that will not only satisfy the readers’ thirst for scientific knowledge but also hopefully inspire keen scientific interest in members new to science research! Founding a science research and discussion society at my college has given me invaluable insight into what it takes to organize engaging sessions that provide a platform for the sharing of scientific ideas in a clear and effective manner. As a science tutor of more than 2 years, I have also managed to develop effective communication skills that I hope to be able to employ in this role to facilitate the contributions of the first-year community to the magazine. I'm also keen to assist the editorial committee with article publishing by using the writing experience I have gained while completing a 5000-word project on immunotherapy for brain cancer! 

I think my experiences and interests fit the role; in Hong Kong, I was a leader in the Red Cross youth and organised many events, including community service and educational services. I also did administrative work and held meetings between members of the leadership committee.
At sixth form, I edited the school medical magazine, which included liaising with medical professionals and scientists for interviews and writing articles. I study biological sciences, but l have broad interests including other areas of science, history, and politics so I’m open to lots of ideas :)