I have been surprised by the lack of innovative approaches to teaching at Imperial College London. I therefore discussed a new format where basic neuroscientists and clinicians had the opportunity to get together and exchange ideas. This was aimed at staff and students involved in fundamental research in neuroscience interested in the translational aspects of their work. The inspiration for this new course came from a ‘Cambridge Brain Repair Spring School’ where I lectured and where clinical cases on stroke recovery and brain injury were presented together with the patients themselves, which was the true highlight of the meeting, and after discussion with the Brain Sciences division.
In 2008 and 2009, I organized the Experimental Neuroscience Lecture Series for PhD students. This included contacting all the participating lecturers to discuss the content of the lectures, planning the final schedule of the lecture series and chairing the meetings (1 hour every other week).
In 2011 I organised the MRC Institute Scientific Retreat together with F. Martinez-Perez and D. Withers. To increase student participation, we included a poster competition for year 2 and year 3 PhD students, with a total of 34 PhD students presenting posters, which was very well received.
Since 2014, I contribute to the MRes in Experimental Neuroscience by offering a 14 week lab placement and to the BSc in Neuroscience & Mental Health by giving Lectures (2 hours/year) and tutorials on synaptic plasticity and neuroregeneration.
I also help with the BSc course in Biomedical Science exam marking.
I am involved in the MRes in Neurotechnology as Named Investigator on the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology for Life and Health (Lectures and laboratory projects since 2014).
I act as mentor/assessor to an average of 8 PhD students per year from other laboratories in multiple sites - currently 8 PhD students in four sites: Venetia Kok Tong, Miley Zheng, Jolene Lee, Jiaen Lin, Julia Rodrigues, Taylor Lyons, Claudia Garcia Diaz, Ana Beltran at Duke-NUS (four), Institute of Clinical Sciences (one), Brain Sciences (two) and King’s College London (one), respectively. I meet with them regularly (4-5 hours, per year, per student, since 2008) and I discuss any issues that may arise along the road to the PhD degree. This includes reading their reports, discussing timelines, advising on feasibility, and attending their seminars and their vivas.
For Example, in 2023/24, I have been a member of 5 Duke-NUS Thesis Advisory Committees and 2 PhD Qualifying Examinations:
1) Wen Yang Png (Chair, Cao Mian)
2) Miley ZHENG Danyi (Chair, SCZ)
3) Jolene Lee (Zeng Li/EKT)
4) Jiaen Lin (Hongyan Wang)
5) Venetia Kok Jing Tong (Josh Gooley)
I have contributed to several MRes and MSc courses by teaching lectures on synaptic plasticity and brain repair, and hosting students in our lab.