BMS PhD Student Case Studies: Kavitha Chinnaiya

Kavitha Chinnaiya - PhD Student

Kavitha Chinnaiya
Department of Biomedical Science
The University of Sheffield

PhD Student 2008-Present

email : mdp08kc@sheffield.ac.uk

Hi! I am Kavitha, a final year PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Science. I came to Sheffield 3 years back to do my Masters in Stem cell and Regenerative Medicine. I was excited about the course as it sounded interesting and was precisely what I was looking to study. The Department of Biomedical Science ranked third in the UK for research in Biological Sciences and this certainly helped me in making my decision.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the theoretical and practical modules that I had opted for during my masters. Preparing for poster presentations and oral presentations not only helped improve my presentation skills, but also taught me to defend my work and critically analyze the work of others. Course work aside we also had a great time with students from different countries.

The Stem Cell Masters course at Sheffield inspired me to think seriously about a career in science. I had an opportunity as part of the course to work in a research lab, which confirmed to me that I wanted to pursue research and hence I decided to continue as a PhD. student.

Doing the doctoral programme at Sheffield has helped me gain a lot of technical skills and training in the field of developmental biology. The facilities within the department are outstanding, which in turn provide a very good research environment to work in. As part of the curriculum we are required to present our scientific work to fellow researchers at weekly departmental meetings and symposiums held once a year, giving us the opportunity to discuss our work with a general audience.

Also, we have excellent guest speakers from different universities coming in every week to discuss their work and this provides us with opportunities to interact with them. You are also highly encouraged to attend international conferences and meetings to showcase your work and also to improve your presentation and communication skills. More importantly, these conferences provide opportunities to network with different research groups around the world.

As a part of the doctoral program you are encouraged to attend weekly journal clubs, an informal student-run session where we discuss recent publications/ novel techniques and critically analyze published literature. The doctoral development program also supports students to involve themselves in outreach activities, such as the Science in Schools project. This is a great opportunity to interact and present complex scientific ideas to the general public and inspire school students to take science as a career!

Living in Sheffield was and continues to be a wonderful experience. Being an international student from India, I was concerned about a cultural shock but the only major thing that I had to put up with was the temperature shock! The people here are really helpful, fun-filled and have always been a great support professionally and personally. I would like to finish this by just saying, I´m very glad and happy that I decided to come to Sheffield!