Hi! I am a postgraduate master’s student studying Clinical Neuropsychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). Here is a day in my life…
Preparation for university
I like to read through the lecture materials in advance, as it gives me an overview of the content so I can better engage during the lecture. Also, the core reading associated with the lecture can be very helpful to read before.
Travel to campus
The IoPPN is located less than a 5-minute walk from King’s Hospital in Denmark Hill and a 5–10-minute walk from the Denmark Hill tube and national rail station. There are also many buses from all around London, therefore accessing the campus is possible via many routes.
It is easiest for me to take a bus which goes direct to campus, taking around 20-30 minutes with morning traffic. Whilst the average travel time for my other course mates is also around 30 minutes to 1 hour, either by bus or tube.
Lecture structure
For the academic year (2021/2022), our lectures take place between 9-5pm on Thursdays and Fridays. Lectures are a combination of in-person taking place on campus or online live. Lectures taking place in person are also streamed live on Microsoft Teams for people who are unable to get to campus – this is referred to as ‘Hyflex’. This method of teaching has been very useful, as you are still able to attend lectures if unwell or experiencing travel difficulties.
Thursday mornings are dedicated to our ‘Research Methods’ module, with an initial lecture about the content and then a practical session to review questions and apply the information. These lectures only happen in term 1, so you can have a lie in on Thursday mornings in term 2! Thursday afternoon is the ‘Scientific Foundations’ module, with two lectures covering information about the fundamentals of neuropsychiatry.
Fridays begin with two lectures in the ‘Neuropsychiatric Disorders’ module, outlining a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders and their presentations. We then finish the day with two lectures for our ‘Management of Neuropsychiatric Disorders’ module, learning how to manage and treat the disorders we may have learnt about earlier in the day.
The lectures are often given by specialist clinicians in the field, making them extremely interesting.
Break time!
In between lectures, the café located on the top floor of the IoPPN is our favourite place to go.
With a range of food and drinks available, you can find anything you want here. The blueberry muffins and gluten free brownies are favourites in our course!
There is sometimes 50% off the café cakes on Friday afternoons – keep an eye out!
Lectures finished, time to head home!
Evening off to wind down…
One of the most important parts of the day is personal time after university, to ensure you have a balance.
One of my favourite activities include going for a walk – being outside after a day in the classroom is very refreshing. Ruskin Park is a 5-minute walk from the IoPPN, or Burgess Park is 20 minutes away.
Another is going to one of the coffee shops and pubs close to the IoPPN with course mates, to get to know them more outside of the university setting.
Lastly, some nights I love to go home and get cosy. Being able to relax whilst watching something interesting on Netflix and eating nice food is perfect.
Yes, it is a busy day…but the balance of the academic information and personal time makes it extremely enjoyable and provides a great sense of achievement.
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