Interview with the current BioMed section chair-woman

Hi!

As some of you may already know, I am currently studying bachelor’s in Experimental and Industrial Biomedicine (EIB). Today, I have prepared an interesting dialogue with Jessica Karin Linnéa Viola Bergman who is currently studying in the 6th final semester of the program and is also the chairwoman of the BioMed student section board. For those, who do not know what section board is, then continue reading to find out! We also talked about academics, program structure, and how it can be combined with the section board.

 Firstly, as some of you may already know the program is constructed of 6 semesters including a thesis semester (5th term), where each semester holds 30 credits worth of courses including 1 project course. My first question to Jess was what were her expectations when applying for the BS EIB program?  

• “Initially I started my studies in chemical engineering, where I have completed my 1st year of studies at the Linköping University. Later I realized that I wanted to study more about biology and medicine and get a deeper understanding of diseases and their mechanisms. After thorough research, I found the EIB program a very good mix of my interests.” 

My second question was what your favorite part of the program is.  

• “My favorite part of the program is the project courses in each semester. During project courses, the student gets more hands-on experience apart from all theoretical courses, which makes it a good way to get acquainted with real-world applications.” 

What was the biggest challenge you have faced so far?  

• “The course in Medical Physiology in the 1st semester is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to academics. It is one of the most information-heavy courses in the program, that requires a lot of study hours. Otherwise, there have been a couple of administrative cases that have been quickly addressed and resolved.” 

Since you have just completed your thesis (5th) semester, what is your experience of completing your research project in the laboratory? What have been the biggest shocks and what tips would you give to newly applying students?  

• “I absolutely loved this experience! It was a very good time for me to apply all the theoretical techniques into practice, learn the protocols, and get a lot of hands-on experience on my own. This was also a good time for me to practice a lot of scientific writing and academic literature reading. My biggest shock was how much free time I had during the thesis semester since I was expecting it to be a very “heavy” experience, but lucky for me, I even managed to read 15 new books just during November and December. My biggest advice would be to start writing the thesis as you do an experiment and not to leave everything for the last moment. It is also easier to write down everything when the knowledge is fresh, and supervisors get a lot more time to review and guide you throughout the writing process. I find it funny, how me and my supervisor planned the research project 3 weeks ahead of the deadlines, and we were 3 weeks ahead of it too; this made my thesis semester a very pleasant learning time to improve my skills and process new knowledge.” 

Nice! As already mentioned, Jess is also the chairwoman of the BioMed section. Usually, each program at LiU has its section board composed of the program students who work to improve student life in several ways, such as looking after the environment, educational policies, organizing sports training, etc. The board is elected for a year, and during the year, they present the program at various meetings, events, and job fairs. My question was how do you manage to complete them with academic duties?  

• “For me, the section duties do not take that many hours in a week. This is in fact a good way to practice time-efficiency and learn how to work in a team. Currently, my main job is to manage the group, make sure that everyone is working normally, and everything runs smoothly as it should”  

Lastly, since many of the readers are newly incoming students, my question to Jess was what is her biggest advice to new BioMed students?  

• “I would say attend everything as much as possible. Many of the lectures and sessions in the program are not mandatory, but going to places and communicating as much as possible will bring the best!” 

Whether you are waiting for the admission result, preparing your documents for next year’s admission round, or have friends studying here, always remember that your future awaits you here at LiU!  

Best of luck,  

Sona H. from Armenia 

Studying BSc in Experimental and Industrial Biomedicine 

Thank you for reading!  

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