Apr 20 2018

On Friday 27 April , our next Postgraduate Study Surgery will be taking place from 9am-12pm in Crosslands.
We caught up with Tom Oliver, a Research Masters student in Biological Sciences, to find out why he chose Royal Holloway for his postgraduate study, and the differences he has found between studying for an undergraduate degree versus a Masters.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What are you currently studying?

I’m doing a Masters by Research at Royal Holloway. That involves doing my own research project, which is going on now, and my keen interest is in bumblebees.

2. What encouraged you to choose Royal Holloway for your postgraduate study?

My undergraduate degree was mainly in Biochemistry and Genetics. I’d been a beekeeper since I was 14 so I wanted to try and cross the two over. I took a plunge and the first course I came across was at Royal Holloway, and they happened to be doing a lot with bumblebees. Then through some further reseach I actually found that they're internationally renowned for their research in bumblebees, so I thought I’d give it a go, and I was successful!

3. How does Royal Holloway fit your studying needs?

It has everything I could possibly want. Like I just said with the current bumblebee research all the facilities are here for me in the lab for example. But also the Emily Wilding Davison Building has any paper I could ever want and more study space than I would ever need.

4. How does your postgraduate study differ from your undergraduate study?

I feel like postgraduate study is much more about me. Undergraduate I was learning things I was told to learn and I didn’t have much choice. Whereas postgraduate is a lot more flexible in that I get to choose what I want to do, and I can spend as much time or as little as I like. The whole topic is based around what my interests are.

5. Tell us more about your research interest

In particular I'm studying bumblebee queens, and what they eat. We don't currently know anything about what they consume, so my particular study will be looking at varying their diets. We catch them in the wild in Windsor Great Park and vary their diets depending on proteins and lipid concentrations in their food. I'll then map exactly what they like to eat in terms of the protein and fat content in their food.  And hopefully link that to naturally occurring pollens, as well as saving the bees in one way or another.

6. What do you enjoy most about being a student at Royal Holloway?

Other than the research, I’d probably say the fact that I’m in a campus with Founder's, and seeing that contrasted with the new library building. It’s like bringing the old with the new and it’s incredibly beautiful. I feel quite lucky to be here.