The Centre for Population Health (CePH) recently hosted a Postgraduate Research Networking Event designed to connect postgraduate students and research assistants from the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM) on 13th August 2025. The session, which took place from 11.30 am to 1.00 pm, was attended by Master’s and PhD students as well as research assistants, and was moderated by Dr Kwong Soke Chee, the Research Officer of CePH.
The event began with participants introducing their research projects, which covered a diverse range of critical public health topics such as vaping, children’s screen time, sustainable diets, and the application of machine learning in cancer research. By learning about each other’s work, participants discovered common challenges and opportunities for collaboration.
One of the main highlights of the session was the discussion on research challenges. Students openly shared their experiences, from the difficulty of recruiting participants to the complexities of assessing retrospective data, as well as the steep learning curve of self-teaching advanced methods such as machine learning. This honest exchange created a supportive atmosphere and reminded participants that such challenges are part of the postgraduate research journey.
Another key activity encouraged participants to set and articulate their short-term research goals — a list of objectives to be accomplished within the next month. This exercise not only helped participants focus but also motivated them by sharing their intentions with peers.
In addition, CePH took the opportunity to gather input from students through a short survey to identify priority training needs and workshops. Feedback will be used to design future capacity-building sessions aimed at strengthening both research and professional skills among postgraduate students and research assistants. CePH hopes that events like this will continue to foster a strong support system, where students can exchange ideas, learn from one another, and find encouragement as they progress through their research journey.
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