By Dr Chinedu Agwu
Dr Chinedu Agwu, PhD, FHEA is a Lecturer in Biosciences, Team-Based Learning Facilitator, and Academic Lead for Widening Participation at Brunel Medical School. She is actively involved in enhancing the student experience through facilitating innovative teaching strategies, inclusive curriculum design, and mentorship initiatives aimed at supporting underrepresented groups. Her research focuses on the medical student journey, exploring factors that influence learning engagement, academic outcomes, and professional identity formation. Additionally, she has a strong interest in women’s health education, investigating how gender-specific content is delivered in medical curricula and examining students’ attitudes and preparedness to address women’s health issues in clinical practice.
Prior to her role at Brunel, she worked as a Teaching Fellow in Biosciences in Hertfordshire University and an Associate Medical Writer at Envision Pharma Ltd. As a student, she studied Biomedical Science before pursuing postgraduate studies (MSc at UCL and PhD at University of Manchester) in Women’s Health Research. She is also the secretary for Early Career Lecturers in Biosciences (ECLBio), an advisory group to the Heads of University of Bioscience (HUBS).
In May 2023,she founded my Science Enterprise BioSci Toolkit CIC. BioSci Toolkit exists to increase accessibility and inclusivity in bioscience degrees and careers, for students from black, mixed and underserved communities to. She wants to change the narrative and the landscape of science one student at a time through the organisation and in collaboration with other STEM networks.
Dr Chinedu Agwu was a 2025 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fund recipient. We followed up with Chinedu to find out more about her project and the outcomes.
Please tell us about your project
Black and ethnic minority students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds face systemic barriers in higher education and career progression, including underrepresentation in the bioscience, limited mentorship, and systemic inequalities. In collaboration with Brunel and the science social enterprise BioSci Toolkit CIC, this mentorship programme was designed to provide tailored guidance and career advice to students at a crucial stage in their academic and professional journey.
What were the outcomes/impact of your project? If still ongoing, what will these be?
This project is due to finish at the end of March 2026. Key metrics for assessment will include mentee confidence levels before and after the mentorship scheme, academic progression, and career outcomes, assessed through pre- and post-programme surveys, mini-interviews, and mentor feedback. This of course will vary depending on the stage they’re at in their educational journey e.g. for example career outcomes will be specific to final year students and recent graduates. Attendance and engagement rates in mentorship sessions and online workshops, will also be monitored. Additionally, case studies will be collected to highlight individual success stories and best practices.
Intended programme outcome:
– Provide visible culturally representative role models to offer academic and personal development support to our students
– Increased confidence and self-efficacy among mentees in academic and professional settings
– Produce self-regulated and competent individuals who are leaders in their professional and personal lives
Do you have any plans to continue this work? If so, how?
Yes, following feedback from mentors/mentees but also team reflection we will run another mentorship scheme with adjustments made to our target audience, mentorship scheme length and workshop delivery. We also plan to start building an alumni community to keep track of what students go on to do next.
How did receiving the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Fund grant support you in this work?
Receiving the EDI fund provided the capital needed to design high quality resources for our mentorship scheme, tailored towards mentors, and mentees at different stages of their educational journey.
What did you learn from undertaking this project?
We have learnt that when a student actively engages with the mentorship scheme, the results are exponential and they may well be inspired to impact other students for good, which we have seen. We have also learnt that not every student has the capacity to engage fully with a mentorship scheme and it is important for the mentor to meet them where they’re at and find common ground, as everyone’s capacity is different. Finally, We have learnt that not every mentor-mentee match is a good one and it is important to detect this early, intervene and re-match to avoid a breakdown in relationship.
Do you have any advice or recommendations for potential future applicants?
My advice to future applicants would be to plan out their project or research idea carefully and apply! £1000 can go a long way when managed correctly. If you have an EDI project that will help transform lives and career trajectories, then this fund can contribute towards that! Be brave, be bold and don’t count yourself out.