Phyo Htet Khaing

Reflection report, Page 1

U21 Undergraduate Research Conference, Shanghai 2014

7 - 11th July 2014

Phyo Htet Khaing

Reflection report, Page 2

Introduction

My name is Phyo Htet Khaing and I am currently a third year medical student at the

University of Birmingham. This year, I was fortunate enough to be nominated by the university to

showcase my research at the Universitas 21 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) in Shanghai.

First of all, what is Universitas 21? This is a network of 27 universities from all over the world

working together to enable students and staff to increase their international perspective. The URC

2014, which was one of the opportunities that U21 offered to showcase academic research

internationally, was hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. I was selected to represent

the University of Birmingham in the poster category, and my chosen topic was “Is there a

relationship between Ischaemic Heart Disease and whole fat milk consumption?”. My research was

divided into two parts: one of which was a literature review and the other being my own research at

a local GP surgery.

My experience

I arrived in Shanghai on the 5th of July 2014 at noon and took the taxi straight to the hotel as

I travelled alone. Before my arrival, me and my other colleagues from the University of Birmingham

exchanged contact details so that we were able to meet up in Shanghai. As I wanted to go

sightseeing, I travelled 2 days ahead of the conference. Me and my colleagues, Emily and Kalita

managed to meet up in the evening of the arrival and on Sunday, me and Emily set off early for our

first adventure together in Shanghai. Even though we were impressed by the easy-and-convenient

Shanghai metro, we walked the whole day. However, we were too distracted by all the delicious

food, cute souvenir shops and gigantic skyscrapers to notice our tired feet. I loved how everything

was new to us. It was also fantastic to practise the art of ‘haggling’ while navigating our way around

the beautiful Yuyuan gardens.

Me fully enjoying the view of the oriental pearl tower and Shanghai skyline from the bund

Phyo Htet Khaing

Reflection report, Page 3

The conference commenced on the 7th of July in the afternoon with an icebreaking activity

at the Xuhui campus. This included a variety of games and teamwork activities, which enabled us to

get comfortable with each other. As my room-mate and me got on extremely well together, I

immediately became very good friends with her colleagues from the University of Melbourne as

well.

The second day was more official and it consisted of oral presentations. As the theme was

‘Food Safety’, a lot of other students have a Science background related to food. Being the only

medical student, it was an eye-opening experience for me as I learnt about topics such as

international trade laws regarding food, laboratory grown meat and the effects of pesticides. In the

evening, the university kindly arranged to take us to the Shanghai theatre to watch an amazing

acrobatics show. This was a brilliant opportunity for students to bond and discuss their research. We

also had similar opportunites to make friends on free evenings, which allowed us to travel together

in groups to have dinner.

Official U21 URC 2014 photograph

The next two days included poster presentations during breaks and lunch. I was stationed by my

poster throughout these times and it was an absolute delight to have a crowd of interested students

and staff asking questions about my research and also receiving ideas and feedback from them. This

boosted my confidence in many aspects. For instance, my presentation skills have certainly

improved and it gave me a lot of practice in avoiding medical jargon. Prior to the poster session, we

were each given three flower stickers to stick on our favourite posters, whereas for oral

presentations, we voted for three of our favourite presentations of the day using slips.

Phyo Htet Khaing

Reflection report, Page 4

Me with my research poster

On the 10th of July, after a short round of oral presentations, there was an award ceremony

in the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised at the end when my name was announced for the best

poster prize, and I felt very happy to win such an award whilst representing the University of

Birmingham at an international level.

Me receiving an award

The next day consisted of an excursion to the beautiful city of Hangzhou, which is a few

hours away from Shanghai by bus. Hangzhou is renowned for its scenic lakes, and we were fortunate

enough to get a free boat ride on the famous West lake. Despite the intense heat, the scenery was

breathtaking and it was interesting to see the pagodas as well . Later in the evening, I headed off to

Pudong airport to catch the flight back home.

Phyo Htet Khaing

Reflection report, Page 5

West lake, Hangzhou

I loved every second of my adventure. As I reflect back on my experience, I have undoubtedly

become more mature, independent and confident in my own abilities. Even though it seemed a bit

scary at first, I managed to make a lot of lifelong friends and it feels incredible to have experienced

the modern Chinese culture. I am forever grateful to the University of Birmingham for awarding me

with such an opportunity like this.

From left: Emily, Me and Kalita

From left: Emily, Kalita, Dr. Anna

Phillips and me at the hotel