The new Doctoral College 'Cake by the Lake' initiative is for postgraduate research students who are currently on campus, which complies with the UK government's current 'rule of six'. You have the opportunity to book a Cake by the Lake session where you can meet five other current doctoral students, and you'll be given a complimentary £6 food and drink voucher to use at The Hut. You can use the time to chat with your group and make new connections.

Each session is facilitated by one of our Doctoral Engagement Ambassadors, who will be there to keep the conversation going and to give you your vouchers. It can be quite daunting to meet new people for the first time but we hope that this is a safe space to do so, and everyone will be in the same position as you.

We want to make this as safe as possible so a number of measures have been taken. You can find the dates and times, more details about the event and specific rules on our booking form.

This is a small pilot and is a one-off activity at the moment as we monitor the demand for in-person activities. We have limited capacities for each session and would encourage you to book early to avoid any disappointment.

If you are not normally on-campus but would like to attend one of these sessions, remember that you can also book a study space to use for the rest of the day, with exclusive postgraduate space in 10 West and 8 West. You can reserve a desk by visiting the study space booking system.

We hope that these sessions will encourage you to take a break from your research, meet more colleagues working on campus and introduce you to other students in the University.