SBBS LIFE – the peer-reviewed journal written by students, for students.
Founded in 2025/26, STUDENT LIFE brings together research summaries, opinion pieces, interviews, and student experiences, offering a platform for students to engage with science beyond the classroom.
With this year’s theme, “Frankenstein science,” the journal invites contributors to explore the boundaries of discovery, ethics, and innovation, while developing the critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills essential for future scientific careers.
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The School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences (SBBS) Student LIFE Journal is a student-led, peer-reviewed publication featuring a diverse array of articles. Founded by Dr Robert Hatch, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, during Semester B of the 2025/26 academic year, the journal provides an invaluable platform for students interested in scientific communication and research, as well as those wishing to explore a broad range of scientific fields. With its diverse student body, the journal seeks to encapsulate the spirit of critical thinking, scientific discovery, and innovation. Content includes research summaries, opinion pieces, unique student experiences, exclusive interviews with current researchers, and celebrations of student dissertations. The 2025/26 edition is tailored to a theme of "Frankenstein science" inspired by Mary Shelley's exploration of transformative science and discovery.
The journal seeks to address gaps in the student experience in biological and behavioural sciences by promoting engagement with a wide range of relevant scientific fields and fostering critical thinking and scientific writing. The journal also provides students with opportunities to gain professional experience through authorship and publication. These experiences help build students’ confidence and subject knowledge, preparing them for their final-year dissertations and future scientific careers. The skills acquired as writers, contributors, or editors are highly transferable and valuable for both undergraduate and postgraduate pursuits. By amplifying students' voices within the wider scientific community, the journal encourages greater involvement and helps bridge the gap in informal academic discussions between students and academics. The journal is a testament to the importance of student perspectives in ongoing scientific discussions and facilitates smoother integration into the professional world after graduation. Furthermore, the journal offers students valuable opportunities to express their views and opinions and is highly regarded for organising enrichment activities, such as conferences/seminars and museum visits.
The journal emphasises the importance of practical, hands-on involvement beyond lectures, cultivating intellectual independence by giving students the confidence to create a piece of their own. In an AI era increasingly shaped by cognitive offloading, this focus on creative autonomy becomes even more significant, reinforcing the value of original thought and authorship. It also opens opportunities for students to develop real-world skills, as they engage with the full process of article writing and step into the role of researchers, gaining a clearer understanding of how ideas are shaped, refined, and shared within publishing. Alongside this, the journal functions as a student-led and impactful space, designed as a platform for students, by students. Its motivation is rooted in educational stewardship, with a commitment to sharing learning in varied forms that reflect how students connect with and interpret knowledge. Ultimately, it fosters a sense of shared intellectual ownership, where students are not just passing through an institution, but contributing to a body of work that continues to shape its evolving identity.
The editorial team is made up of six students and Dr Robert Hatch. As a mix of first- and second-year students from various SBBS courses, collaborating has been brilliant with each member contributing unique perspectives, ideas and solutions to problems. Meetings are regular and organised, with minutes and actions taken and delegated each week, helping us prioritise tasks so we can keep on top of our workload and studies together. We’ve learnt a lot about teamwork, communication and planning, having each been responsible for correspondence with other parties and organising things like the all-contributors meetings. Student engagement has been incredible so far and we hope to get even more people involved when we set up the LIFE society. Our contributors are just as passionate as we are, making the quality of their submissions absolutely excellent. We are incredibly excited to publish and share their work with the rest of the university.
Looking forwards, we’ve much to be excited about. August brings about the final edits, printing and finally publishing of our first edition, ready for distribution to new and returning students during reading week. By September, we also hope to have the LIFE society up and running, from which we can start hosting social events for our members, including workshops and extracurricular journalism trips. To celebrate everyone’s hard work and to build more excitement about the journal, there will also be a launch party in early September, further uniting the SBBS community.
Whether you are interested in writing for us, editing articles, helping with production and design or working on social media, there are so many roles in LIFE to get involved with. LIFE is such a unique opportunity to share what you are passionate about with others in your community, giving experience to our contributors and exposure of important issues in science to our readers. We’d love as many people to join us in this journey, either through contributing to the journal or simply picking up a copy and reading!
By Habon, Khadeeja & Lily