Hello there! I’m Bells, a third-year BSc Nutrition and Health student at the University of Roehampton. I’m slowly coming to the end of my degree and with all other assignments completed, my main focus is completing my 8000-word dissertation! I’m a mature student and live off-campus so my days vary from week to week, but I thought I’d share a little insight into a day of writing my dissertation and planning for life after university.

Without fail, my day always starts with a cup or two of green tea. Depending on the weather, I might go for a walk around the park or I might sit on the sofa with a good book, usually non-fiction to balance out the endless scientific journals required for my degree! I’m an early bird but I like to take my mornings slow (unless it’s a deadline day, in which case you’ll find me at my desk by 6.00am tapping frantically). With a productive day ahead, I make sure I fuel properly with a good breakfast, usually a big bowl of porridge topped with berries and (lots of) peanut butter.

Next up I’ll plan my day and write out a to-do list, pop the kettle on again, and get cracking! I like to work in short bursts and as my final year dissertation is divided up into many different sections, I like to set myself the task of ticking off a section and then having a small break. I might do some research, write a chapter, or try to understand some statistics. By midday I’m thinking about lunch and if I’m working from home I’ll usually whip up something easy. My go-to is a mixed bean tomatoey stew with any vegetables I have in the fridge (hello plant points!) with sourdough bread or something with my one true love…tofu.

After lunch I’ll either continue working on my dissertation if the words are flowing, or I’ll tackle some other items on my to do list like updating my CV, catching up with nutrition-based webinars, or write a blog post for my own blog, The Digital Tearoom. On some days I’ll check in with the Roehampton Nutrition Society and plan the next event. It might be a cooking workshop, a student-led talk, or arranging a guest speaker to come in and visit. For me, my days don’t always go quite to plan and to produce my best work I like to be in my most creative mood. For times when it’s just not happening, I’ll go back to my book, talk to some friends, or scroll on social media (yes, I can be guilty of mindlessly scrolling sometimes!) and try again tomorrow.

In the evening, I usually go for a swim or to my local bouldering gym and cook a delicious homemade meal. As a nutrition student I like to keep my diet colourful, varied, and balanced. I have a few favourite staple meals such as a tofu stir fry or homemade falafel and if I’m feeling particularly inspired I might make a lentil dhal with roti or search through some new cookbooks. Then I usually relax in front of Netflix or with a good book and get ready to do it all again the next day!

For anyone writing their dissertation, I would highly recommend the book ‘Mastering Your Dissertation’ written by Dr Sue Reeves and Dr Bartek Buczkowski. This book has massively helped me organise myself and the checklist at the end of each chapter keeps me well on track. You can find a copy in the library.

Thank you for joining me!

Bells has been shortlisted for the 2024 Complete Nutrition (CN) Award for Student of the Year. You can read more about this here, and if you would like to vote for Bells, you can do so here: Nutrition2Me | 2024 CN Awards – Voting form

Roehampton are ranked the 6th University in London for Nutrition and Health (Complete University Guide 2023), visit the BSc Nutrition and Health course page for more information.