The department hosted a summer school for Year 12 students in collaboration with The Brilliant Club

30 Year 12 students took part in a week-long online summer school in collaboration with The Brilliant Club. This was headed by Dr Benji Fenech Salerno, Dr Ravi Singh, and Dr Reuben White.

Activities included tutorials and workshops led by PhD students from within the department. These were supported by current undergraduate students who also gained exposure in teaching.

One of the workshops, led by Dr Benji Fenech Salerno and Dr Ravi Singh, was around university applications. This gave students an insight into the different types of chemistry courses available at universities across the UK. Dr Reuben White gave a talk on careers in chemistry which was followed by a talk by Dr Benji Fenech Salerno on his ‘chemistry journey.’

The week also featured academic talks: one was given by Dr Francesco Aprile on the theme of neurotoxic proteins, and the keynote was delivered by Professor Tom Welton. This was on the topic of sustainable chemistry which drew this excellent week to a close.

On Wednesday 14^th August, the department welcomed the students to the South Kensington campus. Here, they partook in a taster tutorial on isomerism which was led by Dr Rebecca L. Jones and supported by Dr Maariyah Suleman and Dr Ravi Singh. There was a challenge for students: to use a molecular modelling kit to produce as many isomers as possible for a given chemical formula. This was enjoyed by all!

The students were then given a talk about library services by Katharine Thompson (departmental librarian) before being taken on a tour of the Abdus Salam Library. After lunch, the students made cheesecakes in the Chemical Kitchen with Dr Jakub Radzikowski and Dr Luke Delmas.

A huge thank you to Raj Sandhu (undergraduate education manager) and Alex Owens (The Brilliant Club) for organizing and coordinating this amazing event! A special thanks also to the PhD and undergraduate students, and to Keegan Lutherus (undergraduate administrator) who helped run this successfully.