Photo exhibition on show illustrating outreach activities - <em>News</em>

Friday 6 June 2008
By Naomi Weston

A photo exhibition highlighting the diverse work of Imperial College’s Outreach activities is now open inviting the College community and members of the public to view photos showing volunteers in action and children enjoying the various mentoring and summer school programmes.

The photos illustrate the range of summer schools the Outreach Office organises. Every year there are over 70 different programmes attracting over 5000 school pupils, aimed at raising aspirations and igniting pupils’ interest in the world of science.

From a five day residential Robotics summer school to Chemistry camps and an Entrepreneurial Biosciences course, programmes cover a wide range of activities for ten to nineteen year olds.

Chemistry and Art Event

A year 9 student attending Synthesis: A Chemistry and Art Event is pictured (right). The two day residential summer school involved two workshops combining chemistry with art.

A variety of mentoring and tutoring schemes to benefit local schools are also provided by the Outreach Office. The exhibition will show photos of these schemes including the longest running mentoring scheme, the Pimlico Connection, which places around 100 undergraduates as classroom assistants and mentors in local primary and secondary partner schools. The emphasis is on inspiring the pupils in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, raising aspirations and providing a positive role model for both science and higher education.

Moreover, the Researchers in Residence and the INSPIRE programmes – Innovative Scheme for Post-docs in Research and Education – enables Post-doctoral scientists to teach science in schools. The INSPIRE scheme also gives them an opportunity to work towards qualified teacher status at the same time as carrying out their research.

Chemistry at Work Event

Hal Sosabrowski, an Imperial PhD student, gives a demonstration at the Chemistry at Work event, pictured (right). Over the two day event, 270 year 10-12 school students visited the College.

The exhibition also showcases the work of the Volunteer Centre, part of the Outreach Office, which currently attracts over 350 volunteers and has nearly 150 projects for staff and students to get involved in. The centre promotes volunteer placements offering the opportunity to gain new skills and experiences.

Mel Thody, Director of Access and Head of Outreach, said:

“The Outreach team offers a wide range of opportunities for Imperial College students and staff to engage with the local community. We are also dedicated to raising aspirations of school children to encourage them to consider higher education. The photo exhibition is a great way for us to recognise the time and effort that staff commit to engaging with public audiences and it illustrates the colourful activities that have taken place over the last year.”

The Imperial College Outreach 2008 Celebration and Photo Exhibition will run until Friday 13 June and runs in conjunction with National Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June). It will be held in the Blyth Gallery, Level 5, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus.