Camps open up chemistry to under-represented students
One hundred 15-year-olds will be on campus next week to take part in two residential chemistry ‘camps’.
Students from schools all over the UK have been selected to participate in the Salters’ Chemistry Camps at the University of Sussex from 23-25 and 25-27 June.
The action-packed programme includes hands-on practical work in the labs, together with lectures and a variety of social activities.
The camps are being hosted by Dr Mark Osborne, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, and the Salters’ Institute is co-funding the second camp alongside the Widening Participation team at Sussex.
The Widening Participation team say: “In recognition of the University’s commitment to higher education opportunities being available to all young people, irrespective of background, the Widening Participation team is pleased to support the Salters’ Chemistry Camp 2014.
“The collaborative partnership with the Salters’ Institute is an opportunity for us to offer subject-specific activities, and further support students from under-represented groups to experience the benefits higher education has to offer.”
Each student will be given the opportunity to tackle a variety of new activities. They will make and purify their own sample of anaesthetic and will discover the world of transition metal chemistry.
Students also will get the chance to investigate chemiluminescence, or ‘cold light’ - a reaction that causes jellyfish to glow in the dark, before investigating the same oscillating reaction that gives tigers their stripes.
The camps are organised by the Salters’ Institute in partnership with other scientific institutions; at Sussex this year the other supporters are: the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI); the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE); and the Royal Society of Chemistry.