Camps open up chemistry to under-represented students
More than 80 15-year-olds have been on campus this week to take part in two residential chemistry ‘camps’.
Students from schools all over the UK were selected to participate in the Salters’ Chemistry Camps at the University of Sussex from 22-24 and 24-26 June.
The action-packed programme has included hands-on practical work in the labs, together with lectures and a variety of social activities including a nature trail.
The camps are being hosted by Dr Mark Osborne, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, and the Salters’ Institute has co-funded the second camp alongside the Widening Participation team at Sussex.
The Widening Participation team say: “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 has had the opportunity to tackle a variety of new activities. They have been making and purifying their own sample of benzocaine and have been discovering the world of transition metal chemistry.
Students have also had 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.