Visit us
We are committed to encouraging students to pursue chemistry at university and want to inspire a new generation of chemists. Find out about the outreach activities taking place in our chemistry laboratories.
What we offer
Our Chemistry experience days are designed for A-level students. These events run in December, March and June, but visits can also be tailored on request.
We host 'Spectroscopy in a Suitcase' which can be delivered by us or taken out on loan. Chemistry also works closely with the Sussex Widening Participation team on a range of events.
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Events and experience days
We offer:
- Chemistry experience days
We show college students what it is like to study at university and highlight the career prospects following a degree in Chemistry.
Through talks and typical undergraduate laboratory work, students will learn about the preparative procedures in organic chemistry. By the end of the day, they should be able to determine the typical structural formulae of compounds that they prepared and know how to carry out simple organic chemistry operations.
They should also understand recrystallisation and melting points, along with value of mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy in structure-determination.
Our chemistry experience days are designed for A-level students. A typical visit would involve a taster lecture from one of the lecturers, a tour of the spectroscopic facilities in the department and some laboratory work in our undergraduate teaching laboratory.
Since laboratory work is involved students should bring a laboratory coat and safety glasses where possible and must be accompanied by at least one member of staff. The students will be covered by our insurance (as they are coming onto the University premises at our invitation). Attending students and teachers are requested to bring a pack lunch and refreshment or money to buy lunch and drinks on campus.
We also host 'Spectroscopy in a Suitcase' which we can deliver to you.
- Spectroscopy in a Suitcase
This interactive event gives students the chance to learn more about an integral area covered in Chemistry A-level: Spectroscopy.
As well as covering the theory and principals, students will have the opportunity to run an infrared spectroscopy kit in the classroom.
The kit can be used within an activity delivered by members of our Chemistry faculty or it can be taken out on loan for up to a week.
The hands-on activity is forensic in nature and aims to introduce students to chemical identification and structure elucidation through the analysis of the IR spectra of different samples.
- Widening Participation (WP) activities
Chemistry run a number of Widening Participation (WP) activities in partnership with the University WP team.
These events and projects are specifically for under-represented students. WP work with a network of 80 partner schools across the South East and participants from these schools will take priority. However, we welcome applications from all schools/colleges for the Sussex Study Experience and Post-16 Summer School, listed below.
Sussex Study Experience (SSE)
The Sussex Study Experience is an exciting programme designed to offer Year 12 and 13 students an experience of university style teaching and learning.
Post-16 Summer School (every July)
Discover Kroto Science – Sir Professor Harry Kroto FRS NL worked at Sussex for most of his life. He was an inspired and brilliant research scientist working creatively in such diverse areas as chemistry, physics, astronomy, spectroscopy as well as developing multimedia platforms such of the Vega Science Trust and GEOSET. He opened up new areas of nanotechnology and is best remembered for the discovery of C60 Buckminsterfullerene. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr Jonathan Hare worked closely with Professor Kroto for 10 years and was part the Nobel prize winning team here at Sussex and he will be your guide to help you explore this exciting Kroto Science.
Find out more about the Post-16 Summer School.
Year 10 Summer School (every July)
Year 10 Summer Schools are only available to students from our Partner Schools. Speak to your school coordinator to find out if you are eligible to apply.
- Tailored visits
Our Chemistry experience days are a whole day visit, designed for A-level students. Let us know if you would like to bring your students for a half-day visit instead, with or without a lab experience.
If you would like to arrange a tailored visit, contact us using the request form.