Visits and partnerships
At the start of Autumn term we were thrilled to welcome a team of eminent scientists from London and Barcelona for an afternoon of lab experiments, designed to introduce students to the fascinating world of nano-chemistry.
Professor Ismael Díez-Pérez from King’s College was joined by two of his PhD students and a visiting professor who runs the outreach nano-chemistry programme for the European Research Council in Barcelona.
The afternoon began with a presentation by Jhanelle White, looking at research projects both in London (see here) and Barcelona. Jhanelle is a PhD candidate at King's who specialises in using single molecule resolution microscopes to understand how electricity moves through proteins. Following the presentation, our students headed for the labs where they split into groups spread across four stations to conduct different experiments.
At each station students were given pre-made instruction cards and guided the experimental procedure by a member of the visiting team. The experiments were designed to be student-led, with a nano-chemist at each station offering support.
After a set period, each team rotated so all students got to try their hand at each experiment. All were very different and offered a unique insight into the new and emerging field of nano-chemistry.
It was a really successful afternoon with some very positive feedback from our sixth formers who felt they had learned a lot about a very new area of scientific endeavour. We would like to thank all staff and students involved from King’s and ERC nano-chemistry outreach.