Inspiring future industrialists
175 minutes for chemistry - Chemistry Week
Our Industrial Physical Chemistry Group (IPCG) teamed up with our Liverpool local section to run an industry day for 13-14 year-old students during Chemistry Week.
Held at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes the day featured three interactive talks from professional chemists about the diverse applications of chemistry and what it’s like to work in the chemical science industry. Oscar Kelly from our IPCG and BYK Additives, Ashleigh Lyons from our IPCG and Firemac Ltd, George Oliver from Solvay and Lynn Willacy from Air Products all presented their perspectives on careers in industry.
“The Chemistry Week event at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre was a great opportunity to engage with the young public about the work that the RSC and its members do,” said Ashleigh. “Passing on our passion to tomorrow’s scientists and inspiring them really brings what we do into perspective. It was our chance to say “Look at what we’re doing, look at how it influences the world around us, and look at how YOU can be involved, too!”
Approximately 80 pupils from three schools in the area (Cannon Slade School in Bolton, Marple Hall School in Stockport and Ormiston Chadwick Academy in Widnes) attended the event. Gemma Reed from the Catalyst Centre also gave a talk on ‘big science’ – a term used to describe large-scale scientific research projects that are usually funded by national governments or groups of governments.
Clare Hampson from the Catalyst Centre helped to organise the day and said: “It was great to see young people being enthused about a range of scientific careers and having the chance to talk about chemistry with industry experts. Thank you to everybody who gave up their time to help!"
“The event was a great success with excellent feedback from all the schools” said Oscar Kelly from our IPCG. “The kids were all very keen to volunteer to help with the experiments and demos and it was a pleasure to see them so keen to learn more about chemistry and the local chemical industries. I’m sure there are more than a few future scientists within their midst!”
175 minutes for chemistry
As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.
Tell us your story
If you've been involved in an event or activity, or just have an interesting story to tell, we want to hear from you! Please get in touch using the online form or tweet us @RoySocChem using #time4chem.