Schools Analyst Competition winners announced
The 29th Final of the National Schools' Analyst Competition was held on the 20–21 June 2018 at Bangor University. This year’s final was devised by Dr Leigh Jones, and was themed around environment and pollution.
The teams had to carry out four experiments: extraction of a pollutant from a sand sample, and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; quantification of iron using colorimetric analysis; quantification of chloride ions in seawater and brackish water, using Mohr’s Method; and determination of the specific gravity of brackish water.
While the judging was taking place, the teams and accompanying teachers were entertained by Professor Deri Tomos with a stimulating lecture entitled "The several lives of the biochemist".
The winning team of year 12 students came from Truro College and were Anna Gilchrist, Abi Tamblyn and Alex Moreman, representing the Western Region of the Analytical Division. The college received a prize of £3000 together with Amazon Vouchers of £75 to each of the three team members. The school was presented with an engraved glass trophy on behalf of the sponsors the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund.
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, representing the Midlands Region, were runners-up, with team members Robert Hillier, Alex Byrne and Abhijit Pandit. Ballyclare High School, representing the Northern Ireland Region, came in third place, with team members Eoin Metcalfe, Callum Blair and Lucy Sproule.
Professor John R Dean, coordinator of the National Schools’ Analyst Competition on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division and the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund says:
"On behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division, I would like to thank Bangor University for agreeing to host the competition and for providing an excellent venue with facilities that showcase analytical chemistry. Specifically, Siobhan Jones, Stevie Scanlan and Dr Leigh Jones for their excellent organisation and attention to detail of the whole event.
"In addition, I would like to thank staff and student helpers at Bangor for their organization of the final and for making the whole event memorable for each of the 26 teams who attended. A special thanks to Royal Society of Chemistry education coordinator Delwen McCallum, who held a workshop with the visiting teachers during the competition.
“The competition is sponsored by the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund, however many other organisations also provided financial sponsorship to support this national event, without which some heats may not have been feasible. To all the sponsors, the Analytical Division expresses its gratitude. The regional organisers consistently receive a range of complementary comments from schools who participated, saying how much their teams enjoyed the experience.
“Thank you to all the Analytical Division Regions for participating in this year’s competition. Also, without the agreement of the universities to allow us to use their premises, the enthusiasm of the staff, both academic and technical, to develop and validate experiments, and the additional help provided by the administrative staff in these universities, the competition would not exist.
“Thank you for making the 2018 competition the most successful ever, with 344 schools' participating. Thank you to the 1032 year 12 students for their enthusiasm in actively engaging in analytical chemistry, and the teachers who have supported their students in attending the competition.
“We hope that some of the students will have been enthused by their experiences to go on to study chemistry at university, and maybe choose analytical science as a future career.”
The judges for this year's competition were Dr Lorrie Murphy, Dr Vera Fitzsimmons-Thoss and Professor Mike Beckett from Bangor University, Scott Owen from Techniquest and Professor John R. Dean, who also chaired the judging panel and awarded the prizes.
The staff who organised the competition at Bangor University are Gwynfor Davies, Nicholas Welsby and Glynne Evans, ably assisted by student helpers Mari Slater-Parry, Sean Baxter, Anna Zelmer, Charlotte Booth, Ben Wood, Satsuki Ishi, Rachel Tweedy, Jack Owen, Eluned Hudson, Kenny Chan, Laurine Porte, James Cooper and Mohammed Aliyyami.
Get involved
Heats for next year’s competition being in early 2019 in each of the Analytical Division Regions. We are delighted to announce that Manchester University has agreed to host the 30th Final on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 June 2019.
If you would like to be involved in future editions of the competition please email organiser John Dean.
About Bangor University
Bangor University offers a range of successful degree programmes in Chemistry (BSc(H) and MChem) as well as an MSc in Analytical Chemistry and an MRes Chemistry. In addition, the BSc and MChem programmes have the option for an industrial placement, international experience or European experience year.
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