Technicians of the future take centre stage in WorldSkills UK lab final
Talented technicians dazzled judges in the lab across two gruelling days as they battled to become WorldSkills UK champion.
Eight competitors came together for a science spectacular at Barking & Dagenham College on 16 and 17 November.
And there was joy for Rory Deehan King when he was announced as the winner in the Laboratory Technician category by Channel 4 presenter Steph McGovern during a special live ceremony on 25 November.
"At the time I was expecting bronze maybe at most so it was really tense when we were watching it," said 22-year-old Rory, who watched the announcement with some of the other Northern Ireland-based competitors.
When he was not awarded the bronze medal, he admitted he was disappointed - but better news was soon to follow.
"I thought ‘ah, what can you do?’," he said. "Seeing my name come up for the gold a minute later was a massive shock to me!"
WorldSkills is a multidisciplinary competition that first launched in 1950. This year's Laboratory Technician category was sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Science Council.
The final octet came from across the UK and represented the best of this year's 116 registrants, which was more than double the number of entrants in 2021. After coming through a series of tests in their respective regions to qualify for the UK final, which was held in East London.
Five contenders hailed from Northern Ireland alone: Rory, bronze medallist Anastasiya Kovtun, Tiarnan Duddy, Wiktoria Kurkowska, and Abigail Magill. Runner-up Emily May flew the flag for London, Owain Reeves was there from the North West, while Raquel Santos represented the West Midlands.
On the first of the two days of chemistry and biochemistry challenges, the competitors had to extract protein from mushrooms and then do some enzyme testing in the morning, and then carry out a column chromatography experiment in the afternoon. This was followed up by a day featuring an organic synthesis with coumarin, and then gel electrophoresis.
And after a nervy week-long wait, Rory learned he had won the gold medal during a special broadcast live from Channel 4’s Packed Lunch studios.
“It has definitely been a learning experience and a positive one at that. Once the stress and panic of the competition are out of the way, you realise how invaluable it is," he said.
“Even doing the preparation gets you into the mindset to get the work done and it’s left me with a lot more practical skills than I had beforehand.
“In terms of the social side, it was one of the things I enjoyed most and we were all really friendly by the end of it, which is something I appreciate.”
Having won WorldSkills UK, North West Regional College student Rory now hopes that this can serve as a stepping stone to further progress in his academic and career development.
“It’s a great competition and a fantastic resource for getting a feel of what industry could be like or even just something else to add to your university application," said Rory, who hails from Derry and who is currently on placement at a pharmacy.
“When I was in secondary school, I wasn’t really in the mindset for school but now I’m really trying to get my head around academics and push myself to get to university so doing the competition – any part of it – is a fantastic opportunity.
“I feel like it is going to open up a lot of doors that might otherwise have been closed and it’s definitely given me another chance to get to where I want to be.”
Rory would like to study environmental geoscience at university once his current course is complete as he wants to tackle the threat of climate change.
And he believes entering WorldSkills is something more youngsters should do to develop their talents.
“A lot of people see it as more work to do but really it’s just a few extra bits of training per week so I never felt like it was a burden," he added.
“Having done the WorldSkills, I’m just really, really grateful and hopefully it will help me to get more opportunities.”
To explain how WorldSkills has helped them and other young people in chemistry, Anastasiya, Abigail and John gave us some insights into their experience of the competition.
The final was a four-part challenge that took them outside their comfort zones, with just some of a wide range of topics coming up during the London event.
“We got a list of techniques they could potentially ask us about but it was very vague and very long,” said Abigail, 21. “We covered as much as we could be going through and watching videos and working but there is only so much you can prepare for!”
Anastasiya added: “We trained beforehand but we didn’t actually expect it to be that hard!”
Biochemistry featured prominently in the two-day showdown, while the length and volume of the practical exercises also pushed in ways they had not faced earlier in the competition.
Though the competitors admitted it was at times a ‘stressful’ experience, they took plenty from the final – even coming across new areas of interest and making new friends along the way.
“Typically I’m not that interested in biology but a lot of the stuff we did was biochemistry and it was really interesting,” said Anastasiya. “That’s something I now want to actively look into and learn more about.”
Abigail added: “We would all sit and have a chat and a drink in the evening and it was nice to getting to know them and where they worked.
“It was good to meet other people from the same field and all the jokes were chemistry-related so we all got on really well. It was a very friendly competition.”
The Northern Ireland-based trio all work and study at Southern Regional College on the higher-level apprenticeship programme in applied industrial sciences, which is now accredited by the RSC.
Taking a more vocational route, they are building up invaluable experience while working and are developing their skills further during their course.
All three agreed that WorldSkills is something that promotes vocational routes into science careers and took plenty from the UK-wide competition.
“It’s a very different environment than going into college and doing lab-based tests,” said John 20. “The main difference is that you have to think more. At college, you’re given a method and you just have to do it; WorldSkills makes you think ‘why am I doing this?’ so it’s really useful.”
The trio’s employer, Almac, was very keen for them all to enter the competition, they had their own reasons for taking part.
Anastasiya, who is 19 and who finished in third place, said of the contest: “It gives you an opportunity to progress and you know that if you do well, you can go to the regionals and then to London [for the final] and if you do well in that, you could get picked for the UK squad to go to France.
“It was the opportunity to travel while doing chemistry that got me interested.”
Abigail added: “I am very competitive and love a challenge! This was the last time I could do it as well so I thought ‘why not, I’m not losing anything and I’ll get a lot out of it and I have everything to gain’ and I’m glad I did it. I would recommend it to anyone.”
