Year 12 STEM experience days

09:15-09:45

Arrival

09:45-10:00

Welcome and introduction

10:05-11:50

Practical session 1

11:50-12:20

Campus tour

12:20-13:00

Lunch break (bring a packed lunch)

13:05-14:50

Practical session 2

14:50-15:05

Plenary session

Investigate a photo-catalytic reaction and see how light and an inorganic catalyst can be used to purify water. Follow the reaction by spectrophotometry.  This session is not suitable for anyone who is pregnant.

Suitable for students interested in: Environmental protection, Chemistry, Forensics

Learn techniques of synthetic organic chemistry in a state-of-the-art lab.  Prepare a sample of a local anaesthetic. Use IR spectroscopy, thin layer chromatography & melting point determination.  This session is not suitable for anyone who is pregnant.

Suitable for students interested in: Pharmacy, Medicine, Chemistry

Using robots in chemistry is a cutting-edge development. Experience it for yourself!

Suitable for students interested in: Chemistry, Robotics

A computer that is based on marbles.

Suitable for students interested in: Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Practical computing

introduces core notions of machine learning in a playful and engaging way.  You will develop an intuitive understanding of binary classification tasks and how artificial neural networks are employed in solving these. A core goal of the workshop is to help demystify artificial intelligence.  While artificial-intelligence methods have found widespread adoption and have increasing influence on individuals and society at large, most people have little exposure to its fundamental working principles and limitations.

Suitable for students interested in: Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics

Creating the tech to track rain

Learn how hovercrafts work and then put these engineering principles into practice by building remote-controlled hovercraft-inspired HoverBags.

Suitable for students interested in: Travel, Engineering, Application of theory

Engineering: Building your own water filter (Tuesday & Thursday only)

Learn more about the important role water plays to society and how engineers are working with water and the environment. Then put these engineering principles into practice by building your own water filter.

Suitable for students interested in: Materials Science, Chemistry, Engineering

Solving a murder mystery using forensic environmental sciences - and finding out what else we can discover by using the scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Suitable for students interested in: Geoforensics, Environmental Protection, Crime drama

School of Heath Sciences: Falls Prevention: Why Staying Upright Is Harder Than You Think

Every year, falls cost the NHS billions and change lives in an instant. But here's the thing - preventing them is surprisingly complex, and it takes a whole team of different health professionals working together to crack the problem.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll get stuck in. Test your own balance (and your classmates'), compete in team quizzes, and work through real scenarios to figure out why people fall and what can be done about it. You'll explore the biomechanics, the environment, the senses, and the medical factors that all play a part - and discover how physiotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists, radiographers, and orthoptists each bring something different to the table.

It's practical, it's collaborative, and it might just change how you think about healthcare careers.

An introduction to how science is used in healthcare settings.

Suitable for students interested in: Biology, Medicine, Healthcare

In this session you will learn how to understand past eruptions from looking at their erupted rocks, and what we can learn about them using lab techniques. We will then use this information to plan how to monitor active volcanoes with limited resources, and discuss how we can make important decisions, with examples from real life such as the La Palma eruption of 2021.

Suitable for students interested in: Natural hazards, geography, geology, volcanoes and earthquakes

Compete against other students in the Dragon Quiz to solve maths challenges. Take on the Dragon Masters in a team of 4, can you claim the Dragon's treasure?

Suitable for students interested in: Problem Solving, Teaching, Chocolate

Academics from across the Department of Mathematical Sciences will deliver a range of interactive and exciting talks about the applications of their research to the real world.

Suitable for students interested in: Biostatistics, Insurance, Probability

In this experiment, small groups will investigate the radioactivity of a radioactive source and the effect of using various attenuating materials placed in between the radioactive source and the detector. This is the basis of radiation shielding. This session is not suitable for anyone who has received radiation therapy or who is pregnant.

Suitable for students interested in: Space Travel, Nuclear Physics, Medicine

In this workshop, we will explore the world of nuclear physics using coins, dice and the head of a (non-alcoholic) beer! From studying these simple things, we will be able to create a model for nuclear decay and perform a mathematical analysis of some real radioactive data. Disclaimer: No radioactive cats were harmed in the creation of this workshop

Suitable for students interested in: Mathematical Physics, Nuclear Physics, Data Analysis

Vet Science: Introduction to vet science (Tuesday only)

(must be studying any STEM A-Level)

An introduction to veterinary science

Suitable for students interested in Vet science, animals, farming