Outreach | School of Chemistry

Annual Baird of Bute Festival of Flight

The School of Chemistry Outreach and Public Engagement team consisting of undergraduate (Yvonne Anderson, Mohamed Katish) , postgraduate students (Kelly Gallagher) and staff (Dr Anna-Maria Maciejuk and Prof. Eleanor Campbell), visited the Isle of Bute in September to take part in the Annual Baird of Bute Festival of Flight.

The Solar Spark at Fife Science Festival

On the 9th of June, The Solar Spark team took part in the Fife Science Festival. We were involved in fun and inspirational talks with visitors about solar energy. We also talked about news from the research field and Professor Neil Robertson’s group's new discoveries in materials chemistry.

Outreach Team Returns to Bute

A group of undergraduates, postgraduates and staff have returned to Bute for the third time, to run science activities in the school and the town of Rothesay.

Meadows Festival

A small team of dedicated public engagement scholars and PhD volunteers spent a lovely Sunday afternoon in the local park as a part of the hugely popular Meadows Festival on the 3rd of June. Under the university banner, our team had the chance to share their love for chemistry with visitors from all ages.

Sciennes Primary Fair

Our Public Engagement scholars Ellie and Nikola took the Space Lab activity to Sciennes Primary on the 26th of May, during the Year of Young People Summer Fair.

Children were thrilled to explore the "alien" biopolymer cells under the microscope, find about the soil properties on Planet X, and see how the alien bugs come alive when they see the sun.

Image Competition Winners

Following last year’s success, the School of Chemistry organised an image competition as part of their drop-in activities “Space Lab” at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in April (EISF2018).

Edinburgh International Science Festival 2018 Drop-in: Space Lab

Our brave team of demonstrators welcomed young explorers and their families to our Space Lab on Planet X. More than 2000 visitors over the course of 5 days set foot on this alien planet and explored its environment using real chemistry experiments. The explorers had the chance to use spectrometers, portable monitoring devices, microscopes and many other tools in the chemistry arsenal to characterise soil, "lava", water and atmospheric samples, as well as “alien” cells.

Edinburgh International Science Festival 2018 Workshop: Make it Glow!

The School's public engagement team, with the help of the Solar Spark initiative and the Royal Society of Chemistry, developed and delivered a brand new workshop for children age 8-12 for EISF 2018. Our eager participants had the chance to make their own "sunlight traps" (luminescent solar concentrator) out of fluorescent dyes and polymer solutions, and explore their ability to capture and transform light. Children were keen to learn from our demonstrators about the nature of light and how it interacts with everything around us, and how we can use it to produce clean energy for our homes.

Edinburgh Awards

Undergraduate and postgraduate students from the School of Chemistry, who achieved an Edinburgh Award or Edinburgh Leadership Award for Chemistry Outreach and Public Engagement were honoured at a ceremony on 24 April at the McEwan Hall.

Several students from the School of Chemistry successfully completed the scheme and were recognised by the University to achieve Edinburgh Award or Edinburgh Leadership Award for Chemistry Outreach and Public Engagement:

Analysing Water at School

As a part of The University of Edinburgh outreach and public engagement activities; I decided to share my experience of analysing the pH of a water sample with the students of the Libyan School in Edinburgh.

As a student of The University of Edinburgh this gave me an opportunity to volunteer and increased my experiential learning and has also benefited the pupils at the school, furthermore, it gave the school management and kids the impression that Edinburgh is a Learning City.