Oxford Youth Chemistry Conference
Chemists from Headington Rye Oxford recently attended the Oxford Youth Chemistry Conference. Read the report from Victoria (Year 10) below:
The fifth annual Oxfordshire Youth Chemistry Conference, held on the 21st November, was a truly inspiring and fruitful experience for all of us. With this year’s theme, Nanochemistry, we were immersed into a world of exciting scientific talks, informative papers, and well-crafted posters.
We were lucky enough to hear powerful talks from over 35 students across Oxfordshire, as well as several amazing speeches from the distinguished guest professors. My personal favourite was an insight into the use of nanoscale biological substances in medicine to overcome the blood-brain barrier and improve the efficacy of neurological drugs, brought by Dr Mootaz Salman from Oxford University.
Despite this being the first year Headington Rye as a school participated, the 15 HRO girls really shone on the stage, sharing their own unique perspectives and discoveries of this fascinating nanoscale world through talks and papers, with topics ranging from ‘Nanoparticles in Space’ to ‘Graphene Nanostructures for Photothermal Cancer Therapy’.
Victoria from Year 10 won the top prize for ‘Scientific Clarity’ for her talk on ‘Nanocapsules in Revolutionising Vaccine Development and Delivery’, and Emelia from L6 won a prestigious prize for her talk on ‘Art Through Nanochemistry’!
Taking place in Wychwood School, with around 13 schools attending, this local conference in Oxford really showed us the essence of this year’s theme slogan – Small World, but Big Ideas!
We are really grateful to our teachers for their effort in preparing us and bringing us on this wonderful trip and of course a massive thank you to Wychwood School for hosting this exciting seminar.
We look forward to next year’s brand-new conference theme and, until then, we hope to see more active participation in science-related events from our school scientific community!
