Our first Post-16 Festival of Chemistry!

At the end of June, we held our first post-16 Festival of Chemistry at the University of Sussex. 30 Year 12 students from two local schools attended the day to learn about spectroscopy and chemistry careers.

The day started with a great talk by Dr Jon Wilden from the University of Sussex, who explained the theory behind the spectroscopy techniques covered in the A Level syllabus: Infra-Red (IR) spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The chemistry behind each technique was explained along with the different data produced. Jon highlighted how the different techniques can be used to determine different chemical structures and how the use of these tools in combination can be used to identify the chemicals present in a sample.

This set the scene for the next part of the day, where students and teachers were able to see these techniques first-hand in the lab. Participants spend time with three University of Sussex academics who each showed them one of the different spectroscopy instruments and discussed the techniques and analysis of each further. Students were able to see samples being loaded on to a Mass Spectrometer and discuss the data produced from the samples. For the other techniques, students were able to load samples on to an IR spectrometer and benchtop NMR themselves and again analyse the results through discussions with their peers, teachers and the academic present. 96% of students agreed or strongly agreed that this spectroscopy practical had helped them to better understand the learning they had done on this subject in school, a sentiment with which 100% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed.

After a break for lunch, participants were able to put their questions to a panel of chemistry experts from academia and industry. The panellists shared their experiences of studying chemistry and their subsequent career paths. They also offered advice and insights into studying, applying for university and their views on chemistry research in the future. 78% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they were aware of career opportunities that use chemistry after this session, an increase of 34 percentage points compared to when they were asked the same question in the morning. Similarly, 100% of teachers strongly agreed that their students had an increased awareness of career opportunities in chemistry after the event.

The feedback we received from the event was overwhelmingly positive and we are delighted with the success of this pilot event. We are, therefore, already making plans for more post-16 Discovery Days across the UK in 2027. We are very grateful to Dr Jon Wilden and the whole team at the University of Sussex for hosting the event and for all their work in developing and running the practical session, which was so engaging.

In addition to our pilot post-16 offering, we also held nine pre-16 Discovery Days across the UK in 2026, with 498 students attending across five sites. We are thankful to our host partners for all their time and effort in making these days a success: University of Southampton, University of Cambridge, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Aberdeen and University of Nottingham.

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