Bloxham students Robert Skipworth and Ollie Haynes were nominated to represent the school at the Oxfordshire Young Scientist of the Year awards on Wednesday, where Rob was representing the Physics Department and Ollie the Chemistry Department.’
Many thanks to Zoe Skipworth for giving us a review of the evening’s excitement:
All the students gathered in the Oxford Museum of Natural History for the evening. It was a fantastic setting where you found yourself surrounded by dinosaurs, cases of birds, mammals and geological exhibits. The students (and followers!) were asked into the lecture theatre for the main presentation, where Brian Macken, the events manager for Science Oxford, introduced the evening by congratulating all the students from each of the scientific areas. Brian then introduced each representative from the sponsor organisations. Dr Peta from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories gave a talk on her motivation for studying lasers, with an inspiring message of “Be curious”, and underlining the importance of following your instincts to develop your understanding. The next speaker was a young man, Joshua Preston, who joined Rutherford Appleton Laboratories as an apprentice. Having decided that university was not for him, he is now learning on the job. Four years into his apprenticeship, Joshua is now undertaking his bachelors degree one day a week. The next speaker was Martin Elliot from the Society of Chemical Industry – his talk centred around how much chemistry is needed in every place of work and research for the future. The keynote speaker for the evening, Dr Fiona Powrie from the Nuffield Department of Medicine, was talking on developing vaccines for resistant diseases, such as TB and Malaria, as well as touching on the current Ebola crisis. The evening was closed by the students receiving their Oxfordshire Young Scientist of the Year certificates. ‘
Congratulations to both Robert and Ollie, whose hard work and enthusiasm for science earned them the opportunity to attend such a prestigious event.