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Department of Chemistry
Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences

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Summer schools

Our Discover Chemistry Summer School aims to encourage and support students from marginalised groups to come to King’s College London to study chemistry. This free non-residential summer school includes lab and campus tours, lectures, and hands-on workshops, as well as providing lots of opportunities to ask any questions you might have about studying chemistry at university or being a student at King’s.

The Discover Chemistry Summer School is running from 6-10 July 2026, based in the Franklin-Wilkins Building, near Waterloo station. This free, non-residential summer school is the perfect opportunity for you to take your chemistry to the next level.

Through lab sessions in which you will chemically create your own sunscreens, you will develop your hands-on lab skills and understand what it’s like to be working in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory. You'll creating your own sunscreen, and study its properties using lab techniques such as infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, as well as testing the effect of chemical structure on UV absorption.

    You will develop your communication skills as a student scientist in sessions on creating a research-focused poster and presenting your work. Finally, you will showcase your research to the other participants, King’s academics, and chemistry students in a poster presentation competition. We’ll invite your teachers and families to this as well, to experience the campus and see your work first-hand!

This opportunity is open to students who:

  • are in Year 12,
  • intend to study chemistry in year 13,
  • attend a non-fee-paying school, and
  • have been unable to access similar opportunities elsewhere.

The Discover Chemistry Summer School will take place from Monday 6 - Friday 10 July. This is not a residential programme - participants need to travel to and from the King's College London campus every day. You can apply for a place on the Chemistry Summer School by filling out this application form. Applications close on Friday 15 May, and places will be offered by Monday 1 June.

We'd love to know more about why you are applying to this programme, and what you hope to get out of it. Some of the questions on the application form will help us understand this. Please take the time to answer these, as your answers will be used in part to decide who to offer places on the programme to. The questions are:

  • Tell us about something in chemistry that you find interesting. Why does it interest you? 
  • What have you done so far to explore your interest in chemistry?
  • What do you hope to gain from attending the Discover Chemistry Summer School?

Summer School contact

 

 What students thought of the programme:

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the PhD students explaining their work, their experiences at King’s and the reality of studying chemistry. Overall, a fantastic experience! What worked particularly well was the layout of the activities: lectures in the morning and labs in the afternoon. It was great to see Bush House and the Strand Campus too!"

Previous attendee

I really enjoyed the work in the lab. At my school, the lab equipment isn’t the best so often the practicals don’t work. It was nice being able to use equipment that otherwise I would only see once I start university."

Previous attendee

 

There was a lot of lab work, which was enjoyable. I also learnt more about the things we were already taught in school, and it helped me apply the knowledge taught in the lab to the theoretical aspect of chemistry. It also solidified my interest in studying chemistry at university."

Previous attendee

 

 

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