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Summer schools

Our Widening Participation 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.

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 then study the properties of your sunscreens 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-focussed 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 – and 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.

Priority will be given to Black and mixed Black heritage students who are interested in studying chemistry at university.

Students who complete the summer school and who meet the eligibility criteria can request a contextual offer to study chemistry at King’s College London. That means if you apply to study chemistry here, and we make you an offer, your offer is likely to be two grades lower than our standard offer. You can find out more about contextualised admissions at King’s here.

The Summer School normally takes place in the first week of July with applications opening in mid-March of that year and closing in late April. We aim confirm whether your application has been successful in May.

Summer School contact

 

 What our Summer School students said

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!"

2023 participant


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."

2023 participant

 


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."

2023 participant

 

 

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