Are you a Year 12 student interested in chemistry? Then apply to take part in our Widening Participation Discover Chemistry Summer School, running from Monday 6 – Friday 10 July 2026! 

 

Programme detail

The Discover Chemistry Summer School runs from Monday 6 – Friday 10 July 2026, based in the Franklin-Wilkins Building (SE1 9NH) by 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. 

After creating your own sunscreen, you’ll 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!

 

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to Year 12 students who:

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

For more information, please contact: chemistry-outreach@kcl.ac.uk

 

How to apply

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 Discover 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:

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

Lunch and Transport

Lunch will be provided every day free of charge and will reimburse travel expenses for travel within Transport for London Zones 1-6. We will not make any arrangements for either your travel or any accommodation you might require. We are unable to reimburse any travel expenses outside Zones 1-6 or any accommodation costs.