6 March 2024
Anna M, Lower Sixth
On Friday 1 March, 10 students in Years 10, 11 and Lower Sixth had the opportunity to hear from professional scientists and meet and share our research with other young scientists at Tonbridge School’s annual science conference, which this year took the theme From Atoms to the Stars.
Professor Stephan Rauschenbach from the University of Oxford gave a talk on Imaging at an atomic level in biophysics, finishing his lecture by showing us the project he is working on currently, giving us a glimpse of life as a scientist.
A key element of the conference is students displaying posters featuring research projects we have been working on and answering questions about them. Six of us produced posters on topics including Jovie’s Cancer metastasis: what stops us from being a blob of cells? and The impact of childhood trauma on brain development by Loreen (see the full list of titles below).
Next, we moved into science classrooms to listen to students present on their own research projects, followed by a talk by two people from the Young Scientist Journal, who shared some really helpful information on how to get work published.
After lunch, Professor Neil Allan from the University of Bristol gave a talk on Electrons at play: from structure prediction to combatting heavy metal pollution - a really interesting insight into how recent scientific developments can help protect our planet. Those of us from Woldingham were among the second set of students to present, which was a great opportunity to practice public speaking and share our passion for STEM with like-minded individuals.
As well as working on my project for the conference, I entered the Liverpool@CERN Particle School essay competition, writing about What is dark matter and dark energy? I recently found out that I am one of the winners. Our prize is the amazing opportunity to go to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva for five days in the summer, to learn from professionals in the field and experience what it’s like to work there. I am so grateful to staff in the Physics Department for telling us about this competition and giving us some really helpful advice.
Woldingham students’ research projects:
The physics behind nuclear weapons and why they are so dangerous - Anna M, Lower Sixth
The impacts of early life stress - Kewbie L, Year 10
The Warburg effect: metabolic reprogramming in cancer - Laura K, Year 10
The evolution of pandas’ dietary habits - Sally W, Year 11
The impact of childhood trauma on brain development - Loreen K, Year 11
Cancer metastasis: what stops us from being a blob of cells? - Jovie W, Year 11
