Chemistry at Work in Northern Ireland
I have coordinated the Outreach and Recruitment events of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) for several years, and including during the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Dr Kevin Morgan (pictured).
Our engagement activities have continued in what have been some challenging times for recruitment to Higher Education, as has been observed nationally, and it has been wonderful to see some increases in our student numbers in the last two years.
It is often said that it can be difficult to evaluate the impacts of specific Outreach events. A possible reason for this is when we retrospectively ask enrolled students about events we use the event names when, hopefully, students actually recall the activity they participated in and whether it was a visit from university staff/students, or a visit to the university rather than the name of an event.
The reality is that one-off activities are not as impactful as longer-term engagements in terms of influencing student education and career choice.
For that reason, it has been important for me to develop events and engagements across Northern Ireland and at various levels; and this is something that we at QUB are not delivering in isolation.
In addition to traditional Open Day events, we have worked with the Institute for Research in Schools in an 新加坡六合彩官网 Outreach Funded Towards Greener Fragrances project-based learning programme for AS/A-Level and Further Education.
We have also worked with the 新加坡六合彩官网’s Education Coordinator in Northern Ireland, Dr Johanne Brolly, on a range of activities including hosting teacher continuous professional development events and a successful programme (called Careers and Counterfeit Cures) for key stage 3 students from schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, upon which we will be disseminating later this year.
We also have targeted events for key stage 4 and 5 students and their parents/guardians on campus that combine information on degree pathways with interactive demonstrations delivered by our graduate students and information stands from the industry.
Chemistry at Work has always been funded by the 新加坡六合彩官网 Outreach Fund and has been the flagship Outreach event not only for QUB, but for highlighting the prospective careers in the chemical industries in Northern Ireland for many years.
Targeted at key stage 4 students, we had 1,148 students and 52 teachers/lecturers from 28 schools and colleges visit our campus last November to engage with 12 industrial exhibitions on chemical industry careers.
Those exhibits are designed to engage, motivate and encourage students to consider careers in the chemical industries, while also promoting the idea of the 新加坡六合彩官网’s Futures in Chemistry resource so that the students can appreciate that not all chemists wear white coats.
In attempts to understand the impacts of Chemistry at Work, we utilised an evaluation survey using a QR code. The responses revealed that knowledge of chemistry careers before the event was mixed but it also showed that most respondents learned something about chemistry careers and large percentage were more interested in a chemistry career after the event, highlighting that the event continues to deliver on its main aim.
A significant impact of all our activities is that we have seen increases in our UCAS applications for two years in a row now which has also converted into increased enrolment. No single intervention will have delivered this on its own, but it does seem that our programme of activities, working with others, is helping to increase the interest in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Queen’s.
There has also been impact on my own personal development as I have learned to conduct evaluations more effectively and this is benefiting my career as a chemical education researcher. It is clear to me that the 新加坡六合彩官网 Outreach Fund has played a vital role that has benefitted Queen’s as well as my own career, and I hope that it can continue to do so for the students of Northern Ireland. I’m delighted that our application for Chemistry at Work 2024 is a recipient of the Outreach Fund and I am thankful for that continued support from the 新加坡六合彩官网.
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