From July 10th to July 12th, we have welcomed 40 A-level students to the Department for a three-day Work Experience Placement.

"This is the first time we have attempted something of this scale – in stark contrast to the individual work experience placements we used to offer to A-level students up to the start of the 2023-2024 academic year.

We received more than 80 applications for this scheme, from local as well as rather distant schools. The 40 students were selected based on several criteria, such as widening participation considerations (e.g., free school meals or caring responsibilities) and the extent to which they convinced us (via a personal statement) that they are seriously considering to study at Warwick Chemistry in the future.

Numerous colleagues* volunteered their time and put in some serious effort to make this happen – a massive “thank you” to all of them, it really was magical to see all the different pieces of the puzzle coming together eventually. Special thanks to the Lab Tech Team, who have supported the whole Placement from start to finish – much of their work we do not even get to see or appreciate, but they really are the backbone of this whole endeavour. Chapeau to them!

The Work Experience Placement went really well from our perspective – in fact, some ideas are brewing already for next year! – but really what matters the most is that the students had a great time (and even learned something in the process!).

As an especially rewarding statistic, 74% of the students said that this Work Experience positively changed their opinion of Warwick Chemistry, whilst the remaining 26% already had a positively glowing opinion of the Department to begin with. Happy days!

We might want to think about or improve on some aspects of the placement, next year, but for now I think we can all enjoy this success, which in all honesty ticks all the boxes: public engagement, widening participation and admissions as well. It has been a wild ride, but I genuinely feel we have left our mark. We even got a proper card from one of the students’ groups, claiming that “Chemistry is the best” – mission accomplished!"

Gabriele

* Lab Tech Team: Raj Randev, Martin Annis, Hannah Barney, Brandon Mattu, Temiloluwa Ajayi, Ruby Ma; PG students: Callum Bullock, Jack Beall, Josh Davies; Academics: Dan Lester, Lona Alkhalaf, Tim Bugg, Nikola Chmel, Ann Dixon, Martin Wills, Mike Ward, Chris Corre, Michael Hope, Raj Pandya, Scott Habershon, Alex Baker.