The activities we offer are a great way to put the science you teach into context. Our workshops cover subjects relevant to the science curriculum.
Your students will enjoy hands-on exercises in groups using our laboratories and equipment.
Spectroscopy workshops
Our spectroscopy workshops are offered free of charge and are suitable for students in years 12 and 13. We can accommodate up to 30 students in one session.
Students are split into small groups and taken on a tour of the three areas of spectroscopy relevant to the post-16 curriculum. They visit the instruments and are given 20-minute talks by experienced staff in the fields of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry and infrared (IR) spectrometry.
Groups have the opportunity to run their own samples of compounds they have prepared in school. The principles of spectroscopy are reinforced by a 30-minute problem-solving workshop following the tours where students deduce the structure of some unknown compounds using spectroscopic data.
Workshops tend to start between 1.00pm and 1.30pm, and usually last about 2 hours.
- Wednesday 2nd October 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 23rd October 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 13th November 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 27th November 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 11th December 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 15th January 2024 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 12th February 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 12th March 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 2nd April 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 7th May 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 21st May 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 11th June 2025 - 30 places available
- Wednesday 25th June 2025 - 30 places available
Dates will be shown for the 2025/2026 academic year shortly after Easter 2025.
Synthesis/Separation with spectroscopy
Our Synthesis/Separation with spectroscopy workshops are suitable for years 12 and 13. We can accommodate up to 30 students in one session.
Students complete a practical synthesis or separation using the university laboratories and equipment. Students then analyse their separated/synthesised compounds using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy to deduce what they have made and check purity.
This gives them the opportunity to experience new techniques which may not be available to them at school and allows them to perceive subjects from the post-16 syllabus in context.
Workshops start at 1.00pm, and usually last about 2 - 2.5 hours.
- Tuesday 17th September 2024 (separation workshop) - 17 places available
- Tuesday 14th January 2025 - 30 places available
- Thursday 23rd January 2025 (separation workshop) - 18 places available
- Tuesday 3rd June 2025 - 30 places available
- Thursday 19th June 2025 - 30 places available
- Thursday 26th June 2025 - 30 places available
Dates will be shown for the 2025/2026 academic year shortly after Easter 2025.
KS4 activities
We are currently redeveloping our outreach offering for years 9 to 11, so we are not currently scheduling visits for these year groups. If you are interested in activities for these year groups, please contact us and we can let you know when we have outreach activities ready to offer. In the meantime, you might want to consider our Spectroscopy in a Suitcase activity detailed in the section below.