Join us at our state-of-the-art research laboratories

We run workshops in our laboratories aimed at secondary school students. They will benefit from practical sessions that teach scientific principles and methods.

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.

2025/2026 academic year dates

Wednesday 6th May 2026 - fully booked
Wednesday 20th May 2026 - 16 places available - 1pm start
Wednesday 10th June 2026 - fully booked
Wednesday 24th June 2026 - fully booked

2026/2027 academic year dates

Wednesday 7th October 2026 - 13 spaces available - 1pm start
Wednesday 21st October 2026 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 11th November 2026 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 25th November 2026 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 9th December 2026 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 10th February 2027 - 15 spaces available - 1pm start
Wednesday 10th March 2027 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 14th April 2027 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 12th May 2027 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 26th May 2027 - 30 spaces available
Wednesday 9th June 2027 - 5 spaces available - 1.30pm start
Wednesday 23rd June 2027 - 30 spaces available

Dates will be shown for the 2027/2028 academic year shortly after Easter 2027.

Synthesis/Separation workshops

Our Synthesis workshops and Separation 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 techniques such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), melting point analysis 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 2.5 - 3 hours.

2025/2026 academic year dates

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 - 4 places available (separation workshop)
Tuesday 9th June 2026 - fully booked
Thursday 18th June 2026 - fully booked
Thursday 25th June 2026 - fully booked
Tuesday 30th June 2026 - fully booked

2026/2027 academic year dates

Tuesday 15th September 2026 - 25 spaces available (separation workshop)
Thursday 17th September 2026 - 30 spaces available (separation workshop)
Thursday 7th January 2027 - 15 spaces available (separation workshop)
Thursday 21st January 2027 - fully booked
Thursday 28th January 2027 - 10 spaces available (aspirin synthesis workshop)
Tuesday 1st June 2027 - 30 spaces available
Thursday 3rd June 2027 - 2 spaces available (aspirin synthesis workshop)
Tuesday 8th June 2027 - 30 spaces available
Thursday 17th June 2027 - fully booked
Thursday 24th June 2027 - 24 spaces available (aspirin synthesis workshop)

Dates will be shown for the 2027/2028 academic year shortly after Easter 2027.

Bring spectroscopy into the classroom

Our student ambassadors offer hands-on spectroscopy activities and talk about what it is like to study chemistry at university.

This activity is suitable for students from Year 10 and above.

The department was part of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Spectroscopy in a Suitcase programme. While the actual programme was discontinued in 2020, the department still proactively offers this activity as an outbound workshop, which provides portable nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy instruments to be taken into local schools.

Trained postgraduate ambassadors can visit the school to deliver activities in the Bristol or Bath areas, or the equipment can be loaned to schools for trained teachers to use in their lessons. Students get hands-on experience of using the equipment in their own classrooms.

Host an undergraduate student for a term

Our students can do a project in the third year of their degree where they work with teachers in local schools.

From October to May they can provide teaching and practical assistance whilst developing a special project in the school.

Invite our student or staff ambassadors to your school

Staff or postgraduate students can visit schools in the Bath and Bristol areas to speak to pupils.

This activity is suitable for students in Year 7 and above.

Staff or postgraduate students can visit your school to give a talk about studying chemistry at university, careers in chemistry or aspects of cutting edge research.