Science events at EF Academy in Oxford

Our students at EF Academy in Oxford recently participated in two exciting science events, one where they got to do some hands-on experimenting, and one where where they got to be inspired by two fantastic people who shared their journey and experiences within the world of science.

Biology Trip

A level year 1 biologists joined a Biodiversity and Evolution workshop at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Like true entomologists, they were not afraid of handling live Madagascar hissing cockroaches. They also got to test whether they have the ability to taste PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) – this depends on what version of the PTC gene they have. The ability to taste PTC correlates with the ability to taste bitter substances, which can often be toxic. Quite a few of the students did not have this adaptation!

Physics and Engineering Careers Event

The Year 1 Physics students were joined by two guests, who shared their advice and stories of their own careers to help the students with their own career decision making!

Danielle Kaminski, a data scientist, described her journey from Natural Sciences at Cambridge and DPhil in Physics at the University of Oxford in Quantum Computing to working for companies such as Google and Atlassian. She described the processes of using the key scientific skills of problem solving and computer programming to analyze and improve systems in many areas and how these skills will be ever more valuable in the future.

In addition, Mr Grahame Faulkner, senior researcher in the Engineering Department at the University of Oxford, gave the students insight into what this applied area of science entails: Engineering spans across multiple disciplines and the design and refine process can be found in industries and disciplines everywhere – from engineered microchips in biotechnologies, agriculture to his own research using lasers and optoelectrics, Mr Faulker also helped to highlight the mass of careers open to our students studying these sciences.