On Thursday, 25th June, the RCSU held the Awards Ceremony for its annual Science Challenge. The RCSA was there to support.
The RCSU Science Challenge is an annual competition, designed to give young scientists the opportunity to develop the skills to talk about science in a way that is engaging and fun to people who don’t necessarily have a science background.
Originally founded and funded by the RCSA, the Science Challenge asks entrants to produce a short piece of science communication in answer to a question set by one of the five guest judges, and serves as a cornerstone of outreach and engagement with both current and prospective students of Imperial College.
This year’s theme was A Space Odyssey and, given her lifelong interest in all things “space”, we asked our Deputy President, Stephanie Ward, to represent the RCSA as our judge for this year’s competition.
Scheduled to coincide with Imperial’s open day for prospective students, the Awards Ceremony was the culmination of months of work by the RCS Union organising team, the judges/ reviewers and, of course, close to 200 high school and Imperial students who entered the competition. Held at Asia House, a fabulous Grade II*-listed Georgian townhouse, guests were treated to short speeches from the three judges in attendance (Steph, Simon Singh and Jad Marrouche) before the presentation of the awards, the taking of a few pictures, and the opportunity to mingle over drinks and canapes.
The competition proved as popular as ever this year, and the high standard of entries gave the judges a bit of a headache when selecting their winners. In the end, Steph decided to award two winners for the RCSA question: one for best video (to Anika Fahmida Ruhul, for her proposed mission to the black hole, Sagittarius A) and one for best essay (to Jasleen Sahota, for her essay outlining a mission to Titan).
After the event, Steph said: “It’s been an absolute privilege to be involved in this year’s RCSU Science Challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed reading/ watching the entries, each one brimming with creativity and passion. And meeting so many of the winners at the awards ceremony, along with their families, was truly inspiring. The talent and energy these young minds bring to the table leave me in no doubt: the future of science in this country is bright and full of promise!”
Huge congratulations to the RCSU team for helping to make the event happen (in particular Marina Senorans Garcia, who did such a great hosting job on the night) and all the winners/ runners up for such great work. Best of luck with your next steps – your successes will be well deserved!
(If you like our outreach and engagement activities and the support we offer to our students why not help us do more? Sign up for RCSA membership here, and your annual subscription will be a great help, or consider making a donation to the RCSA Trust here. With no staff and no building costs or other outgoings, you can be assured that every penny of your donation will be gratefully received and faithfully applied to assist the students of the Royal College of Science).
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