Steph's story

Steph R is a Y12 student at the Liverpool Life Sciences UTC. Read her personal journey at the UTC as she embarks on her Extended Project Qualification.

Hi, I’m Steph, I’m a student at Life Sciences UTC and I’m currently studying Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I find physical and inorganic chemistry most interesting and I’m planning on studying either chemistry or chemical engineering at uni, although I’ve no idea where. Places such as Imperial, Brunel, Durham and Loughborough are on my list, but the latter is mainly down to the sports facilities as I do athletics in my spare time. This is something which I find complements science really well but has enough differences to be a way to switch off from academics.

To help me find out more about chemistry and the roles available within it I’ve chosen to do my EPQ about the applications of graphene and am being aided by the Manchester Graphene Institute with this. I think graphene is a really interesting material and it has the potential to create many new technologies which are at the forefront of research. So far I have done some research on the properties and applications of graphene and have found it has great potential in many different areas. These cover a wide variety of topics so gives me plenty of choice when choosing which specific area I focus on. Currently I’m leaning towards exploring the use of graphene mats or electrodes as this is something I don’t currently know much about but feel like there’s lots to learn and have found the electrodes could be used to create efficient, low energy solar cells which may be crucial if we want a sustainable future. Another area which I think may be exciting is the potential to create lightweight but very strong composites, something which I could link to my athletics as we are constantly looking for ways to improve our times by small margins while still producing large forces through the ground. I understand I may not be able to test any graphene samples myself however there is plenty of data out there for me to do a more theory based EPQ and I hope to be able to talk to researchers at the institute about what they are investigating and testing.

So far I’ve not had much involvement in the chemistry industry but I hope to get some work experience in both labs and industry to find which area I find most fascinating and could have an exciting and rewarding career in. For me I’d enjoy a career where I can create technologies which can help improve either the science industry or people’s daily lives. One way I’m beginning to develop my chemical skills is through the student led Baltic Research Institute (BRI) for which I am head of chemistry, a new department I’m looking forward to setting up. The main purpose will be to ensure chemistry has a bigger role in the school as the current focus of the BRI is more biology based. This will involve aiding students with experiments or their EPQs as well as developing my own lab skills and techniques which will massively help me in the future when I go into a role in chemistry. I will be working with a team of Y12 students in the department and I’m sure between us we’ll have some great ideas and give others the opportunity to find out more about chemistry.