‘Truly inspirational talks’: School’s Science Communication Competition reaches grand final

Tonbridge’s inaugural Science Communication Competition reached its conclusion as the grand final took place on Friday 13 May.

More than 100 students entered the first stage of the competition earlier in the year, and from these just 14 made it through to last week’s event, held in the School’s award-winning Barton Science Centre.

The competition set students the challenge of explaining their research and ideas enthusiastically and clearly, in a way that would interest and inspire a typical class of Year 9 students.

The judging panel was made up of Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS, a developmental biologist; Dr Ali Galloni, Head of Science at Sevenoaks School; James Priory, Headmaster, and Lisa Alford, Science Coordinator, at Tonbridge; and Lower Sixth student Alex Percival, one of the School’s Science Ambassadors.

Professor Smith also gave a lecture at the School earlier in the day on regenerative science related to stem cell research. In a distinguished career he helped establish the Francis Crick Institute, previously served as Director of Research Programmes at the Wellcome Trust, and was knighted in 2017. He is currently Secretary of The Zoological Society of London.

There were two categories, one for Under 16s, and the other for 17s to 19s, with full results shown below. The first prize for the Under 16s went to Odin Holdom of Tonbridge for his presentation on Winning at Wordle, a talk about how using information science can help players succeed in this popular game.

The top prize for 17s to 19s was awarded to O-Teen Kwok, from Caterham School, for The Invisible Forces – Aerodynamics, which considered how the latter does not merely affect airplanes but also plays a vital role in birdlife and even in football.

Professor Smith handed out the prizes of book tokens, and presented all the finalists with certificates.

Mrs Alford, who organised the Science Communication Competition, said: “I was extremely impressed by the high standard of the students’ talks, many of which were truly inspirational. It was fantastic to watch a variety of presentations spanning the scientific disciplines, and the future of science is clearly in good hands!

“The competition was a huge success, everyone had a memorable evening and this will now be an annual event. The Barton Science Centre looked amazing, lit in blue and red and with science-themed music adding to the electric atmosphere.”

Winners:
Under 16s:
1st: Odin Holdom (PH2), Tonbridge School: Winning at Wordle: How using bits, and information science, can help you win.
2nd: Harry Cordeaux, The King’s School, Canterbury: Clear the skies: Space junk, the impact it has and why it’s going to be a huge problem.
3rd: Aditi Bajaj, Weald of Kent: The ‘clean water’ journey: How science helps clean water and could we be doing more?

17s to 19s: 
1st: O-Teen Kwok, Caterham School: The Invisible Forces – Aerodynamics: How aerodynamics is not just about planes, but it is used in football and birds are smart.
2nd: Nellie Ash, Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School: The universe: The big bang, dark energy and how will the universe end?
3rd: Tom Kwok (MH4), Tonbridge School: Bioprospecting: The search from microbes to plants for social and economic value.

Pictured above: Competition winners pictured with two of the judges, Dr Ali Galloni and Professor Sir Jim Smith.

Below, from top:
Competition winners and finalists;
The judging panel, from left; Alex Percival, Lisa Alford, Professor Sir Jim Smith, Dr Ali Galloni, James Priory;
Various presentations during the grand final.