Students excel in Royal Holloway University’s Biology Masterclass
12 July 2021 | Jill Lundberg | Posted in: Academic, Sixth Form
Royal Holloway University has been running an online Biology Masterclass all year. As a finale, the students were asked to submit a mini-project to the University based on an area of Biology that is cutting edge and is of interest to the students. Jack Galpin and two other students, Taryn Hodgson and Ioanna Pampalou, decided to get involved in this and after submitting their work Jack’s project was selected for presentation at the symposium that was to mark the end of the Masterclass process. Taryn and Ionanna produced posters that were also included in the symposium.
Jack’s project was selected for a talk due to the interesting subject matter and clear way Jack had presented the science. Jack’s talk, on ‘Why large animals are less vulnerable to cancer’ was given alongside talks from other students from schools around the country. Jack’s talk was confident, well researched and rehearsed, informative and entertaining. The whole evening was full of good talks and Jack’s was awarded the ‘best argued talk’ by the academic staff at the university and the second best (out of ten talks given) by everyone who watched.
Jack said: “The project that was provided by Royal Holloway was extremely compelling and thought provoking. The talks given by subject experts at the start were extremely informative and very useful for expanding on knowledge learnt at A-level Biology because the experts chose topics based in A-level, but with expansion into further knowledge that was very interesting.
“To give a talk on my chosen topic was an honour for me because I was able to present my work that I am fascinated with to a team of experts who share my fascination. The talk was quite hard to create because it needed to be accurate and factual, however it was an enjoyable process because I found my topic so interesting
“In the future, I hope to carry on my interest in Biology by taking Medicine at university, as I find human biology captivating.”
Rob Haye, Lead Teacher for Science, said:”I am so impressed with Jack, Taryn and Ioanna for the extra work they have put into researching projects for this symposium. Jack, in particular, has shown true excellence in presenting such a well-informed and engaging talk that will have taken a long time to prepare. It should be noted that this week is PPE week for Year 12 students so to prepare this whilst also preparing for his assessments is a real achievement.”
Ms Richardson, Head of Sixth Form, added: “Jack’s presentation was clear, well thought-out and really interesting. He spoke so well, with confidence and the listener has complete confidence that he knows what he is talking about. That’s a real skill.”