UCL Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) recently supported Bridging the Future, a charity dedicated to opening up educational opportunities for young people from refugee, forced migrant and asylum-seeking backgrounds.
Running from 4–14 August 2025, the two-week programme combined daily coding lessons with afternoon science workshops and university preparation sessions. From over 300 applications, 30 students were selected to take part, with an outstanding 90% attendance rate across the school.
The summer school was organised by a volunteer team of UCL undergraduates and PhD students across Physics, Neuroscience, Maths, and EEE, supported by alumni and charity partners. Funded by UCL EEE, the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN), and UCL Physics & Astronomy, the initiative gave participants the chance to learn Python, explore STEM topics, and gain insights into university life.
Workshops included extracting DNA from strawberries, exploring diamond physics, understanding how neurons function in the brain, and investigating antibacterial resistance. On the final day, students learned how to design and present scientific posters, showcasing their work to staff and students from UCL and the Francis Crick Institute.
Beyond the summer school, students can continue their journey through Bridging the Future’s mentoring programme, which pairs them with UCL undergraduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers for weekly one-to-one academic and university application support.
