Secondary school students at UCL School of Pharmacy – Scientists for a day!

Dr Maria-Jose Martinez-Bravo, Associate Lecturer (Teaching) at UCL School of Pharmacy and Chair of the Wom=n in Science committee at the Society for Spanish Researchers in the UK (SRUK), is committed not only to promoting higher education to secondary school students, but also to encourage female students to pursue STEM careers through various outreach activities.

Image: Students performing a minimal inhibitory concentration assay at the UCL School of Pharmacy

With the activity “Bringing Immunology to Spanish-speaking secondary school students”, her aim was to broaden the horizons of underprivileged secondary school pupils by connecting them with real women scientists in their real working environment through the medium of their mother tongue. The session also helped to promote scientific literacy and higher education. With that aim in mind, a group of Spanish-speaking teenagers investigated the development of a new vaccine against cancer supervised by native Spanish speaking-researchers in a real research lab.

Dr Maria-Jose Martinez-Bravo received a grant by the British Society for Immunology (BSI) to develop this event that celebrated the International Day of Woman and Girl in Science (11th February). The Brixton Learning Collaborative cluster gave 20 students the opportunity to participate in this activity. By the end of the day, the written feedback received by the students was extremely positive, saying that they found the activity “inspiring” and “excellent”. Some girls, who did not consider STEM studies for their future, changed their minds after the direct interaction with the female scientists. 

Image: The whole cohort of students, teachers and volunteers celebrating the International Day of Woman and Girl in Science

We would like to thank to the UCL School of Pharmacy, the BSI, SRUK and the Brixton Learning Collaborative cluster for their support, help and enthusiasm at organising this invaluable outreach experience for the group. Special thanks to Dr Laura Carro for her help and support throughout the day. 

Further Information:

• Maria Jose Martinez Bravo - staff profile
• Laura Carro Santos - staff profile
• Brixton Learning Collaborative
• British Society for Immunology
• Spanish Researchers in the UK