2021-2022

This year we were allowed have two teams participate in the Unilever Inspire program as part of their Bright Futures outreach.  The students first went through the various departments that allow the company to operate, for example, formulation departments who worked on creating the general formulation and initial concept behind the products, Digital R&D (research and development)  who focus on analyzing consumer trends to be used in developing products, packaging and advertising campaigns, and upscaling who aim to understand the most effective way to take a product from lab production (prototype) to batch production and where possible continuous production. 

In March Washful & Simply Hunni Bee both competed virtually over a video call, where they went through the project from concept to completion. Both groups presented themselves very well and gained extremely valuable experience in working with an external agency on a long term project.

Three of our students, Dylan, Wed and Lara were invited to present their project, BG Shampoo (formerly known as Sugar Bubble Shampoo) at parliament in June. They had previously submitted their product into the Unilever Inspire Programme and The Big Bang Competition. 

The novel concept to their project is that they can reduce waste of product as the shampoo is made into beads that are encapsulated in sodium alginate, these can then be burst open and use the specific amount on hair. 

Another waste reducing method they wanted to endorse is the use of bamboo containers in a loop manufacturing system, they buy one container of product they can then buy another set a bit cheaper if  they send the container back each time.

We took 23 students across three different year groups (9,10 &12) to Edinburgh for the IRIS and Business of Science Conferences.  These students presented seven different projects between them, across two days. In addition to the two conferences some of our prospective veterinary students got to shadow and gain some work experience at a veterinary practice for a morning. 

As well as taking part in the conferences the students got to take part in other activities. They got to take part on an old city ghost tour, climb Arthur's seat, and spend time exploring the exhibitions at the National Museum of Scotland. 

Five groups of students from the UTC presented their work at the IRIS conference including a group presenting the Baltic Research Institute (BRI), the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) project, DNA Origami, ALEP Plasticivore and the Vet Team. This included 3 verbal presentations and 5 academic poster presentations. John Dyer, Sarah Linkman and Andrew Plevin also presented on how the Baltic Research Institutes gives students the opportunity to pursue research projects at the UTC.

As well as taking part in the conferences the students got to take part in other activities. They got to take part on an old city ghost tour, climb Arthur's seat, and spend time exploring the exhibitions at the National Museum of Scotland.

Three teams of students from the UTC were invited to present their project work as academic posters at the Business of Science conference at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh - Plasticivore, Aquaponic Raft and Turtle Shell. Plasticivore were awarded the top prize (The Innovation Award) and £1000 for the school to spend on developing their project. Aquaponic Raft got 2nd place and a further £250 to spend on their project. Turtle Shell was also Highly commended. 

Some of our students that wish to go into veterinary work, got to experience what that work was like at a morning at ICR Vets in Edinburgh. Here the students got the chance to shadow various staff members around the practice. 

They got to shadow the work of the different areas of the practice. All students got to experience consultation of animals with their owners present. Here they observed health checks being completed as well as some basic tests such as bloods being taken.  

In addition to this the students did surgery observation, these surgeries included neutering, dental, and respiratory surgery. Some of theses practices were completed through keyhole surgery.  As the animals were being put under anesthetic the students got to observe this as well. 

Where possible some students also got to shadow in both the lab testing and pharmacy.  Where the staff very kindly took the time to explain what they were testing or prescribing and why.

Two teams competed against other UTCs in the DSTL Callisto Challenge. One year 11 group and one year 12 group working as multidisciplinary teams to design a moon base and strategy for colonising Jupiter’s moon Callisto. One member of each group had to consider the design of the base and use CAD modelling to create a lander and base design. Other roles were to consider how to generate energy for the base, how to create oxygen for the colonisers, how to grow enough food to meet the nutritional requirements of the colonisers and how the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the colonisers would be ensured. The groups did a fantastic job of designing their base and strategy and presented it well to staff from the DSTL, getting some excellent feedback.

For the 2nd year running the Liverpool Life Sciences UTC team won the national DSTL Callisto Moon Base Challenge. This year Sam, Will, Louis, Elliott, Joe, Caleb, Ash, Erin and Ryan beat competition from across the National UTC network to claim first prize. 

Our Student team formed their startup model to fulfill the challenge of getting aquaponic food growing into their town or city. 

Our student team APPA aim to produce a sustainable world, as well as producing sustainable yummy food! That's why they created our company to not only achieve sustainability, but also to help the community. Poverty and lack of access to healthy greens in Merseyside is a massive issue that needs to be tackled. Their plan was to run our 10 for 1 scheme. This scheme means every 10 basic 6L aquaponic systems sold, a 50L system is produced free of charge and donated to a place in need. These are places that provide public support.   By doing this, they hoped to tackle poverty in Merseyside, whilst making sure those in need eat well and eat sustainably.

The team presented their project at Liverpool University and they were awarded for best managing director.   

A group of students in a STEAM class looked into various seed dispersal methods. They used different imaging techniques to look at the surfaces of seeds, ultimately focusing on Scanning Electron Microscope images. They used these images to display the textures of the seeds or pollen in clay which they put into tiles. 

Another way to display their work was that they learned to embroider and created embroidery for the differing seed dispersal methods as listed on the poster.