The London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) brings together each year some 500 science and engineering students, aged 18 – 21, from approximately 65 countries. These students have been awarded scholarships by their home country to participate in a two week educational experience. They attend lectures and have a choice of visits to university departments, industrial research laboratories, museums, plus social events. During their stay in the UK, they reside at Imperial College London.
On Tuesday 28 July, 50 students, with an interest in engineering, visited the School of Engineering and Digital Arts at Kent. In the morning they were introduced to research undertaken in the antennas laboratory and the optics laboratory. They were given an overview of engineering and bioengineering projects in the Engineering Laboratory, plus a session on puzzles posed by Dr George Dore from the School of Physical Sciences. Following a tour of the campus at lunch time, Professor Mohammed Sobhy provided a lecture on ‘Chaos in the Laboratory’. This lecture had applications to weather forecasting, heart fibrillation and encryption. The students returned to Imperial College duly inspired.