Outreach & Engagement
Our goal is to educate, inspire and inform future generations. Our team continue to be encouraged to identify, plan and participate in public engagement, outreach events and regular small-scale activities.
2023
July 2023 Building Bridges: meet the researchers
- Williams group researchers took part in the Building Bridges outreach project. Our research into the development of polymers from renewable and bio-derived sources was shared with groups of Year 6 students visiting from Gloucester.
January 2023 Holly Yeo speaks to Oxford Chemistry Alumni Reception
- DPhil student Holly Yeo spoke to 80 Oxford Chemistry alumni during an outreach event at The Royal Institution, London. Holly presented our group’s work in green chemistry and her DPhil project on polymer electrolytes.
2022
Our work on carbon dioxide derived plastics is currently featured at The Design Museum London in the exhibition “Waste Age: What Can Design Do?”. The exhibition demonstrates how the production of waste is central to our way of life whilst inspiring hope for a greener and more conscientious world. Our exhibit is centred around polycarbonates made by recycling waste carbon dioxide. It features samples from econic technologies and also a sample of poly(limonene carbonate) made entirely from wastes: waste CO2 and citrus peel (limonene oxide). These polymers could be useful contributors to a future circular economy where wastes and co-products are used to make new, high-performance materials. In an accompanying film, Charlotte discusses how our chemistry might contribute to a sustainable future for plastics and Wouter and Holly show how these samples are made at laboratory scale. The exhibition is open until 20 February 2022.
2021
July 2021 Trinity Enrichment Talks: The Future of Plastics- Environmental Challenges and Everyday Life.
Kam Poon (OxICFM CDT) will be giving a talk about his experience of studying chemistry and about the “Future of Plastics”. Aimed at year 11 and 12 students thinking about applying to university.
June 2021 Plastics from Another Perspective
Williams Group Researchers will be delivering this workshop live. Students have an opportunity to ask questions of researchers working in this field.
June 2021 Ask a Chemist: Dr Bradley Cowie
A Q&A session with Williams Group Post Doctoral Researcher Bradly Cowie.
May 2021 Plastics from Another Perspective
Williams Group Researchers will be delivering this workshop live. Students have an opportunity to ask questions of researchers working in this field.
March 2021 World Recycling Day Blog ‘Reinventing recycling: taking plastics from rubbish to resource’
A perspective from Williams Group Postdoctoral Researcher Fernando Vidal Pena.
February 2021 World Recycling Day Blog 'RSC Women in Chemistry: Making the Difference'.
The research in the Williams group inspired the first challenge of a new multi-institution project designed to highlight females researching and working in the chemical sciences. Charlotte Williams and Holly Yeo (OxICFM CDT, Williams Group) feature in resources focused on their pathways to chemistry, and the ground-breaking research into battery technology which inspired a challenge for participants to undertake at home. The team took part in three You-tube live Q&A events.
2020
December 2020 Polymer Diversity: Online Outreach with the Museum of Natural History
Our outreach team worked with the Oxford Museum of Natural History on an exhibition showing how research throughout the polymer lifecycle might help improve the sustainability of plastics. The ‘virtual exhibit’ was part of the Super-Saturday scheme at the Museum and also introduces our team members Holly, Natalia, Jamie and Wouter. There are activities aimed at KS1 children to learn more about plastics and their diversity of applications.
September 2020 Virtual Autumn Chemistry Conference
Wouter Lindeboom presented a talk entitled ‘Plastic from another perspective’ to Year 10-13 students and their teachers on Wednesday 30th September.
September 2020 Introducing our DPhils: Holly Yeo
This series of short videos showcases students from the University of Oxford- their academic journey and their research (in brief!). In this video, Holly Yeo (OxICFM CDT, Williams Group), shares her journey to Oxford and the exciting polymer research she's about to undertake to improve the batteries on which we rely.
May 2020 Addressing the Plastics Problem
We’ve written a Blog on the Oxford Martin School Future of Plastics Programme website highlighting possible solutions to the plastic problem.
May 2020 The Plastics Problem
Charlotte Williams wrote an Editorial for the special edition of RSC Chemistry World on 'The Plastics Problem'
March 2020 Primary Lecture-demonstration
Saskia O’Sullivan (Oxford Chemistry Educational Outreach Officer) and Louise Hutchinson (Senior Technician, Chemistry Teaching Laboratory) gave an engaging lecture-demonstration on Chemical Changes, highlights the research of the Williams group on sustainable plastics. The lecture was given to Years 4, 5 and 6 at St. Nicholas Primary School in Marston, Oxford, on the 12th March 2020.
March 2020 Career & Research Talks to School Students
Natalia Reis spoke to 24 Sixth Form students from The Compton School, Barnet, in the Chemistry Teaching Laboratories, Oxford on the 4th March 2020.
February 2020 Oxford Martin School Lecture
Charlotte Williams gave a public outreach lecture entitled ‘Future Options to Make Plastics More Sustainable’ at the Oxford Martin School.
