King's College London

The second edition of the Summer Camp at the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences took place between the Monday 22 July and Friday 2 August. This two-week-long research placement is sponsored by King's Health Partners' Widening Participation Committee and organised with help from In2scienceUK, a charity that aims to increase diversity in the STEM sector.

This year, 24 students attended a first common training week where they developed skills in basic scientific techniques such as pipetting, SDS-PAGE and DNA isolation, learnt about microscopy and visited the Nikon Imaging Centre.

During their second week, the students got to see first-hand what it is like to work in a laboratory or a medical clinic on a day-to-day basis by shadowing researchers and clinicians from the School.

The summer camp was led by Dr Monica Agromayor, who says: “It is a real pleasure to watch how the students gain confidence as the days go by and to help them make an informed choice about a career in science. The summer camp has also created a fantastic sense of community amongst the hosts and has been an enriching experience for everyone. I recently found out that two of our students from last year’s programme have completed their university applications successfully and got offers from King’s, so I hope to see them again very soon.”