On Friday 9 November, a new undergraduate Chemistry lab was officially opened at Queen Mary University of London by Head of Chemistry Professor Marina Resmini.
The lab, located in the Joseph Priestley Building at Queen Mary’s Mile End campus, recently benefitted from a £5.2 million investment. This investment into both the labs and the building infrastructure has added an additional 30 fume cupboards, a new teaching zone and benching for modern equipment. The design itself is similar to commercial laboratories, which will prepare students for the next stage of their careers.
The opening event began with speeches from Head of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences (SBCS) Professor Richard Pickersgill, Queen Mary Principal Colin Bailey and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) guest David Phillips. Over the years, 12 members of Chemistry academic staff have been elected to the fellowship of the Royal society either while at Queen Mary or subsequently.
Professor Pickersgill said “Students will be able to work individually and will receive ‘industry standard’ training that will enhance the curriculum and their expertise as professional chemists.”
Prior to the official ribbon-cutting, Principal Colin Bailey added, “This magnificent new chemistry teaching laboratory will allow us to train the next generation of chemists on our Royal Society of Chemistry accredited courses.”
The laboratory will also be used for BSc, MSci and MSc student projects, expanding the range of experimental training delivered to students and there are plans to put on summer schools for year 11 and 12 students, including lectures, laboratory sessions and preparation for university.
In the most recent REF, REF 2014, QMUL Chemistry was ranked equal 6th in for outputs. Our research strengths in chemistry are: materials chemistry, synthesis and catalysis and theoretical and computational chemistry.