Over 400 youngsters from more than 50 schools around the UK attended the Science Summer School 2019 — hosted by Professor Brian Cox at St Paul’s Trust School in East London.

This event, now in its eighth year, was conceived to invigorate the younger generation, giving them the opportunity to hear inspirational speakers and engage in seminars and workshops aimed at promoting careers available in STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts and Maths) businesses.

Sponsored by Ibstock and AXA XL, this year’s event was officially opened by social entrepreneur (and Science Summer School co-founder) Andrew Mawson, who welcomed the 12- to 16-year-olds before introducing Professor Cox to talk about the science behind the theory of relativity and the evolution of the universe.

Other speakers included: Andrew Smyth, an aerospace engineer and Great British Bake Off finalist who discussed ‘When Baking Meets Engineering’; mathematician Steven Le Comber; and bio-engineer Tina Chowdhury.

There were workshops on a range of themes, including a session with photographic artist Helen Marshall, co-founder of The People’s Moon — a global project aimed at uniting humanity by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.