Roedean Symposium

On Wednesday, Year 12 welcomed students from Lancing College for our third annual Symposium. This year, 50 students presented papers on a vast range of topics, in which they explored their individual research passions. Taking place across ten rooms, there was an atmosphere of collaboration and exploration, as the students then discussed the issues and ideas posed by the presentations.

Prior to this, Cora Chalaby (OR) delivered a keynote speech on her current doctoral research into female artists in the USA in the late 20th Century, generously sharing her experiences of the ups and downs of pursuing a career in academia, and encouraging the students to be persistent and strategic in following their dreams. Cora is currently undertaking a PhD in History of Art at UCL, having studied her BA at Cambridge, and her MA at the Courtauld Institute, so she had a wealth of experience to share.

In the afternoon, Cora held two informal talks with Year 12 students. The first was with a small group of art students, and was an introduction to studying History of Art. During the session, Cora encouraged the students to share their own thoughts on some artwork shown to them, and to start interpreting the pieces. The students shared some fantastic ideas which were brilliant to hear. Cora also held a Q&A session with pupils interested in applying to Oxbridge. The questions were very varied, from discussing top tips for the application process, to what it is actually like to be a student at Oxbridge. Cora’s answers were wonderfully honest and insightful, with some great tips to help the students with their applications next term.

The Symposium aptly culminated in a wonderful buffet provided by Roedean’s Catering team, an impromptu game of cricket, and a team quiz. With new connections made with others hoping to study similar subjects at university, we look forward to a return visit to Lancing in the Autumn term.

The symposium was a fabulous way to learn more about specific topics within the subjects we were interested in. For example, I learnt about some of the economic difficulties in South Africa, from a wonderful speech by Matilda, which really changed my perspective of how economic policies work in different countries. Aside from the actual lectures, we really enjoyed meeting the students from Lancing College and even played a quick game of tennis ball cricket with the them! It was lots of fun and I've definitely made some new friends and have some new interests from the talks which I heard.

Here are some of the titles of the research papers presented, to give an idea of the breadth of students' academic interests:

■ Alex – NASA Needs a Serious Rethink

■ Alina – The Role of International Law In Preventing Illegal War: A Peek Into the Ukraine Conflict

■ Charlie – Is Space Architecture the Future?

■ Eni – All teeth are equal, but some are more equal than others — Racial Disparity within Dentistry

■ Eric – The Importance of F1’s Technology and Hybrid Systems for the Automotive Industry

■ Hebe – The Physics of Electric Guitar Techniques

■ Janice – The History of Death Penalties and Their Future: Should it be Legal in the UK?

■ Jeremiah – Funerary Architecture

■ Joseph – How Far Can it be Said that a One-Child Birth Policy would Benefit Society?

■ Juha – How do Algorithms show the Connection between Computer Science and Mathematics?

■ Kate – Is Opera a Dying Art and is Musical Education to be Reserved Solely for the Most Wealthy?

■ Katie – The Role of the Alter Ego in Jane Eyre

■ Marnix – Musical Therapy for the Heart

■ Mubanga – How do Neurodegenerative Conditions Affect Cognition?

■ Olly – 'Guns and Butter': How and Why did the Soviet Union fall?

■ Phoebe – Queer Theory on Human Sexual Activity Examined through a Comparison of Essentialism and Social Constructionism

■ Portia – Was the Witch Craze in 17th Century England Purely a Result of Misogyny?

■ Sigrid – The ethics of Archaeology: the Consequence of European Colonial Ideologies in the Field of Archaeology

■ Tiffany – Exploring the Role of Love within Medicine

■ Yoyo – Xenotransplantation - a Solution to the Organ Shortage Crisis?

■ Zain – The Future of Building Skyscrapers

■ Zara – Animal Minds vs Human Morality