Always looking for new ways to spark young people’s interest in science, the Scienteens Lab launched the Scienteens Academy in 2018. This interdisciplinary summer workshop, combining biology, mathematics and computer science, gathered 14 highly motivated high-school students on Campus Belval, from 6th to 14th September.
The small group dove into Systems Biology for seven days, a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study aiming at understanding the complexity of living organisms. Under the supervision of the Scienteens Lab team, they had the opportunity to work in a wet lab and to study the growth behaviour and the enzyme activity of the bacterium Escherichia coli. After discovering microbiology, the young scientists swapped their lab coats for computer screens and tackled mathematical models and computer-based simulations. They were able to analyse the data they generated and, just like real researchers, to make predictions based on their results and go back to the lab to test their own hypothesis. To conclude this week dedicated to the discovery of the complex and fascinating scientific method, the participants prepared posters explaining their work.
During the closing event, on September 14, the budding researchers presented the whole project in front of about sixty guests who came to celebrate the Scienteens Lab’s anniversary. It has indeed been five years since “De Labo fir Jonker” opened its door to Luxembourgish pupils, letting them step into the world of scientific research for a day. The Scienteens Lab has already welcomed over 4.000 students during more than 250 workshops. It was high time to celebrate properly this important milestone with all the people who made this adventure possible: the researchers of the University of Luxembourg and the high-school teachers who give their time and help develop the Scienteens Lab activities, the private and public sponsors who fund this initiative, the partners who are working on science outreach in Luxembourg and abroad, and of course, the young people who participate in the workshops.
The young Scienteens Academy’s participants had the opportunity to talk about their experience in front of Mr. Claude Meisch, Minister of Education, Children and Youth, Prof. Stéphane Pallage, rector of the University of Luxembourg, Dr Marc Schiltz, secretary general of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), and Dr Jean Lamesch from the Foundation veuve Émile Metz-Tesch. They then received a certificate of achievement and shared the birthday cake with all the guests. The event was also the perfect time to thank all the guests who came and to showcase the brand-new workshops in biology, physics and mathematics. What better way to get the school year off to a great start!
