Leading academics from the University are this week taking part in an online learning event that will be attended by over 3,000 school pupils from across the north-east.
The Lift Off & Grow 2022 event, organised by Aberdeen City Council, aims to inform and inspire young people about the variety of career and study opportunities in the region as it rises to the challenge of climate change. Held in partnership with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) North East, it is being streamed to senior pupils across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire over 1-2 June.
Academics from the University’s Schools of Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Natural and Computing Sciences will be delivering presentations to pupils at the event, across a range of theme related to climate issues.
The presentations will include:
- The Soils of Aberdeenshire and the Climate crisis – presented by Graeme Paton, Head of the School of Biological Sciences, this will discuss local soils and the landscape, how these change over time and the effect of the climate change.
- Food Systems in a Changing Climate: From Global to Local – presented by Diana Feliciano, Martin G Barker, and Elizabeth Campbell, all from the School of Biological Sciences, this will explore the difference between weather and climate and help pupils understand how and why the UK’s climate is changing, as well as the role of agriculture.
- Engineering the Energy Transition – presented by Richard Neilson and Marcin Kapitaniak from the School of Engineering, this will explain some of the engineering challenges around energy transition and some of the work that the University’s School of Engineering is doing to address these.
- Green Chemistry: what is it and why is it important? – presented by Alan McCue from the Department of Chemistry, this will consider the concept of green chemistry in cleaning up the chemical industry and cover some ‘big picture topics’ such as moving away from fossil fuels, what to do with carbon dioxide emissions and fracking.