The DevNeuro Academy Widening Participation project consists of a regular programme of activities designed to improve the progression and success of students currently under-represented at our university and other institutes of higher education. The project combines a series of four in-school interactive ‘Discovery workshops’ with a two-week laboratory summer research work experience in our Centre. At the end of the work experience there will be a graduation ceremony here at Guy’s campus. The students’ families, class-mates and teachers will be invited and the students will be presented with a certificate.
Students from non-selective state schools are widely under-represented at top universities. 48% of privately educated children go on to study at a highly selective university, whilst only 18% of state school children, and a staggering 2% of children eligible for free school meals, gain a place at a highly selective university.
The primary objective of the DevNeuro Academy project is to engage with challenging local non-selective state schools and contribute towards changing these numbers.
The workshops were designed with the goal of providing the students with solid conceptual foundations, as well as skills and new ideas to further build on. Each workshop combines theoretical talks and lots of interactive activities about the exciting field of developmental neurobiology.
We welcome prospective enquiries from non-selective state schools in Southwark that are interested in participating in the DevNeuro Academy Project. To register an interest, fill out our online application form.
Collaborating schools for the 2016/2017 academic year: City of London Academy and St Michael’s Catholic College and Harris Academy Bermondsey.
This project was developed by
Andreia Carvalho,
Darren Williams,
Kinga Bercsenyi,
Greta Schachermayer and
Paride Antinucci.
It is supported by a grant from the King’s Widening Participation Department. We would like to thank the Brilliant Club for providing training to the PhD students and Postdocs who delivered this project. 
