Talks and Visits

We have a selection of talks that are suitable for a range of audiences. These talks can be delivered on our campus, at your school/college or remotely.

If you are interested in one of the talks or activities below please get in touch via sems-outreach@qmul.ac.uk to find out more.

Engineering and Materials Science Talk

The School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary offers a range of interesting undergraduate degree programmes.

This talk will cover our undergraduate programmes, from Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering to Materials Science, Robotics and Chemical Engineering, and covers the basic principles of the engineering process, examples of projects undertaken by our students and the admissions entry criteria.

This talk can be delivered in person or online and may be offered as an alternative to a request for a subject-specific talk. The school's Outreach Officer, or a trained Student Ambassador, will deliver this talk.

Teachers or Careers Advisors can request this talk by emailing sems-outreach@qmul.ac.uk.

Audience: Year 12-13 students thinking about engineering options at university.

Taster Lectures and Academic Talks

Saving babies lives using bioengineering
Dr Tina Chowdhury

In this inspiring talk, Dr Chowdhury explains the pathway she took to becoming the only female academic bioengineer from Bangladesh at Queen Mary’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. She discusses her research in investigating ways to repair holes in the fetal membranes after premature rupture and reduce preterm births. The talk covers how fetal membranes can be repaired with a new bioengineering approach that mixes the best in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEAMM) subjects at Queen Mary University of London.

Audience: Can be adapted to suit Year 7 - 13

This talk is available to school groups. Teachers can book a group by contacting sems-outreach@qmul.ac.uk.

Heuristic Reasoning and the Art of Problem Solving

Dr Rehan Shah

In this talk, Dr. Shah explores a selection of interesting conundrums and thought-provoking questions from a wide variety of mathematical topics to highlight the beauty, elegance and recreational pleasure they provide. As skilled roblem-solvers, students can employ these techniques of heuristic reasoning to unravel the magic of mathematics.

Polya’s famous mathematical exposition ‘How to Solve It’ written in 1945 enumerates the following four stages of problem-solving:

Understand the problem
Devise a plan of attack to solve it
Execute the plan
Review your work to evaluate how it could be made better

He also states that for every difficult problem you can’t solve, there must exist an easier, more accessible related problem that you can solve: find it. While this might seem like elementary, obvious common sense, its utility in solving exciting mathematical problems of varying flavours is paramount and this is exactly what this course aims to demonstrate.

Audience: Can be adapted to suit Years 10-12

This talk is also available to school groups or for bespoke masterclass sessions requested by schools. Teachers can book a group by contacting sems-outreach@qmul.ac.uk.

On-Demand Subject Talks

View Subject Talks »We recorded seven undergraduate subject talks during the autumn of 2023, which are now available for you to watch on-demand.

Each talk was delivered by an academic lead, and provides an introduction to their subject area.

Visits to Queen Mary

We can occasionally accommodate visits to the School of Engineering and Materials Science for different year groups. These visits normally involve hands-on-activities, practical demonstrations, Q&A with current students and a campus tour. The day can be tailored to suit your year group and what they are studying.

Contact Us

If you are interested in arranging a talk or visit, please email sems-outreach@qmul.ac.uk.