Take part in the #ChemistryConversations challenge

If we meet someone for the first time in a social context, the question ‘so, what do you do?’ often forms part of the introductory repertoire.

When I share that I’m a chemistry academic, invariably the response is some version of either ‘oh, I hated chemistry at school’ or ‘oh, you must be really clever’. Neither is great for our discipline. These typical responses (which also seem to ring true for other chemists I’ve raised this topic with) indicate that a substantial number of people leave school with a suboptimal relationship with chemistry; either through lack of enjoyment or finding our subject difficult, or both.