Liverpool Life Sciences UTC has been shortlisted for three prestigious Educate Awards.
After an extremely successful year at the Educate Awards in 2014, Life Sciences UTC has this year received three award nominations for Eco School Project of the Year, Science Project of the Year and the Spirit of Enterprise Award.
The Eco School Project of the Year category focuses on schools that have developed environmental awareness through a sustainable based project that has engaged pupils and perhaps the community with specific outcomes and impact on the school. Students at Life Sciences UTC have been working closely with Farm Urban, a team of PhD students from the University of Liverpool to deliver an inspiring and innovative Aquaponics enrichment project which has provided a unique opportunity to engage with varying methods of sustainability and research.
Science Project of the Year recognises schools that have developed a science based project during the academic year of 2014-15 encouraging pupils to engage with science. The nomination for Life Sciences UTC is based on the Innovation Lab project focused on ‘Bio-prospecting’ and the search for new antibiotics. Students were encouraged to explore their theoretical understanding of diseases such as Malaria and HIV through laboratory projects –in particular the opportunity to explore, hands-on, drug discovery. Armed with the technical laboratory skills developed by the UTC Skills Passport, students spent 8 weeks from January 2015 attempting to isolate antimicrobial compounds from Natural Products of their choice.
Finally, the Spirit of Enterprise Award explores the ways a school has developed enterprise and how it has encouraged pupils to develop awareness and an understanding of entrepreneurship across the curriculum. This category also looks at how the school has involved employers and businesses to develop enterprise within school. Students at Life Sciences UTC were challenged to design a product that would support independence, ensure safety and enable older people to access care and support when they need it without the dependence on repeat GP appointments. Inspired by the work of the sector locally through projects such as More Independent, students took one week out of their busy timetable and were tasked with working as teams to devise concepts for new Life Enhancing Technologies.
At the 2014 Educate Awards ceremony Liverpool Life Sciences UTC were double-award winners, taking home the prize for Science Project of the Year and the Career Aspiration Award. Winners of the 2015 Educate Awards will be announced at the award ceremony on Friday 20th November at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.