THE future of scientific innovation looks in safe hands after a schools competition held at a chemicals and biotechnology company.

The finals of the Scientist of the Year competitions took place at Lonza’s offices in Bath Road, Slough, on Thursday last week with the senior Burnham Grammar, Langley Grammar and Herschel Grammar schools.

Competitors were encouraged to write about a scientific subject close to their heart and likely to change our world in the future with Shiva Nischal chosen, from Langley Grammar School, chosen as the winner for his consideration of the future of surgery looking at the many medical advances particularly in the use of robots.

Shiva, who received a £120 cash prize and a trophy, said: “It was recognition of my hard work and I am delighted that the professional scientists at Lonza found my presentation interesting.”

Ansh Bhatnagar from Herschel was runner-up for his presentation entitled ‘Can we ever travel faster than the speed of light?’ which took the audience on a journey of space travel. He said “I am so happy and I loved the tour of Lonza’s facilities as it was fascinating to see professional laboratories to compare against those at school, as I would like to work in a laboratory in the future.”

Tanraj Bansal, Arjan Dhoot and Isobel Kaushal from Burnham Grammar were also finalists with topics on hydrogen fuel cells, the future of individualised cancer treatments and why humans have so few genes.

Meanwhile, Burnham Grammar Thomas Gilmour and Chris Yeldho won the title of Junior Scientists of the Year with their Renewable Energy Sources topic.

Thomas had made a model to show how hydroelectric power was generated and they both demonstrated good knowledge of the subject. Sruthi Nair and Sandeep Panesar came second with an in-depth analysis on PVC and concluded the public needs to be made far more aware of how PVC is getting into the food chain such as through plastic water bottles and how we need to find safer alternatives. Abhinaya Arivazhagan and Katerina Agathangelou in third position appealed to the audience with their doggy slides but pretty photos aside warned that breeding for handsome looks could lead to serious medical issues in dogs.

The Junior Scientist competition runs alongside the curriculum work for 14-year-olds at Burnham Grammar School. Taking topics from Biology, Chemistry and Physics the Lonza scientists watched presentations on selective breeding dangers; how PVC plastic is dangerous but yet everywhere and the potential of renewable energy sources.

Burnham Grammar organises the competitions as part of its outreach work as a specialist science and maths college. Judy Trinder, who organises the competitions each year, said: “I am delighted at the enthusiasm and knowledge of the students; how they articulated their opinions on new scientific developments and developed excellent scientific communication skills. The staff at Lonza are fantastic hosts and sponsors and we are so pleased how they are encouraging the next generation of scientists.”

Jon Cook, Lonza’s head of analytical services said “It was a pleasure for Lonza to host these two visits and I would like to reiterate how impressed we all were with the presentations. These types of activities help attract and develop future scientists”