62ND LONDON INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SCIENCE FORUM

HYBRID STEM SUMMER CAMP

Thanks to the Alphonse Weicker Foundation, presided by Kik Schneider, the Fondation Jeunes Scientifiques Luxembourg was able to present the LIYSF award to three aspiring scientists at the 2021 edition of the national Jonk Fuerscher contest: the projects of Henri Ahola (17) and of Ziqiao Luo (18) and Sijie Ma (17) who competed as a team.

During this year’s national Jonk Fuerscher contest, Ziqiao and Sijie impressed the jury with their project in mathematics and physics, titled “Introduction and Application of Fourier Analysis”. Using the example of noise-cancelling headphones, the two students explain the mechanisms of Fourier analysis - a method of defining periodic waveforms in terms of trigonometric functions - and its application. 
Meanwhile Henri opted for a project combining engineering, medicine and informatics for his fifth participation in the contest: “DolorX” is the extended version of his 2020 project, a system for transferring rich information about chronic pain from a patient to a medical doctor. To keep the effort for the data transfer as low as possible, he reprogrammed the new app so that it can easily be linked to a smartwatch and thus automatically transmit the patient’s measured data to their doctor via his DolorX app. 

From July 28 until August 11 2021, our participants were among 450 students from 70 countries to attend the 62nd LIYSF. In light of the hybrid nature of the event, 130 students were able to attend in person, while the summer camp counted 320 remote attendees, including our young scientists. In addition to the science bazar, where all students presented their project to a jury of professionals, the remaining LIYSF programme included 22 lectures and demonstrations from leading scientists held at the Imperial College London. One of the keynote speakers was professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the scientist who designed the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine. The organisers also added 10 scientific visits to the programme, which invited participants to explore institutions such as the University of Cambridge, virtual tours of the University College London - Mullard Space Science Laboratory or The Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, amongst many others.

“My favorite lectures were those about quantum physics and aerospace engineering”, says Ziqiao. “Our main takeaway from attending all the lectures on physics and engineering was that there is still so much for us to learn about those subjects. We really appreciated that so many professional scientists and university professors took the time to talk about their advanced research and answer our questions”, so Sijie and Ziqiao.

The London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) is a two-week summer programme held at Imperial College London & The Royal Geographical Society, with lecture demonstrations from leading scientists, visits to world class laboratories and universities combined with cultural interaction, for students aged 16-21 from all over the world.