London International Youth Science Forum
 | |
| Website | www.liysf.org.uk |
|---|---|
The London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) is a science enrichment programme for students from all over the globe. The Science Forum each year brings together some 450 students of the sciences, from over 65 countries in the 5 continents.
About the Forum
Founded in 1959, LIYSF aims to give a deeper insight into science and its applications for the benefit of all mankind and to develop a greater understanding between young people of all nations.
LIYSF is a two week residential event held at Imperial College London, with lectures and demonstrations from leading scientists, visits to industrial sites, research centres, scientific institutions and organisations, including world class laboratories and universities.
LIYSF attracts over 450 of the world's leading young scientists aged 17–21 years old from more than 65 participating countries. There is an active social calendar with events designed to enable those from around the world to learn about different cultures. The scope of LIYSF extends further than broadening scientific understanding to engage students in education on other cultures and develop lasting, international friendships.
LIYSF offers a unique opportunity to participate in an international event, attracting science students from around the world. The modern world continues to present new challenges and advances in scientific understanding continue. The forum asks its attendees - the thinkers of today - how science will move forward in the future and which new questions should be asked in that process.
Participants join in a programme of
- Lectures and demonstrations by leading scientists
- Seminars, debates and discussions on scientific topics of world concern
- Visits to industrial sites and research facilities, such as the National Physical Laboratory, UK
- Visits to sites of academic interest in London, Oxford and Cambridge
- Visits to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum
- Social activities, including discos, inter-hall competitions, a light-hearted International Cabaret and a 'Songs of Home' evening.
- Optional sightseeing tours of London, Stonehenge and Salisbury, Windsor and Hampton Court Palace
- Optional visits to some of the best shows in London theatres.
Accommodation is in Imperial College London Halls of Residence. Meals are provided throughout LIYSF.
For two weeks the participants, living together as an international community, exchange their ideas and experiences of the world to fulfill the aim of the Science Forum: to give a greater insight into science and its application for the benefit of all mankind.
History
The London International Youth Science Forum was the brainchild of the late Philip S Green. In the aftermath of the Second World War an organisation was founded in Europe by representatives from Denmark, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in an effort to overcome the animosity resulting from the war, plans were made to set up group home to home exchanges between schools and communities in European countries. This functioned with considerable success and in 1959 Philip Green decided to provide a coordinated programme for groups from half a dozen European countries and, following the belief that 'out of like interests the strongest friendships grow.' He based the programme on science.
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh agreed to be Patron of the event and spoke at the first Opening Ceremony in 1959. Within a relatively short period, interest in LIYSF spread beyond London with schools and local education authorities throughout the United Kingdom seeking to send their students to the meeting. As a result, the meeting gradually changed. Instead of being based on home to home exchanges, it became a residential meeting with its participants living in Halls of Residence of the University of London. In the early sixties the range of participation extended beyond Europe, firstly across the Atlantic to the United States and Canada.
With the increase in nationalities represented, soon the Middle East, the Indian Sub Continent and countries of the Asian Pacific Rim were represented, the programme developed its scope. From its inception the aim of the meeting was to give a deeper insight into science and its application for the benefit of mankind, and to develop a greater understanding between young people of all nations. Through plenary lectures, seminars, visits to research establishments etc the aim was to put science into perspective and to encourage those attending to be aware of the needs of the world and what was happening in disciplines other than the one they were studying.
In the seventh decade of its existence the structure of LIYSF and its participation is constantly evolving. Former participants have been used to staff the meeting for over thirty five years and several former participants now act as lecturers and provide programme input. Those selected are frequently winners of national and international competitions, science fairs etc. The calibre of the participants is extremely high, the academic level being that of entrance to a university.
As a result of this LIYSF has attracted the interest and support of many leading figures in the world of science and politics. An Honorary President assists as a consultative council and currently the President is Professor Richard O’Kennedy of Dublin City University. His predecessors include no less than four Nobel Laureates, (Sir John Cockroft, Sir Lawrence Bragg, Sir Joseph Rotblat and Lord Porter.) Many leading figures in British political life have addressed LIYSF including Neil Kinnock (currently a Commissioner of the European Union) and Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister, who paid two visits to the Science Forum.
Recent speakers include Professor Sir Roy Anderson (Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and former Rector of Imperial College London), Professor Lord Browne of Madingley (President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was group Chief Executive of BP), Professor Lord Winston (Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies, Imperial College), Professor John Ellis (CERN Theorist and Clerk Maxwell Professor, Kings College London), Sir Colin Terry (Chairman of the Engineering Council and President of the Council of European Aerospace Societies and former Head of Logistics and Chief Engineer - Royal Airforce) and Professor Steve Cowley (Director of Culham and Chief Executive Officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) to name a few.[1]
Forums
The Science Forum has been running since 1959.
LIYSF takes places at the end of July and the beginning of August each year.
The next edition is taking place 22 July to 5 August 2015
More information at www.liysf.org.uk
See also
- National Youth Science Forum (Australia)