The L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre (LYSC) at the Royal Institution promotes curiosity and investigation-led learning, in the hope of inspiring young people to get involved in the sciences.
Since its establishment in 2009 as part of L’Oréal's centenary celebrations, the LYSC has given over 200,000 young people, teachers and parents a hands-on experience of science.
What happens at the L'Oréal Young Scientist Centre?
The LYSC offers a range of experiment workshops.
For example, in the 'Make & Test Your Own Shampoo' workshop, students perform their own experiments with the help of some ionic chemistry to make several versions of their own shampoo and see how it performs in tests against commercial products. The workshop gives an introduction to pH, emulsification and ionic chemistry.
In 'Extract your own DNA - Gene Jewellery', students extract their own DNA and walk away with a small piece of it in a necklace to wear. The workshop is a great introduction to enzymes, DNA structure and uses equipment usually found at degree level.
The Cosmetic Chemistry workshop allows even the youngest scientists a chance to get hands-on and make their own bath bombs and lip balms, whilst learning some fundamental chemistry.
The 'High Velocity eggsporter' workshop looks at how materials perform in a crash test situation.
Read more about the programmes and special projects at the LYSC.