Worthing students present at professional conference

Three Year 11 students from St Oscar Romero Catholic School recently presented an academic paper at the annual conference of the Institute of Acoustics.  Following their success in the 2022 IoA Secondary School competition, they were invited to submit a paper for the conference.

Ashton Billett, Emmeline Turner and Shay Wheeler wrote the scientific study, looking at the soundscape of their school environment, and the impact that loud noises such as the school bells have on students and staff.  In the course of their investigation they took sound level measurements at 35 different locations around the school, repeating this 10 times during each day across a 5-day school week.  Having identified issues with the school bells, they suggested possible solutions and presented these to the school leadership team and the governors.  The school is now implementing their ideas and is making changes to reduce the loudness of the bells.

Following the IoA competition win in 2022, Prof David Waddington (Professor of Environmental Acoustics, University of Salford) commented:

"St Oscar Romero Catholic School’s winning entry for the Institute of Acoustics Secondary School Competition 2022 is an outstanding project. This work combines a number of difficult areas of acoustics, including soundscapes, subjective testing, and environmental noise mitigation. These students clearly worked hard and produced a highly creditable result, and we welcome students of this calibre on the Acoustics courses at the University of Salford. My compliments to Physics teacher Mr Clarke, Headmaster Mr Bryne and his staff for their extracurricular support of this exciting and inventive project. With just a little effort, this work could be made into a conference paper and would be a popular presentation at the IOA Annual Conference. I hope to see them there in Winchester in October 2023."

The students then worked on writing the conference paper, and got to present it at the Acoustics Conference 2023.  This was the first time that school-aged students have presented at an IoA conference.

Professor Stephen Dance (London South Bank University) said: “It was lovely to see how the students coped when the boot was on the other foot and they were presenting to the experts. The level of professionalism showed maturity beyond their years. Real work problem identification and a practical approach to finding a solution was displayed”.

Alistair Somerville, President of the Institute of Acoustics, said: “This presentation was a great success, extremely well received by all those attending and a worthy addition to our conference programme. The students from St Oscar Romero school presented their work and handled questions with an assured confidence which impressed us all. Congratulations to Ashton, Emmeline and Shay for a well prepared and presented conference paper.”

The students’ Physics teacher, Peter Clarke, said “I am so proud of these students.  To produce a scientific paper while still at secondary school is a fantastic accomplishment.  Having the opportunity of presenting this to industry and academic experts was an unforgettable experience.  They each have a bright future ahead of them.”

Peter Byrne, Headteacher at St Oscar Romero’s Catholic School, said: "I am so incredibly proud of our students. To present a paper at a scientific conference, and to answer questions from university professors and industry experts with such confidence, is nothing short of remarkable. My thanks to Mr Clarke who both inspired and supported the students during the project."

 

The Institute of Acoustics is the UK's professional body for those working in acoustics, noise and vibration. It was formed in 1974 from the amalgamation of the Acoustics Group of the Institute of Physics and the British Acoustical Society (a daughter society of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). The Institute of Acoustics is a nominated body of the Engineering Council, offering registration at Chartered and Incorporated Engineer levels.