For a week, beginning 22nd to 26th July, 21 sixth form students joined us for the final leg of their ‘Pathway Opportunity Summer School Programme’. This is a university wide, outreach initiative, with students recruited by the Widening Participation Unit. Students from low SES and with no family history of university but who have been identified by their schools as bright and motivated, are encouraged to apply. This year, over two hundred students joined a diverse range of programmes, from chemical engineering to health and medicine, to law and psychology.

The programme starts in February when students visit Queen’s for an induction day and an afternoon of teaching. They return to their school studies while simultaneously undertaking their online university studies. They join us for a full teaching day in April and the highlight of the programme is the July summer school week.  They live in Elms student village during the week and there is a full social calendar in the evenings.

They experience a range of sessions on social, biological, cognitive psychology and on personality and research methods and they design and carry out their own research projects. They also heard from a range of practitioners across the week. Almost all the cohort (20/21!) are hoping to get the grades to join us. Student comments included:

‘I really enjoyed how interactive the classes were’

‘I really enjoyed meeting and working with people from across Northern Ireland’

‘I enjoyed everything about it. I made so many great friends and I re-found my passion for psychology’

‘Before, I was unsure if I actually wanted to do psychology, but my mind was completely changed. I loved the groupwork and the people who came to talk about their experiences in the field.’