The Ensamble Avis 

The course was an incredible opportunity for me to really enhance my knowledge of chemistry and learn more about research techniques that are far more advanced than what I am exposed to at school.

In terms of the experience I have really enjoyed the challenge of this programme, and it really was challenging for me since I had to learn how to code from scratch. The scientific side of it was also very interesting and I feel as if I have learnt a lot on this topic which isn’t taught in school. I think overall for me the programme has a strong coding element which goes hand in hand with a science one. I am thinking of applying for chemistry and chemical knowledge from this course such as thermodynamics will be useful. Overall this has been a fun challenging experience.

Thank you so much for The Ensamble course, I feel it has benefited me greatly.
It taught me skills that aren’t taught very much in any other circumstance, but which are vital to experimental practice/design/thought.

The Ensamble project has been an amazing experience. Although it was hard work, I still would have done it all over again, because I gained skills like the scientific method, coding, skills in writing a research project professionally. Not to mention, regardless of the value for university applications, I think this is an experience which students will enjoy and be very proud of completing. I think this experience would be invaluable for the admissions process as I believe the skills learnt in this program are exactly what STEM courses at universities are looking for.

This internship has been incredibly beneficial for me as it gave me an insight into what an independent research project would look like. I have never been part of a research group before, and this was my first form of exposure to it. Although some aspects of this project were stressful as I was navigating my amateur coding skills, I was consistently interested in the study of my research topic, and I have found that I now feel significantly more confident in the coding aspects of research as well as more confident in my own knowledge. I really benefited from having weekly meeting sessions with my mentors and peers as it helped me develop my ideas and made me feel more reassured that I was not alone during this project. My mentors/course teachers were so friendly, and they were more than happy to answer any questions I had or help solve any issues that arose. As I mentioned, I had no coding experience before this course and I found the first week slightly more difficult because of this, but I was soon able to understand the baselines of writing a code and then progressed to understanding more tricky codes towards the end of the course. I believe that this internship will be incredibly beneficial for my future university studies as I wish to study some form of research science/Chemistry and so this internship shows my interest in this area and experience in research projects. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with The ENSAMBLE.

Really great course! Very good extension while I was in Year 13 and has definitely bridged the gap between A level study and University. The Python I learnt on the course has helped me in practicals at the University of Oxford -gaining full marks across a few experiments using the skills I learnt.

Ensamble was a unique and exciting opportunity for me, being able to not only expand my knowledge of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics but develop the key skill of innovative thinking and the ability to analyse scientific findings. The lectures were always fascinating, and the assignments challenged and inspired me to research more about topics that I would not normally have discovered. An aspect of the course that I was particularly passionate about was the opportunity of discussing with both the professors and other likeminded students, something I found extremely beneficial and formed a network of connections from. The most useful experience I took away from the course was gaining a knowledge of how programming is used within the scientific community, and the practice of maintaining a good lab book, two skills that will be invaluable if you are thinking of studying science at university. Lev and Dmitry gave brilliant feedback and always motivated me to think more creatively about chemistry. This course is exceptional, and I would highly recommend to anyone interested in a career in science!