Two young German students will undertake a two-week study tour of UQ’s St Lucia campus after their success in a major youth science competition.
UQ's Manager of Collaboration and Research in Europe Reinhard Flessner presented Severin Kaemmerer (17) and Volker Karle (20) with their awards at the 46th Jugend Forscht ceremony in Kiel last week.
Jugend Forscht is a foundation that stages a national scientific research competition targeting talented high school students.
This year, a record number of almost 11,000 projects were registered for the local, state and national rounds of the competition.
In the presence of the German Federal President Christian Wulff, around a thousand guests, young researchers and representatives from industry, politics and academia saw prizes granted to the best shortlisted candidates, some as young as 11, for their endeavours in seven areas of specialisation.
The students said they were overjoyed with their prizes.
"I’ve always wanted to study chemistry at university, and now I’ll get my first taste of university life in Brisbane. I can’t quite believe it yet," Mr Kaemmerer said.
Mr Karle said he was thankful for the opportunity to visit UQ and looked forward to continuing the research he had conducted to date.
Mr Kaemmerer won his award for completing research on copper fluoride. Mr Karle was recognised for modelling and simulating cell behaviour in a human colon.
The students will begin their tour in late July.
Media: Adriana Velez (07 3365 7951, a.velez@uq.edu.au)
