EPQ PRESENTATIONS

Our Upper Sixth Formers presented their EPQ projects to staff and peers. Below are some short summaries of their EPQ projects, including perfume distillation, music composition and cipher decryption.

My EPQ was a large but fascinating undertaking, exploring the effect of music on the physiology of animals, with my research taking me into the constantly evolving field of neuroscience. I then took my project further by composing a piece, using principles and conclusions from my research, to reduce stress in sheep flocks - a decidedly niche topic, albeit one that draws together all the important things in my life.

Charlotte - Upper Sixth Form

A decidedly niche topic, albeit one that draws together all the important things in my life.

Charlotte - Upper Sixth Former

Other EPQs included:

Who is responsible when a self-driving car crashes?
Company Owned Towns: Utopia or Dystopia?
Have running shoes made humans slower at running?
Can I model buildings that can withstand an earthquake using different structures and materials?
Can I make a poetic translation of The Odyssey focussed on the suffering of its women?
Should governments around the world introduce a Universal Basic Income?
Should students in Britain be forced to learn another language given the prevalence of the English language around the globe?
Should films be censored to meet the values of the current age?

The defining aspect of a perfume is its blend of scents, which predominantly derives from essential oils. For my perfume, I used steam distillation to extract essential oils from plant material and heated a mixture of the plant and water using a heating mantle. The evaporated steam carried the oil through to a condenser, meaning I could then isolate the oil from the water in my distillate using a volatile solvent. My essential oils could then be dissolved in a high percentage alcohol as the carrier for my perfume.

Leo - Upper Sixth Form

My perfume was made up of:

Top Notes: Lemon, Bergamot and Ylang-ylang
Heart Notes: Cinnamon, Jasmine and Patchouli
Base Notes: Cedarwood, Vanilla and Vetiver

Please click on the image to the right to see a short video of Leo's homemade distillation equipment in action.

My EPQ was an artefact to write a Computer Programme to decrypt the ciphers used in the National Cipher Challenge of 2023. This is an annual competition run by the University of Southampton designed to challenge mathematicians and programmers. My program was successfully able to analyse the cipher text, decide on the type of cipher and key and output the decoded plaintext.

Joe - Upper Sixth Form