Chemistry and Forensic Sciences Facilities
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Real world experience in our labs
Having access to high-quality equipment is crucial, and the School has recently invested almost £2 million in a wide range of modern facilities including wet and dry labs, an observatory and our new crime scene house. Our students use industry-standard equipment and work in state-of-the-art surroundings from the very beginning of their studies.
Discover our facilities
Chemistry
Chemistry student Sena takes us on a tour of the home of Chemistry at Kent - the Ingram building, showing you our labs and student study hub.
Forensic Science
Join Forensic Science student Rishita for a tour of our labs and crime scene house.
Laboratories
Our newly refurbished labs are well equipped for synthetic and
analytical techniques ranging from soft organic polymers to
nanoparticles to highly sensitive organometallic species.
In addition to conventional synthetic laboratories, we have:
- glove-boxes for both air-sensitive sample storage and preparation
- Schlenk lines for the handling of highly reactive chemicals
- a CEM microwave reactor with autosampler for high-temperature microwave-assisted synthetic procedures
- high-velocity light-gas gun and impact laboratory.
Our solid state laboratories are equipped with eight ovens and ten furnaces with the capacity to reach 1600°C. The furnaces include three-zone and tube furnaces suitable for chemical vapour transport studies in various atmospheres.
We have also a brand-new NMR facility, which
includes two 400 MHz machines. One of these is a Bruker Neo, the most
up-to-date instrument on the market, which currently is installed in
just three universities in the UK.
I didn’t realise how lucky we were to have these facilities until I spoke to students from other institutions.
Asad Saib MChem student
Giving you practical experience
Crime Scene House
Our latest investment provides our Forensic Science students with the
opportunity to find out what is involved in working at a crime scene.
Within the house, the rooms provide crime scene simulations for scenarios such as burglary, domestic assault and suspicious death. Outside, the extensive gardens provide a different environment for students to undertake the mapping and triangulation of evidence, and consideration of buried remains. They experience the challenges of searching and documenting different evidence types in the open air.
The realistic scenarios we create help our students to develop their approaches to evidence recording and preservation, and to appreciate the importance of persistence. Extensive use of these practical sessions helps to prepare our students for the diverse nature of crime scenes they may encounter in their future careers and to develop many transferable skills for the future.
Working with Industry
Our facilities are available for use by researchers or industry and we are always keen to hear about potential collaborative projects with industrial partners. We also provide consultancy services to businesses. Contact the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation team to learn more.