1 August 2012

Nobel prize winner enhances education throughout the world

Internationally renowned Nobel Prize winner and University of Sheffield graduate, Professor Sir Harry Kroto, is revolutionising learning for children throughout the world with an innovative education project.

The Kroto Research Institute (KRI) at the University of Sheffield has joined forces with Sir Harry to lead an international collaboration to develop his pioneering Global Outreach (GEO) initiative, which aims to improve education worldwide.

GEO provides free outstanding teaching material, using a wide range of approaches, helping to ignite a passion for all academic subjects from science and engineering to geography and health and social care.

Leading the international collaboration, the University of Sheffield will work with founding consortium members Florida State University and Universitat Politècnica de València to sustain the pioneering project which gives youngsters the chance to benefit from the extensive knowledge of some of the world's leading experts and educators.

The GEO hub based in Sheffield manages the educational videos and power point presentations which are a valuable and flexible teaching resource that give young learners an insight into both student and research activities that take place within the University.

KRI Marketing and Outreach Officer, Eunice Lawton, who manages the hub said: "We are thrilled to be part of this partnership which will grow as other universities around the world come on board. This initiative will provide a platform to obtain funding to further develop and sustain the global network for the future.

"The research presentations directly link to helping humanity in areas including environmental sustainability and medical advances. Teachers can use these short videos in the classroom to inspire young learners to consider the wide range of subjects available at university that are not covered in schools, such as engineering and psychology."

Sir Harry was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1996 for his discovery of new form of carbon; buckyballs. Shaped like a traditional football, these carbon fullerene molecules are made of pentagons and hexagons. In 2010 the breakthrough was named by fellow academics as one of the ten most important discoveries made by their peers at UK universities in the past 60 years.