8th Annual Student National Conference 2025
Photograph of Berrill Building, Walton Hall Campus, Open University. Credit Open University.
About the Conference
When: 15 and 16 April 2025
Where: Walton Hall Campus, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
The 2025 Society for Natural Sciences Student Conference will be hosted by the Open University at their Walton Hall campus in Milton Keynes, on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th April 2025. This is an opportunity to meet with Natural Sciences students from across the country, and get some real-life experience in presenting your results – both poster and oral presentation opportunities will be available. We encourage finalists to present their final year research project, but students in any year can attend and present.
Who can attend?
The conference is aimed at students studying Natural Sciences undergraduate programmes from all across the country. Students in any year can attend and present, but finalists are particularly encouraged to present their final year research project.
You must be a staff or student member of the Society for Natural Sciences in order to attend. If you are not already a member, please visit our membership page: https://www.socnatsci.org/membership-of-the-society-for-natural-sciences/.
Registration
Registration has now closed.
Accommodation
There’s plenty of affordable accommodation in Milton Keynes if booked in advance, either within walking distance of the University or in the city centre near the conference dinner.
Options in the city centre include:
Options near the Open University include:
Abstracts and Presentations
Student delegates will be invited to present either an oral presentation or a poster and will be asked to submit their abstracts (approx. 300 words) at the point of registration. These resources from the RSC give some good advice about putting together abstracts, posters and presentations:
Posters should be on portrait orientation, with a maximum size of A0. Oral presentations should be around 15 minutes each, with extra time available for questions.
Travel
The conference will be held at the Open University in Milton Keynes, postcode MK7 6AA. Milton Keynes Central railway station is easily accessible from across the UK and is a short taxi ride away from the OU Campus. On arrival please report to Reception which is Number 32 on the map
The Open University Campus map
Parking
There is plenty of free parking on campus, details of which car parks to use will be available in the conference programme.
Conference Programme
The approximate programme for the conference is as follows. The full conference programme will be released to attendees prior to the conference.
Tuesday 15 April 2025
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 2 pm | Arrival and Registration |
| Posters Session | |
| Keynote Talk | |
| Conference Dinner |
Wednesday 16 April 2025
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| Scientific Sessions | |
| Poster Session | |
| Keynote Talk | |
| 4 pm | Conference close and prizes |
Keynote Speakers
Our planned keynote speakers will be Professor Nick Braithwaite, STEM Executive Dean and Dr Vic Pearson, Senior Lecturer in Astrobiology
Contact Information
You can contact the organisers on snsconference@open.ac.uk