Year 12’s Nikhil Banerjee took first prize in a national competition with his five-minute presentation on the ethics of using genome editing to eradicate genetic diseases.
He beat more than 400 entrants – and 11 other finalists – to triumph in the Gresham Oracy Competition run by Gresham College, London’s oldest higher education institute.
The chair of the judging panel, Professor Sarah Hart, said: “Nikhil’s presentation in particular demonstrated a thorough grasp of a complex issue, one of the most challenging ethical debates of our time. His argument was reasoned and powerful.”
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My heartfelt congratulations go to Nikhil on this achievement. The aims of this competition correspond closely with QE’s emphases on nurturing free-thinking scholarship alongside speaking and presentation skills. Our current major building project, The Robert Dudley Studio, a dedicated space for drama and the spoken word, will further increase opportunities for our pupils to develop their proficiency in oracy.”
Nikhil entered the competition after reading about it in the new QE Futures Opportunities Bulletin prepared by Assistant Head (Pupil Destinations) James Kane.
Following his success in the final held at the college’s Barnard’s Inn Hall in Holborn, Nikhil wins £9,250 towards his university tuition and £1,000 for a laptop. QE receives £1,000 to develop its “academic programmes and curricular activities”.
The competition’s questions were set by leading UK lecturers connected to Gresham College and covered subjects ranging from the exploration of space to the role of music in helping ameliorate mental health issues in young people.
The question Nikhil answered was: Could genome editing consign genetic diseases to history and would that be ethical?
He began his presentation with the poetic account of human origins in the book of Genesis – “And so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them,” continuing “And yet science endeavours to go one step further, to defy imperfection, to alleviate prodigious amounts of suffering, and to alter the very make-up of you and me.”
He pointed out that, in one sense, humans had been interfering with DNA for thousands of years, from “domesticating wild animals to selectively breeding plants with better taste”.
What made the new technology different was the huge possibilities it opened up for treating disease. Nikhil outlined the unpredictable effects of editing genes – including death – and the pharmacological causes of those failures. But he was sanguine about the prospects for successfully overcoming such problems.
We should, however, be afraid of the use of the technology beyond the need to treat disease, he said. “What’s to stop us editing our traits – how we look, how strong we are, even how smart we are. What’s to stop the wealthy from buying a perfect genetic make-up?…We would be losing core human values such as unconditional love – loving a person despite their imperfections.”
In his conclusion, Nikhil stated: “The opportunities afforded to us by gene-editing are exciting, but in order for us to harness these, stringent legislation is required, which can only be achieved through a collaborative effort by scientists and ethicists around the world. After all, who are we to decide what way of life is worth living?”
He then immediately responded to questions from the judges.
Modest in his success, Nikhil himself said afterwards: “It was such an honour to make it to the final and I can’t believe that I’ve won against such a competitive field.
“The prize will make a big difference in supporting my further education, and it’s great that my school benefits too as they have supported me throughout this journey.”
Nikhil is pictured with Professor Martin Elliott, Provost at the college, who said: “Through our competition, students were not only able to showcase their oracy skills but also engage with significant academic research that will open them up to new areas of learning.”
Gresham College, the first institute of Higher Education in London, has been providing free public education across the arts and sciences since 1597 and is a registered charity. Through the competition, it aims to showcase the importance of oracy competence and the art of communicating.
The judging panel comprised:
- Professor Sarah Hart – Professor of Geometry at Gresham College
- Deputy Nighat Qureishi – Gresham College Council Member
- Nav Ahmed – Principal Lecturer, Arden University
- Mary-Clare Davies – Director of Global Education, Mulberry School for Girls
- AJ Haseley – Co-Founder & CEO of AYM Media Group
Teams Gearsquad, Constellation and CircuitBreakers will be heading for the States at the end of this month, having maintained strong performances at the national championships in Telford.
The three 2024 qualifiers sealed their qualification at the recent UK national championships, in which all 11 QE robotics teams took part.
“QE performed well, ranking 25th and 26th in their divisions of 60-plus teams and both successfully being selected at Alliance Selection, being unfortunate to be knocked out at the round of 16, “said Mr Noonan. “Students loved the experience, despite the cold temperatures, particularly commenting on the beauty of Calgary.”
After being highly commended in the Homerton College Design Programme, Shivam Singh, Yash Patel and Om Patel were invited to a residential weekend, along with more than 200 other highly commended entrants of the design challenge and a parallel essay competition.
The QE trio, who are now in Year 13, designed a speaker to reduce noise pollution caused by machinery in the construction industry.
Having gathered information at the Dunsfold Park track in Surrey early in September, the Year 11 team travelled to Castle Combe in Wiltshire for their first competitive outing.
The boys duly threw themselves into preparing for the rigorous scrutineering process. “Following some adjustments to the braking system, and with the absolute minimum amount of time left, the team passed all tests, with only small notes on adjustments required for future races.
Buoyed by their success in reaching the tight deadline, the boys set about trying to better their first race score and duly achieved this, ending the day with a score of 22.59. (Greenpower F24 race results are determined by a formula based on furthest distance travelled within the 90-minute time period, taking the better figure from the two races.)
“As the season unfolds, the 2023–24 Greenpower team will be looking for around four willing Greenpower apprentices from Year 9 to join the cause and ‘upskill’ with a view to competing in Year 10,” said Mr Noonan.
The group headed to Shropshire for the Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency (STAAR), at RAF Cosford, near Shifnal, and the nearby RAF Museum, learning from industry experts in a packed five-day programme.
The QE five were among only 40 winners of the competition, which was open to those in Year 9 in 2022–2023. They were Keeyan Shah, Kyle Goldband, Neil Kulkarni, Keshav Aggarwal and Ishaan Mishra.
The competition to secure their places involved completing four STEM tasks relating to: decryption/encryption; reconnaissance; creating a CAD model, and creating a team presentation.
The final round, a multiple-choice online examination with 20 questions, was more about astrophysics knowledge. To prepare, he looked at previous years’ questions and also read around the subject. The round was sat online at home, but recorded to prove there had been no cheating.