First (Gen)AI in chemistry education workshop held at Imperial

The department hosted the first workshop on (Gen)AI in chemistry education on Monday 21st July 2025.

In collaboration with AiChemy, Dr Benji Fenech Salerno, Dr Rebecca L. Jones, Dr Giuseppe Mallia, and Dr Ravi Singh welcomed colleagues from 26 universities and from The Royal Society of Chemistry. The aim of this workshop was to explore the role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in chemistry education. 

Professor Peter Haynes, in his current role as Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) at Imperial, welcomed the attendees with a short talk on the wider impact of GenAI in education.

The first talk of the day started with a keynote from Dr Konstantinos Beis who represented the AI futurists at Imperial. The futurists, spanning different departments at Imperial, have been at the forefront of how our community shapes its response to new technologies, particularly within the education field. 

Dr Giuseppe Mallia and Dr Ravi Singh then led an interactive session on GenAI responses to chemistry questions. First-year undergraduates undertake this workshop as part of their exposure to GenAI when they join the department. 

Following this, Dr Benji Fenech Salerno and Dr Rebecca L. Jones showcased their new laboratory experiment which is available for third-year undergraduate students at Imperial. This experiment embeds AI and machine learning into the curriculum, with applications in polymer recycling.  

The afternoon featured a series of talks from invited speakers. It was excellent to hear how GenAI is currently being used across the sector in both assessments and teaching of this rapidly evolving topic area. 

There was then an opportunity for attendees to discuss GenAI practices in their institutions and more broadly where the sector could be headed. The day was drawn to a close by Prof. Kim Jelfs in her role as co-director of The AiChemy Hub.

The day concluded with refreshments and networking in the Chemical Kitchen. Here, Dr Jakub Radzikowski gave a short presentation on the history of the Chemical Kitchen and publications resulting from the transdisciplinary work. 

A huge thanks to Dr Chris Mellor and Aysel Sarzosa Llerena for helping to organize the day. Special thanks also to the chemistry department’s undergraduate education team for assisting with logistics