Patents workshop with Connor Armitage-Lowe and Dr Monifa Phillips: 8 November 2019
On Friday 8 November 2019, Physicists Connor Armitage-Lowe and Monifa Phillips ran 3 hour long sessions with year 11-13 students from the Business and Science departments.
The focus of the sessions was on how to gain legal protection for inventions. Firstly, Connor and Monifa explained the process of patenting inventions. This involved demonstrating to students how to write specific specific descriptions of every day items/inventions items using specific vocabulary from the viewpoint of a patent attorney.
Students were then directed to work in groups and were allocated an invention each which they had to accurately describe. A lot of discussion ensued with students working together in a competitive environment to provide the best descriptions. Insightful questions were asked to Connor and Monifa throughout the sessions including:
- How much they got paid!
- The challenges of patenting inventions
- How to remain resilient during difficult times/wellbeing
- Why they chose to read for their masters degrees in Sheffield