Our group of ASMS students and staff have returned from representing our school at the 20th International Students Science Fair (ISSF) 2025, hosted by Mahidol Wittayanusorn School in Thailand. Here is what our students Amritha, Angeline & Elise had to say about their experience at ISSF.
Day 1
During the ISSF in Mahidol Wittayanusorn School (MWIT), Bangkok Thailand, we attended several events and activities revolving around the theme of sustainable development in the fields of STEM. The opening ceremony was held at the Prince Mahidol Hall, where the princess of Thailand – Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, had officially opened the ISSF of 2025. Alongside her royal highness, we were also honoured by the presence of Nobel Prize winner, Akira Yoshino – the inventor of the lithium battery. After lunch we had a performance from the 1st MWIT symphony orchestra, consisting of school students from MWIT , and then a signing ceremony from the ISSN members. Shortly after the official opening, a poster exhibition was held, in which students looked at others’ research and could ask questions regarding them.
We then had a welcome dinner with various musical and dance performances by the hosting school, and got the opportunity to try different Thai cuisine.
Day 2
The following day, oral presentations had taken place. Since there was a wide variety of research topics, oral presentations had been grouped into subtopics. Our presentation had been grouped under Physical & Life Sciences. Within this activity, multiple teams from around the world presented their projects: such as cleaning up water pollution using traditional pottery, microplastics in crops, and even understanding the systems that cancer cells use when faced with a stressor. All of these projects explored various aspects of what it means to be an effective and proactive researcher in all fields of technological advancement.
Next there were a series of scientific workshops that were available for students to participate in according to the field of STEM that interests them. We chose to do the Sustainable Development Goals workshop as our project was about sustainable agriculture. In this workshop we had hands-on activities such as decoupage as well as creating bowls and plates using organic leaves. We also had a brainstorming/discussion session where we talked about how the sustainable development goals developed by the UN links to fast fashion.
Day 3
On day 3, we visited the Nation Food Institute where there were a series of talks/videos surrounding food security and how food businesses came to be. We were taken on a tour of the food museum, where we learnt about the historical and current farming practices of Thailand, how Thai cuisine is made, how it varies around the country, and what other countries it’s influenced from.
Day 4
This day was focused purely on experiencing the culture of Thailand. There were two routes we could go on, either to The Grand Palace, or to the Wat Arun. Our school went to The Grand Palace, where we visited The Temple of the Emerald Buddha and learnt about the history of the architecture, sculptures, paintings and people connected to the place. We also had to take a photo of our group doing specific poses at designated monuments, and post them to win prizes later on in the day. In the evening we had a cultural dinner where some of the participating schools presented their culture through dances, singing, and quizzes. The night ended with a concert by two of MWIT’s musical bands.
– Amritha, Angeline & Elise
