In March 2021, we ran 3 Zones in I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here.
Each ran for 4 weeks, from 1 to 26 March.
Throughout the month students voted for their favourite scientist. At the end of each Zone, the scientist with the most votes was crowned the winner. They will receive £500 to spend on further public engagement activities.
The Pink Zone was part-funded by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC).
It featured 27 scientists from a broad range of fields. 5 of these were either funded by STFC, or worked at, or used data from, an STFC facility.
The winning scientist was Felicity Hunter. Here’s what she had to say about being the Pink Zone winner…
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“I’m […] very grateful to the awesome I’m a Scientist team for organising and managing the chats as well as to STFC for funding the Pink Zone. Engaging with [students] has been a very rewarding experience for me. It has reminded me how much I love being a research scientist and how important my work is. It has also helped me to realise how much I enjoy interacting with young people. I am motivated to use the generous prize money to continue participating in STEM outreach activities and raising awareness about our fantastic gut microbes and all the amazing things they do for our health.” |
The Molecule Zone was funded by ScotCHEM and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
It featured 33 scientists working in chemistry. 17 were based at a ScotCHEM member university and 15 reported as being members of the RSC.
The winner of the Molecule Zone was Martin McCoustra. Here’s what he had to say about his experience…
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“I’m surprised and very happy to be a winner in I’m a Scientist for a second time! I feel that talking to students and teachers about what I do and what it is like to be a scientist is an important step in getting the next generation to realise that we are not really special and that science is for all of those who wish to engage in it.” |
The Psychology Zone was funded by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
The Zone featured 25 psychologists. 11 of these reported as being members of the BPS.
At the end of the Zone, the winning psychologist was Dennis Relojo-Howell. Here’s what he’ll be doing with his prize money…
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“Thank you for enabling me to see my roles as psychology blogger and as resilience researcher from a fresh perspective. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the chats possible: the team behind I’m a Scientist (especially the moderators), the schools and the teachers, and the British Psychological Society. My prize money will be donated to a school in a slum in the Philippines, because I fiercely believe that one of them could be a scientist.” |