News

Last week we (that’s Shane and Sophia) sat before a Wellcome Trust Grants Committee to ask them to fund the project for 3 more years. Prof Stephen Curry and Dan Hannard from Woodkirk Academy came along to give a first hand account of participating in the event as a scientist and teacher. Over 100 scientists and supporters joined in via twitter. You can read what they said here. Thank you to you all. You are the best advocates for event we have. The good news is that the committee said Yes. They have agreed a Society Award to fund 50% (as requested) of the costs of the event. The even better news is that this means we can expand the number of zones we run. In 2012 we’ll run 30 zones and this will rise to 50 in 2014. More students, more teachers, more schools and more scientists will now … Continue reading →

Tomorrow, Tuesday 8th November, at 16.20 is an important time. Sophia and I, aided by Dan Hannard and Prof. Stephen Curry, participating teacher and scientist, will be asking the Wellcome Trust to part-fund I’m a Scientist for another 3 years. We have a 10 minute presentation and then 25 minutes of Q&A. We need your help! During the Q&A we will have a slide that will display all the tweets with #IAS2011 – live. It would be very impressive to see loads of tweets supporting the event between 16:30 and 17:00. 140 characters (including #IAS2011) saying what you got out of it would be perfect. I’m sure the committee would want to hear directly from the participants so please don’t hold back. That’s between 4.30 and 5pm on Tuesday 8th November. Please put it in your diary and tweet for #IAS2011

It’s a good few months since the last I’m a Scientist in June earlier this year, and the time has come to run another event! From November 14th-25th we are running a smaller I’m a Scientist event with 2 zones. It’s sponsored by the Science & Technology Facilities Council, so the 10 scientists taking part all work with the STFC in different ways, such as using STFC facilities, working for the STFC or receiving STFC funding for their research. The STFC is one of the 7 Research Councils in the UK, and they address research topics from particle physics to global security. They’re looking at topics as fundamental as the birth of the universe to the solar system we live in, understanding how the heavy elements are formed in the violent explosions of stars, and if it’s possible to complete the ‘Standard Model’ (including the search for the elusive Higgs … Continue reading →

We would like to congratulate the following students who have been named as the student winners in their zones of the June 2011 event. The moderators thought they all asked good questions and really engaged with the event. Zone Student winner School Brain Caitlin Stiles Loreto Grammar School Calcium Bridget Warren St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School Chromium Aisha Ali Birchfield Independant Girls School Cobalt Katie Feather Great Marlow School Copper Kye Clark Dover Grammar School for Boys Ecology Melissa Tucker Kingsmead Commuity School Energy Generation Hussein Shariff Buxton School Evolution Andrew Wood Tiffin School Forensic Science Michael White Saltash.net Community School Genes Hannah Darby John Hanson Community School Healthy Ageing Sam Andrews Bryn Celynnog Iron Rosamund Needham Toftwood School Manganese Sian Jackson The Warwick School Marine Science Catherine Lam Shaftesbury School Microbiology Hannah Grimes Churston Ferrers Grammar School Nickel Maggie Byrne Amberfield School Phosphorus Sophie Michel East Bergholt High … Continue reading →

Thank you all of you, it’s been an absolute blast! After two weeks of intense debate, stimulating chats and thought-provoking questions, I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! draws to an end. The five scientists in each zone have battled it out for your votes. The scientists have been eliminated one by one, to reveal the winner in each zone. So, congratulations to the following scientists: Brain Suzi Gage University of Bristol Calcium Drew Rae University of York Chromium Tom Crick UWIC Cobalt Jen Gupta University of Manchester Copper Emily Robinson University of Manchester Ecology Zara Gladman University of Glasgow Energy Generation Suze Kundu UCL Evolution Sam Tazzyman UCL Forensic Science Anna Williams Cranfield University Genes Jim Caryl University of Leeds Healthy Ageing Amy Reeve Newcastle University – Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality Iron Evan Keane Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany Manganese Wei Xun Imperial … Continue reading →

We have now chosen the scientists and schools for I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! in June. Zones This June is our biggest ever event, with 23 ‘zones’. 12 are general and named after elements, containing a broad range of scientists and research areas. 11 are themed zones, with themes from Microbiology to Energy Generation, Ecology and Marine and Underwater Science. Due to popular demand we are repeating some themed zones from previous years – Sports Science, Genes, Brain, Forensic Science and Evolution. We’re particularly excited about the Healthy Ageing zone sponsored by RCUK’s Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme, and the Quantum zone which is sponsored by the Institute of Physics. Schools There’s a big variety in the schools taking part, with students involved from Singapore and Hungary to the Isle of Skye. We hope that, as in previous years, classes at these schools are going to have a great experience taking part. … Continue reading →

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! is like the X Factor, for scientists, on the computer. And YOU are the judges. Teenagers like you talk to real live scientists and then pick which ones should get a prize of £500 to communicate science. Teenagers also have a say in which scientists get to take part. Each scientist who wants to compete has written a one-sentence description of their work. We want to know if you think they should be included. You can rate them here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/528779/I-m-a-Scientist-Rate-the-Scientists-June-2011 Who do YOU think should be included?