Women in Physics

On 7th December, W&NBiP Society hosted a series of talks at the Imperial Lates: Space event. Titled On Science and Self, we had four amazing researchers speak about their experiences: describing how they got into physics and what they love about their job. Many thanks to Cara, Sophia, Shivangi and Ayushi for showing the human side of science.

Shivangi:

If I can develop interest and provide the courage and confidence to even one person to pursue Space research, it’s worth my time and effort.

7^th December turned out to be more fun than I had anticipated. While my morning was busy with attending and discussing a recent paper in our journal club, the evening was reserved for trying to get people interested in what I do. But as it turns out, I didn’t really need to do anything. Imperial Lates, which was organised with the theme ‘Space’ this time showed me that people, irrespective of their ages and profession were very much fascinated by Space and Planetary research!

The evening started off with us being assigned a corner in the college main foyer to display a LEGO model and some videos of the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. Right next to our table was a cocktail stand (Icenine) that served three cocktails based on the icy moons of Jupiter- Ganyme’jito, Europa Martini and Marga’listo. Although we got a lot of people interested in the cocktails and the LEGO, the main highlight of the event came later when I had to present my academic journey and postdoctoral work for the ‘Women in Space’ talks. I was extremely glad to watch the room getting full and the excitement on everyone’s face when I talked about the mission and the moons. The discussions and Q&A round was even more eventful with hopefully the audience taking home some understanding of the research I presented. While I was hoping to impart some of my experience and knowledge, I in turn returned more confident about what I do. People often ask me why I do outreach and my answer has been consistent. If I can develop interest and provide the courage and confidence to even one person to pursue Space research, it’s worth my time and effort. But now I can also add that it proves to be useful as a self motivator as well!