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.
7th 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!
Ginevra Casati, a PhD student in the Plasma Physics group, was able to tell her personal 15-minute story of awe and wonder: “Looking Up to Our Favourite Constellations”. Here are her reflections from the event!
Ginevra Casati telling her story of awe and wonder at the Great Exhibition Road Festival 2023.
As physicists we are trained to communicate our science in a highly specific manner: concise, clear, objective, with little room for personal flair or whimsicality, so when I had the opportunity to learn how to tell a story to a lay audience, I was intrigued, but also a little bit daunted.
Choosing a story to tell was not simple. I was afraid my audience wouldn’t be entertained if I shared something completely autobiographic. I also wanted to leave my comfort zone and step out of the bounds of the research that takes up my working hours. I found that sharing a story about personal growth and passion with an audience of strangers made me feel vulnerable, but also more excited than talking about my results in front of scientists.
I really enjoyed the process of thinking creatively about my story and I was thrilled to have the chance to practice my storytelling skills with people of the caliber of Prof. Claudia de Rham.
On the day, the reality of presenting at the Victoria and Albert Museum had me nervous and intimidated. As I made my way down exhibition road I was overwhelmed by the infectiously fun atmosphere of the festival, everywhere I looked there were curiosities on display, innovative workshops and the whole road was awash with bright colors. In that moment I realized I was part of the festival, and the feeling of belonging to something so huge made my nerves disappear almost completely, replaced with a powerful desire to leave my mark on the festival as best as I could.
Stage fright was kept at bay by my close friends who came to support me.in more than one instance I felt a bit overwhelmed or didn’t remember how to continue the story and looking at their smiling faces gave me the push I needed!
Connecting with the audience during and after the story was special, I really enjoyed discussing parts of my tale with members of the audience and hearing how they interpreted what I said and how it resonated with them.
Overall, it was an exhilarating experience which I am eager to repeat next year!
This year, WNBiP were able to support two fourth year undergraduates to attend the Conference for Undergraduate Women and Non-Binary Physicists (CUWiP) in Liverpool. Here’s what Yuqing Wu and Adèle Julia have to say about their experiences!
Yuqing: One of the highlights of Term 2 in my final year was being able to represent Imperial College at the 2023 Conference for Undergraduate Women and Non-Binary Physicists (CUWiP). This annual conference aims to encourage greater participation of women, non-binary, and under-represented genders in Physics, by connecting them with other talented Physicists. For me, it was an excellent opportunity to meet other Physics students across the UK, and gain insights into academia which I certainly hope to pursue in the future.
One of the first events of the conference, and probably my favourite, was a visit to one of three science sites near Liverpool. In my case, that was a trip to Daresbury Laboratory, an STFC-funded site focusing on particle physics. Among other things, I saw the detailed construction of a room-sized particle accelerator (sudden flashback to my first year project, where I wrote code to model a beamline, but never saw one in person thanks to covid…), and instrumentation for the time projection chamber of the DUNE experiment (in other words: how to construct a gigantic wire frame to help detect neutrinos). It was fantastic to see the knowledge I gained in four years’ worth of classes brought to life!
As a conference, there was naturally a long list of scientific talks in store for all attendees. We heard from many motivational speakers, such as Prof Carla Figueira de Morisson Faria, Prof Laura Harkness-Brennan, Dr Izzy Jayasinghe, and Dr Susha Parameswaran, to name just a few. The talks mainly centred on their research, and journey through the world of academia as a woman. The talk on chiral molecules and Wikipedia editing, delivered by our very own Dr Jess Wade based on her research and activism at Imperial, was definitely one of my favourites! (More recently, I might even have crossed paths with her group’s demonstrations during the Great Exhibition Road Festival.) There were also plenty of opportunities to discuss life as a scientist more informally, such as a Q&A-style session with a panel of early-career scientists, and small-group chats with some lovely PhD students from the University of Liverpool. On a more serious tone, there were several talks or activities focusing on how to promote gender equality in Physics, or STEM more generally – there were so many creative suggestions, and I sincerely hope I can see some of them implemented one day.
The conference is not entirely academic, however, and there were plenty of icebreaking events, such as quizzes and small-group activities. Liverpool is such a historical city, and our conference organisers took care to show us the best Liverpool has to offer during a self-guided city tour, culminating in a formal dinner at the Maritime Museum. Of course, I also grabbed another few precious hours in Liverpool between the end of the conference and my train journey back. Over these four days, I’ve met so many other aspiring Physicists, several of whom – writing over three months later – I’m still in touch with. I’m incredibly glad to have been offered this opportunity to attend CUWiP.
Adèle Julia and Yuqing Wu at CUWiP 2023Jess Wade inspiring future physicists
Adèle: Hi! I’m Adèle and just finished my Physics MSci at Imperial. I was lucky enough to attend CUWIP in March in Liverpool. CUWIP was a three-day conference, packed with talks, panels and activities, and attended by about 120 female and non-binary students from universities in the UK and Ireland. I had a really great time and would strongly encourage you to attend too.
The team that organised CUWIP was absolutely amazing. All the students were very friendly and the atmosphere was quite relaxed. It was really good to meet and hear from female physicists, from PhDs all the way to professors.
During the talks, speakers presented their research and then told us about their careers. It was very touching to hear the speakers being so honest and vulnerable about their experiences. As I embark on post-grad life and plan for my future, recalling what they had to contend with is reassuring to me. It was also great to meet relatable role models. I was able to identify with all the physicists, who are thriving as scientists. I felt empowered after those three days, with many examples of impactful women in academia who have succeeded through their passion and hard work. It definitely made me more motivated and self-confident about doing a PhD and staying in academia.
On one of the conference days, I chose to join the group that toured the Jodrell Bank Observatory and heard a talk by a female post doc in cosmology. I am really interested in doing a PhD in cosmology and this was a fantastic opportunity for me to find out more about research in this field.
The conference ended with a dinner in the Merseyside Maritime Museum at the docks in Liverpool. It was a very special moment where I felt part of a community, a big one, made up of strong, motivated and smart women all united by our love and passion for physics. Our cohort felt like a giant safe space and that’s a feeling I want to hold on to and seek out in my future career. CUWIP is one of my best memories of my time at Imperial.
