I???m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here is a public engagement initiative aimed to students from Year 5 to Year 13. It runs twice a year, completely on line. Every science teacher in the UK and their class can join for free.
PhD student Giuditta Perversi recently took part and gives us her thoughts on the process:
PhD student Chris Haggarty-Weir was recently nominated by one of his former students for the 2015 Malaria Social Media Awards in the Young Leaders category. He tells us about the awards and his research:
Professor Polly Arnold has been quoted in the Telegraph, the Guardian and appeared on Radio 4 discussing the recent discovery of 4 new elements by scientists in Japan, Russia and America.
The newly discovered elements are numbered 113, 115, 117 and 118 and they complete the 7th row of the periodic table.
The elements have not yet been named. The honour of naming them is given to the scientists who discovered them.
As we celebrate 300 years of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, we take a look over the centuries, at the discoveries, revelations, and analyses have taken place all over the City of Edinburgh.
Everyday processes and objects which we take for granted in the 21st century such as pain relief, artificial refrigeration, vitamin supplements and the existence and understanding of molecular structures were all discovered here in Edinburgh.
In January, three PhD students ventured out to Gilmerton Primary School to give a science lesson.
The children had been reading ???George???s Marvellous Medicine??? and this inspired the request to the School of Chemistry. The children were given lab coats and goggles, much to their excitement, and then we began experimenting! We explored the properties of hydrogels and measured how much water they can soak up (a lot!) and then had fun playing with the gel we had made.
The school of chemistry won an award for ???most collaborative project??? during innovative learning week 2016. Innovative learning week is a university wide project encouraging individuals, societies, groups and departments to invent and re-invent new ways of learning.
Dr Neil Robertson and John Mallows recently visited Gracemount Primary School to run science workshops with both P5 classes.
The theme was solids, liquids and gases, fitting in with the topic the pupils have been studying recently at the school. The hands-on workshop allowed the pupils to experiment with a water-absorbing polymers used in nappies, a liquid that behaves like a solid, colour changes caused by reaction with oxygen gas, and the properties of different metals.
On the last three Sundays, the School of Chemistry have taken over a section of the National Museum of Scotland, to give members of the public a chance to ???Meet the Expert???.
The sessions have been based on fluorescence, light chemistry and extreme conditions chemistry. Volunteer PhD students and members of staff have run a variety of activities and discussed their research with children and adults alike.
On Tuesday 5th February Dr Neil Robertson gave the final RSC Materials Chemistry Division Schools lecture, 'Your Solar-Powered Future.'
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, Dr Michael Shaver, Chancellor's Fellow in the School of Chemistry presented ???Saving the World: One Plastic Fork a at Time.???
