LIV.INNO students take part in outreach activities
LIV.INNO students are each strongly encouraged to do outreach as part of their studies. This can be as part of LIV.INNO events or as part of activities organised by other organisations. Many of our current cohorts of students have undertaken outreach and students report enjoying and valuing their experiences very much. Here is a summary of some of the activities which have taken place in recent months.
LJMU astrophysics student, Khang Nguyen, took part in a Mission to Mars workshop which was run for over 100 primary and secondary school students. A presentation on the topic of Mars and space travel was given, ultimately linking it to the prospects of human space travel to Mars and how to sustain a crew of astronauts on Mars given what we currently know about the red planet. Students were then allowed to ‘design’ their own ground-based station, with considerations of the difficulties of living on Mars, and then presented their designs at the end. Khang said: “They [the students] love the sessions and they like that they can be quite creative when coming up with solutions for their Mars base station designs”. Some students showed extra enthusiasm by asking extensive questions regarding what they should do for their design.
Another LJMU astrophysics PhD student Rosie Barlett took part in an IoP pizza and planetarium event. The event was for STEM undergraduates and there were several PhD students who could tell the students about their experiences with IoP and the positive effect membership had on their careers.
University of Liverpool particle physics student Katie Ferraby took part in Sci Jam 2024 , organised by the Central Teaching Laboratories and School of Physical sciences outreach team, which involved carrying out a series of activities for badged groups such as Brownies and Cubs. Among the activities were a planetarium session, painting with magnets, bridge building with marshmallows and spaghetti as well as drone flying, rocket launches and coding.
Two students who are both currently on long term attachment at CERN as part of their particle physics PhDs are Sinead Eley and Mehul Depala. Both of Sinead and Mehul have become CERN guides since their arrival at CERN and they get to give tours of parts of the CERN complex not usually open to the public such as the ATLAS cavern which Mehul and Sinead recently visited with a group of undergraduates from Royal Holloway University of London. Sinead said: “One of the most rewarding parts of my job is getting to take visitors to different parts of CERN (inc. ATLAS) – always love getting to introduce the detectors and share the physics during these visits!” Sinead has also been part of the organising team for the University of Liverpool’s Physical Sciences undergraduates’ recent trip to CERN and also gave these 30 students a tour when they came to visit.