Emma was voted the winner of the Gravity Zone in March 2016. Here she writes about using her £500 prize money to set up a YouTube Channel, ‘The Extraordinary Universe’.
If you’d like to win funding for your own public engagement work, apply for the next I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here: imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply
I used the prize money to buy equipment to set up my YouTube channel, which contains lots of videos about astrophysics and how the extraordinary universe works, for example ‘What happens if you fall into a black hole? or ‘What is a pulsar?’.
Using this channel I have so far been able to reach 80,000 people. I spent £250 on a video camera, £50 on a microphone, £50 on lighting and £150 towards an iPad for editing and animation. I have also been using Instagram to support my YouTube channel, and that has been very popular (over 30k followers) which can be found here.
Using the equipment I bought with the prize money, I have been able to consistently produce content, as now the only costs I have are on my time. Since setting up my YouTube channel, I have had many fantastic opportunities come my way and I have even won an award for my science communication.
It all started with this competition, and for that I am eternally grateful! I have to say that everything I have achieved since taking part in this competition wouldn’t have been possible without the seed funding provided from the prize money. I have given many talks, demonstrated at science festival/events, use social media as an educational channel, interviewed on local and national television. More on what I’m up to next can be found on my website.
