Event News

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here, is an award-winning event where school students (age 9–18) interact with real scientists online. We’re looking for 5 moderators to work on the next event which will run 16th–27th June 2014. At the same time we’ll also be running I’m an Engineer, and for the very first time, I’m a Geoscientist which will also need moderating. Your key responsibilities will be: Checking and approving questions. Adding appropriate keywords and tags. Logging and keeping track of questions, comments and dialogue. Checking the site for errors, and inappropriate content and usernames. Moderating live chats. Helping to run the site. It’s a lot of fun as the students (and scientists) are quick and funny and full of energy. And hey, promoting science engagement is a good thing, am I right?! What we’d like from you.. You should be bright, thoughtful, pick stuff up easily, ideally … Continue reading →

We’ve been wondering what’s the best question in I’m a Scientist, and we’d like you to help us choose. So we’re running a competition. There are so many amazing questions in I’m a Scientist, from ‘Would You Lick Jam Off An Old Man’s Foot Or Drink Toliet Water For An Hour And Why?‘ to ‘If gravitons travel at the speed of light, and the escape velocity of a black hole is greater than the speed of light, how is it that the gravitons can escape from the black hole?‘. And a question which often perplexes me, ‘Why are people annoying?‘ Some of them are clever, and insightful. Some of them are deceptively simple, but pose questions most scientists have stopped asking themselves. Some are just hilariously funny. Sometimes, a seemingly simple question gets an unexpectedly interesting answer. A student in March’s Forensics Zone asked, ‘What’s your ringtone?‘. Mark Hill, who … Continue reading →

We have now chosen the scientists and schools for I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! in June. Zones This June is our biggest ever event, with 23 ‘zones’. 12 are general and named after elements, containing a broad range of scientists and research areas. 11 are themed zones, with themes from Microbiology to Energy Generation, Ecology and Marine and Underwater Science. Due to popular demand we are repeating some themed zones from previous years – Sports Science, Genes, Brain, Forensic Science and Evolution. We’re particularly excited about the Healthy Ageing zone sponsored by RCUK’s Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme, and the Quantum zone which is sponsored by the Institute of Physics. Schools There’s a big variety in the schools taking part, with students involved from Singapore and Hungary to the Isle of Skye. We hope that, as in previous years, classes at these schools are going to have a great experience taking part. … Continue reading →

The next I’m a Scientist event, in June, will be the biggest ever. Wondering what zones we’ll have? Well wonder no more! Themed zones Sports Science Zone Quantum Zone (sponsored by the Institute of Physics) Microbiology Zone Marine and Underwater Science Zone Healthy Ageing Zone (sponsored by Research Councils UK) Genes Zone Forensic Science Zone Evolution Zone Energy Generation Zone Ecology Zone Brain Zone General Zones Phosphorous Sulphur Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Themed zones will have scientists who all work on something related to the topic of the zone. The topics were mainly chosen by teachers, because we believe in listening to our participants as much as possible. General zones will have a mix of scientists, from all different areas of science. We’re particularly excited about our two sponsored zones – Quantum Zone (all about very very small things), sponsored by the Institute of … Continue reading →