Winner Reports

What Sarah Tesh did with her prize money…

Sarah won the Extreme Clean Zone, funded by STFC, in November 2013. Sarah donated her prize money to Build Africa, who used it to support their Water and Food Access project which has ensured a clean and safe water supply for 28 schools across Uganda. In 2013 a borehole was installed at Kimogoro Primary School, and Sarah’s donation went towards teaching a Water Committee how to maintain it. The committee have been supplied with maintenance kits and training, including simple book keeping, sanitation and hygiene, as well as the relevant skills to undertake any necessary repairs in the future. Abdriku, a member of the committee, said ‘The training was very helpful since we developed the rules and regulation on the use of our school borehole. ‘ Read more about the skills training project at the school here. Stephen, one of the students at Kimogoro, spoke about the effect having the borehole … Continue reading

Posted on August 23, 2017 by in STFCWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Sarah Tesh did with her prize money…

What Allan Pang did with his prize money….

Allan was voted the winner of Yttrium Zone in June of 2012. Here he fills us in on how his £500 prize money was used. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply I donated the money to the Young Crystallographers Group of the British Crystallographic Association. They were involved in organising a 4 day event in Newcastle for the British Science Festival which took place in September 2013. The event was aimed at school children aged 16, and they ran three one hour long workshops per day. The workshops were based around ‘The Structure of Stuff is Sweet,’ which was aimed at teaching school children about what crystallography is, and why it might be useful. As you can see from the name, they talked about the structure of sugar, build crystals out of marshmallows and explained the many different polymorphs … Continue reading

Posted on August 16, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Allan Pang did with his prize money….

What Tom Lister did with his prize money…

Tom was voted the winner of Laser Zone in 2012. He donated the money to Ringwood Waldorf School Science department who planned to spend the money on apparatus such as heavy duty pulleys and ropes, spring balances, cantilever balances, masses and hangers, friction apparatus and Young’s Modulus apparatus.

Posted on August 10, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Tom Lister did with his prize money…

What Chris Blanford did with his prize money…

Chris was voted the winner of the Biochemistry Zone in March 2016.  Here he reports back on using his £500 prize money to fund science activity equipment  for local schools. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply I leveraged the prize funds towards a set of 50 ‘chocolate impact testers’. These testers are based on a rig developed at the University of Sheffield to help engage students using chocolate to investigate the physical property toughness. The testers were part of the ‘Wonder Boxes’ put together by our local science museum, the Museum of Science and Industry. The rest of the sponsorship came from the the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, the University of Manchester’s School of Materials’ OFFA allocation, and Greater Manchester Higher funds. The funds from I’m a Scientist covered about 5 or 6 of the kits. … Continue reading

Posted on August 9, 2017 by in RSCWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Chris Blanford did with his prize money…

What Daryl Jones did with his prize money…

Daryl was voted the winner of the Drug Development Zone in 2014. Here is what he did with his £500 prize money… If you’d like the chance to win funding for your own science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply.   I gave some science talks at a local church here in Florida.  It was all ages from 5 to 11.  I used the RoboRoach and Human-Human Interface kits  and had some kids up on stage to demonstrate, and I did a quiz at the end.  We used two RoboRoach kits and raced cockroaches!!! It was fun.  I’ve had another request to do the same at a local school (however the RoboRoach kits only have 3 uses each so it’s starting to get expensive!!) I also bought neuroscience kits at the Society for Neuroscience. One is a kit that allows you to do “brain surgery” on cockroaches and then control … Continue reading

Posted on August 9, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Daryl Jones did with his prize money…

What Euan Allen did with his prize money…

Euan was voted the winner of Lead Zone by students in June 2016. He got straight to work using his £500 prize money and here reports back on what he was able to do over this last year. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply After winning I’m a Scientist, I wanted to make sure I maximised the impact of the prize money that I had just been given. After a bit of thought, I decided that the best way for me to use the money was to help train some new PhD students that had recently joined the Quantum Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training (QECDT) that I am a part of, and work with them to put together a stall to present at the Festival of Nature — a natural science festival in Bristol organised by the … Continue reading

Posted on July 26, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Euan Allen did with his prize money…

What Andrew Swale did with his prize money

Andrew won the Blood Zone of I’m a Scientist Get Me Out of Here in June 2013. He donated his £500 winnings to the Liverpool World Museum to facilitate setting-up the Magical World of Science, a one-off science-based workshop for the general public.

Posted on June 8, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Andrew Swale did with his prize money

What Phil Wilkinson did with his prize money

Phil was voted the winner of Digital Zone in March 2013. Here he reports back on how his £500 was used. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply Hello! I am Phil, I participated in the Digital Zone back in March 2013. On I’m A Scientist I was frequently asked what my typical day was. Well my typical day during the event was something like this. Wake up. Grab coffee. Open I’m A Scientist, look through dozen or so newly asked questions. Stress over inability to answer them all. Answer questions: “When will the sun explode?” & “How many KFC Bargain Buckets will it take to get to the moon?”. More questions are asked. Open chat. Enter 30 excitable students. Intensely focus and furiously type. Have the validity of my research questioned and sense of humour challenged. … Continue reading

Posted on June 8, 2017 by in Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Phil Wilkinson did with his prize money

What James Holloway did with his prize money…

James won the Wellcome Trust-funded Palladium Zone in March 2013. He used his prize money to fund visits to local primary schools to engage the students with science through hands on experiments, showing them how interesting and fun physics can be. James’ experiments included Magic Sand and NeverWet Spray to demonstrate hydrophobic behaviour and Pyrex submerged in cooking oil to demonstrate the effect of a refractive index on the behaviour of light. As well as playing with the experiments, Westfield Primary School held an afternoon question and answer session for James to talk to the students about being a scientist. James also took part in the Diamond Light Source open day, bringing his experiments to the general public.

Posted on June 1, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What James Holloway did with his prize money…

What Ashley Cadby did with his prize money…

Ashley was voted the winner of Molybdenum Zone in 2012. in 2015, Ashley spent his prize winnings commissioning artists to develop artwork which interpret scientific research being done at Sheffield University. The pieces were shown at the Krebs Festival in Sheffield. Ashley is continuing the project and is still in talks with artists for future collaborations and projects, working out ways of getting the artwork more visible to the general public. https://vimeo.com/150899832  

Posted on May 31, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Ashley Cadby did with his prize money…

What Jennifer Stephens did with her prize money…

Jennifer was voted the winner of Agriculture Zone by students in 2014. Here she tells us what she got up to with her £500 prize money. If you’d like the chance to win funding to for your own science outreach activities, apply to take part in I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply After winning I’m a Scientist I became a STEM Ambassador and started the Sciphun.com website to promote science subjects to young people with differnet resources. Some key tools that I have used in teaching are free science apps that appeal to kids of all ages as they are a fun way to learn. There is a wide range of apps to help understand biology, chemistry, physics, environment, space and there are even apps for pre-schoolers. On the site. there are also science experiments that can be set up at home and these have been tested by some of our work experience … Continue reading

Posted on May 24, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Jennifer Stephens did with her prize money…

What Nicholas Pearce did with his prize money…

Nicholas was voted the winner of Rhenium Zone in 2015. Here he reports back on how he used his £500 prize money for his own public engagement activities. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your science outreach work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply Since the I’m a Scientist competition is all about interacting with students, I was sure I wanted to visit schools and show these students first-hand what it’s like to be a scientist. I decided to go for what I knew best and show off some chemical reactions in front of a live audience. My first opportunity to do this was at Nottingham’s Festival of Science and Curiosity – a week-long celebration of all kinds of science in February, where I put on two chemistry shows for families that attended. The show started with chemical traffic lights – a reaction of a sugar solution that … Continue reading

Posted on May 18, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Nicholas Pearce did with his prize money…

What Bob Bonwick did with his prize money…

Bob was voted the winner of the Organs Zone in 2012. Since then he’s used his prize money to support his outreach efforts and here he tells us more about what he’s been up to. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your public engagement work, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply Since winning my zone in this program, I have upped my commitment as a STEM Ambassador.  To this end I have spent time in developing my visual aids which I have used not only in my STEM work but also internally when teaching as well as external outreach event. I have spent many hours taking images of tissues with many different stains demonstrating their diagnostic utility as well as explaining my profession to people.  The prize money has helped me to go from the rudimentary print outs to A3 foam boards with high quality … Continue reading

Posted on April 24, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Bob Bonwick did with his prize money…

What Emily Robinson did with her prize money…

Emily was voted the winner of Copper Zone in 2011. She used her prize money to support Bright Club  Manchester , a comedy night where researchers, from all fields and backgrounds, take to the stage to perform short stand-up comedy routines about their work. Bright Club attracts an adult audience that might not be interested in a lecture but will find that there is something they can take away from the diverse body of knowledge they are exposed to over the course of an evening. The Bright Club (www.brightclub.org/) concept started at UCL in London, with Manchester being the first off-shoot, but it has since turned up in many cities across the UK and even made it to Australia. After plucking up the courage to do a comedy set about her own PhD research, Emily enjoyed the experience so much she joined the organising team. In her spare time she helped to organise Bright … Continue reading

Posted on April 17, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Emily Robinson did with her prize money…

What James Pope did with his prize money…

 James was voted the winner of the Dysprosium Zone in March 2015. Here he reports back on how he ‘s been using his £500 prize money. If you’d like the chance to win funding to develop your public engagement project, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply I never expected to win the Dysprosium Zone in March 2015, as that I’m a Scientist event began my hope was to make it past the first eviction, such was the competition within the zone. As for the event itself, the quality and variety of the questions asked was incredible and my typing speed very much increased over the course of two weeks of live chats! One memory that stands out for me was that our final day coincided with the solar eclipse over the UK.  It was a fittingly cloudy day over Cambridge, but one of the schools in the zone had … Continue reading

Posted on April 12, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What James Pope did with his prize money…

What Clara Nellist did with her prize money….

Clara won the Nuclear Zone in March 2014. Here she tells us how she used £500 prize money on further public engagement with science. If you’d like the chance to win £500 for more science outreach, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply After taking part in the I’m a Scientist event, as I wanted to use it to bring particle physics to schools that aren’t currently able to work with scientists from universities. However, the original plan of doing this through particle physics masterclasses wasn’t able to happen and so, after a fortunate discussion with colleagues at CERN, I was able to stick to the original idea, but support a project designing and building cosmic ray detectors that can be built by schools cheaply! The prize money has been put towards the CosmiPi project which aims to build the world’s largest open source cosmic ray detector. The original team for the project met thanks to the first … Continue reading

Posted on March 29, 2017 by in STFCWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Clara Nellist did with her prize money….

What Frank Longford did with his prize money

Frank was voted the winner of the Holmium Zone in March 2015. Since then he’s used his £500 prize money for his own science engagement activities and here he tells us what he got up to. If you’d like the funding to develop your own outreach activities, apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply. I had a great two weeks taking part in I’m a Scientist, and was thoroughly honoured to be voted first place by the students involved. The Holmium zone group were some of the most funny, intelligent and enthusiastic scientists I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Our research group contains a mixture of experimental and theoretical chemists, physicists and computer scientists, so what better way to celebrate this mixture of disciplines than a programmable physics experiment that measures a fundamental chemical constant? And it’s also made out of Lego… Since receiving the prize money, we … Continue reading

Posted on March 22, 2017 by in WellcomeWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Frank Longford did with his prize money

What Paul O’Mahoney did with his prize money…

Paul won the Medical Physics Zone in March 2016. Here he reports back on what he’s done with his £500 prize money over this past year. If you’re a scientist who’d like the funding to develop your own outreach activities apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply So after winning the Medical Physics Zone, I decided to get right on the task of designing an exhibition for the Dundee Science Festival. My plan was to have a UV camera that would allow people to see the effect that sunscreen has on their skin – on a UV camera sunscreen would show up matte or shiny black due to UV light being absorbed or reflected away. Ready-made UV cameras can cost anything upwards of £1000. Due to not having over £1000 and needing some of the money for other parts of the exhibition, I decided to go much more low budget. … Continue reading

Posted on February 8, 2017 by in IOPWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Paul O’Mahoney did with his prize money…

What Scott Lawrie did with his prize money…

Scott was voted the winner of Iridium Zone in March 2016. He got straight to work using his £500 prize money and here he reports back on what he’s been able to do this past year. If you’re a scientist who’d like the funding to develop your own outreach activities apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply When I entered the ‘I’m A Scientist’ competition and had to think of something to spend the prize money on, I had recently been doing lots of demos with a Van de Graaff generator. I was on the lookout for something else to demonstrate high voltage when I stumbled upon a sparking xylophone – also known as a sparkophone! In my job I design and develop particle accelerator equipment which uses high voltage and resonant cavities; exactly how the sparkophone works. It’s loud, flashy, exciting and demonstrates several different physics concepts: perfect to show … Continue reading

Posted on February 1, 2017 by in News, STFCWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Scott Lawrie did with his prize money…

What Jennifer Gupta did with her prize money…

Jen won the Cobalt Zone back in June 2011. Here she tells us what she’s been able to with the £500 prize money. If you’re a scientist who’d like the funding to develop your own outreach activities apply for I’m a Scientist at imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply It’s been a while since I participated in I’m a Scientist and won my zone. I’ve got to admit that it took me longer than I was expecting to spend my money! This was for a couple of reasons. First of all by the time I received the money I was well into the final throes of my PhD in astrophysics, spending all my time finishing off my research and writing up my thesis. The second reason is that I went straight from the PhD into my current job as Outreach Officer for the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, supported by the South … Continue reading

Posted on January 25, 2017 by modjosh in News, Winner Reports | Comments Off on What Jennifer Gupta did with her prize money…