Category Archives: 2020

Psychology Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Psychology Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Psychology Zone ran over 12 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. This Zone was funded by the British Psychological Society with additional funding from UKRI.

46 psychologists created profiles in the Zone, and 41 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 23 of these psychologists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Psychologists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Alan Winfield is a Professor researching the ethical impact of robots on society, Lara Quartel is a PhD student studying how young people’s brains work in those with mental health problems, and Abbie Jordan does research helping young people who are affected by pain. On average, 5 psychologists attended each live chat session.
581 students from 31 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 26 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity
27% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 61% from Underserved Schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Physics Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Physics Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Physics Zone ran over 12 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. There were 97 live chats, compared to the usual two week zone average of 16. This Zone was funded by The Ogden Trust with additional funding from UKRI.

120 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 109 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 81 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Ry Cutter is a PhD student studying colliding black holes, Tom Louth designs instruments for the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, and Dipendra Mistry is an engineer working with radiowaves. On average, 6 researchers attended each live chat session.
1,186 students from 52 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 31 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
16% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 44% from Underserved Schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Medical Research Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Medical Research Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Medical Research Zone ran over 12 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities and was funded by the Medical Research Council with additional funding from UKRI.

135 scientists created profiles in the Zone. 121 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions.
104 of the scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Kim Liu is a Chemical Biologist, Anabel Martinez Lyons is a Liver Cancer Researcher and Luke Bryden is a Neuroscience PhD student at the University of Oxford.
91 live chats took place during the activity. On average, 7 researchers attended each live chat session.
229 posted questions were approved and sent to the researchers who responded with 636 answers.
1,248 students from 53 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 33 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
8% of active students were from widening participation schools, and 55% from underserved schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Disease Detectives Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Disease Detectives Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Disease Detectives Zone ran over 12 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. There were 93 live chats, compared to the usual two week zone average of 16. This Zone was funded by the Wellcome Genome Campus with additional funding from UKRI.

81 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 78 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 74 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Alena Pance is a cell biologist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute studying malaria, Lucy McGowan is a PhD student studying bone health, and Hugo Lewkowicz works in Public Health predicting how illnesses spread. On average, 7 researchers attended each live chat session.
1,231 students from 39 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 23 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
16% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 69% from Underserved Schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Environment Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Environment Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Environment Zone ran over 12 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. There were 42 live chats, compared to the usual two week zone average of 16. This Zone was funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry with additional funding from UKRI.

105 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 94 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 91 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Gareth Mason is an Environmental Ranger at Forestry and Land Scotland, Jessica Gomez-Banderas is PhD student studying chemicals produced by marine organisms, and Sylvia Soldatou is a Natural Product Chemist at the University of Aberdeen. On average, 7 researchers attended each live chat session.
650 students from 31 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 14 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
9% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 45% from Underserved Schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Coding Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Coding Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

Read the report: Coding Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Coding Zone ran over 7 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. This Zone was funded by bp with additional funding from UKRI.

49 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 44 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 38 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Hannah Im is an integrated risk manager at bp, Will Furnell works in Scientific Computing for STFC, and Sreejita Ghosh is a Data Science PhD student, using machine learning to identify rare diseases of the adrenal glands.
On average, 8 researchers attended each live chat session.
120 students from 10 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 3 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
33% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 26% from Underserved Schools.
18 live chats took place during the event.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Chemistry Zone Report – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Chemistry Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Chemistry Zone ran over 9 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. There were 45 live chats, compared to the usual two week zone average of 16. This Zone was funded by Johnson Matthey with additional funding from UKRI.

89 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 83 engaged with students in live chats and answered questions. 73 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Tiffany Chan is researching radioactive drugs for cancer treatment, Zoe Ingold is a PhD student at studying enzymes, and Andrew Stonor is a pollution control scientist at Johnson Matthey. On average, 9 scientists attended each chat session.
643 students from 36 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 18 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
6% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 23% from Underserved Schools.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Food Zone – Stay at home 2020

Read the report: Food Zone Report – Stay at home 2020 [PDF]

In March 2020, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was launched to allow school students to stay connected with STEM during the school closures due to coronavirus. Students could log in and take part whether they were at school or at home, reconnecting with their teachers and each other.

The Food Zone ran over 7 weeks as part of the Stay at home activities, instead of the usual two. Students from science and food technology classes took part. This Zone was funded by UKRI.

31 scientists created profiles in the Zone, and 30 engaged with students in live chats and answering questions. 28 of these scientists were new to the I’m a Scientist activities.
Scientists from a broad range of areas and career stages took part. For example, Duncan Gaskin is a lab technician testing birds who get sick, Martin Lott is a bioinformatician studying microbes on food, and Boglarka Gulyas is PhD student studying urban agriculture. On average, 6 researchers attended each live chat session.
146 students from 18 schools all over the UK logged into the Zone. 11 of these schools had taken part in a previous I’m a Scientist activity.
23% of active students were from Widening Participation schools, and 46% from Underserved Schools.
20 live chats took place during the event.

Posted on August 26, 2020

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Medical Research Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Medical Research Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Medical Research Zone was an online event held over four weeks and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

29 MRC researchers and technical staﬀ created proﬁles on the website, and engaged with students throughout the month in live CHATs and the ASK section. The eﬀects of coronavirus meant substantial disruption was reported by many schools during the last two weeks of the event.

1,012 students from 23 schools all over the UK logged into the zone over the four weeks. 74% of the schools were widening participation and/or underserved.

In the ASK section, 349 questions were approved and sent to the researchers and technical staﬀ, who between them wrote 1,564 answers.

45 online live CHATs took place during the event, including four evening live CHATs where students could join in from home with their family. An average of 6 researchers and technical staﬀ came to each session, giving students a wide variety of roles and people to ﬁnd out about

Posted on June 1, 2020

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Green Zone Report – March 2020

Green Zone Report – March 2020 (Click image to download the full report [PDF])

Read the report: Green Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Green Zone was launched as a pilot zone due to school closures in light of the global pandemic of COVID-19, Coronavirus. This enabled us to launch I’m a Scientist, Stay at home as an expansion and continuation of the Green Zone.

We had a total of 82 scientists sign up to participate in this zone; ranging in specialities from animal behaviour to nuclear engineering.

Posted on May 15, 2020

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Space Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Space Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Space Zone was a themed zone funded by STFC. It featured six scientists:

Samantha Faircloth is a PhD student studying elements from moon rocks, funded by STFC.
Sam Frampton is an STFC funded PhD student designing new, smaller satellites to visit and study other planets in our solar system.
Nicol Caplin is a Science Coordinator at ESA helping to plan experiments ready to go to space on the International Space Station.
Lori-Ann Foley is a PhD student looking at how climate change affects Mars, using data from RAL Space instruments.
Liam Perera is an STFC funded PhD student looking at how life may survive on Saturn’s icy moon- Enceladus.
David Sobral, winner of the Space Zone, uses microscopes to research how galaxies formed and evolved from the primitive universe, funded by STFC.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Particles Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Particles Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Particles Zone was a themed zone supported by STFC. It featured six scientists:

Ondrej Kovanda is an STFC funded PhD student studying ways the standard model of particle physics fails.
Jordan McElwee is an STFC funded PhD student studying how neutrinos interact with the atomic nucleus.
Eleanor Jones is PhD student at CERN, using the world’s most powerful particle accelerator to look back in time and predict the future.
Edward Banks, winner of the Particles Zone, is a Lab Technician at STFC Boulby Underground Laboratory, running experiments that need very quiet conditions.
Christine Beavers is the Principal Beamline Scientist at the Diamond Light Source, using high energy x-rays to see the atomic structure of minerals, materials and molecules.
Alice Morris is a PhD student at UCL, looking at data from the ATLAS detector at CERN.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Nihonium Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Nihonium Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Nihonium Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome. It featured six scientists:

Pan-ngum Wirichada predicts how disease spreads and how we may be able to stop or slow it down using mathematical models.
Natalia Brodaczewska sets up and analyses genetic tests looking for changes in the DNA of cancer patients.
Mick Schubert, the winner of this zone, is a science writer and editor, turning complicated science into ways everyone can understand.
Manjit Kaur is a Dermatologist at the University of Birmingham.
Filipe Richheimer is a PhD student measuring very small objects.
Bruce Saleeb-Mousa is a PhD student designing, making and testing tiny devices that can change the direction of the path of a light beam.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Moscovium Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Moscovium Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Moscovium Zone was a general zone supported by STFC. It featured five scientists:

- Martha Jesson is an Intelligence Coordinator helping services to provide better care.
- Jennifer Carroll is a Nuclear Scientist at Wood plc, designing changes to nuclear power stations to help keep reactors operating and generating electricity.
- Dan Brunsdon is a Medical Anthropologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, trying to understand how to prevent people from getting sick.
- Ben Rowsell is a PhD student developing new ways of producing drugs and sustainable production of industrial products.
- Baptiste Ravina, the winner of the Moscovium Zone, is studying particles created by hitting other particles together in the lab.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Molecule Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Molecule Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Molecule Zone was a themed zone supported by ScotCHEM. It featured six scientists:

Zahra Rattray, from University of Strathclyde, is researching about how to develop new chemotherapy medicines
Peter Brown is a PhD student at University of St Andrews, working on building more efficient and durable solar panels to combat climate change
Mairi Littleson is a Medicinal Chemist at University of Dundee, researching how to make new molecules that could be used as medicine
Elliott Reedy is a PhD student at University of Edinburgh, studying various molecules that are thought to be present in gas clouds and dust between stars.
Danica Pinto, the zone winner from Heriot-Watt University, uses spectroscopy to study molecules.
Ane Valera, from University of Aberdeen, makes changes to bugs’ DNA to produce a material for car windscreens.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Livermorium Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Livermorium Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Livermorium Zone was a general science zone funded by STFC. It featured six scientists:

Zoya Ali is a Geneticist at RHC, specialising in prenatal and reproductive genetics
Tom Scott is a Lecturer who develops low cost nano-materials for cleaning water at low cost and has been funded by STFC.
Stacey New, winner of the Livermorium Zone, is a Climate Scientist at the Met Office, a research partner of STFC, working to help people understand climate change and its impacts.
Laura Mason is a Forensic Researcher at DTSL, a research partner of STFC. looking at ways to find evidence that can be used in court cases.
James Lees is a PhD student investigating how to make a thermometer for use at a scale of just hundreds of atoms.
Connor Prior is a PhD student trying to make new compounds which could provide new ways to make medicines.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Flerovium Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Flerovium Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Flerovium Zone was a general zone supported by STFC. It featured six scientists:

Tom Dally is a Postdoctoral Researcher using sound and radar to identify and track insect numbers and uses data from STFC facilities.
Rebecca Wong is a Safety Case Consultant at Wood plc, an STFC partner company, assessing hazards on nuclear sites.
Emily Goddard is a PhD student investigating how to use salt to make heating your home greener and cheaper and uses data from STFC facilities.
Elspeth Keating is a Research Fellow in lightweight materials and manufacturing and uses data from STFC facilities.
Ben Cropper, the winner of the Flerovium Zone, is a PhD student funded by STFC studying particle physics.
Antoine Bourget is a Theoretical Physicist at Imperial College London funded by STFC, who is trying to understand how the world works at a fundamental level.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Food Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Food Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Food Zone was a themed zone supported by Wellcome. It featured four scientists:

Ross Alexander, the winner of the zone, is a lecturer and researcher looking into what happens when plants get stressed.
Martin Johnsson is a Postdoctoral Researcher studying the DNA of pigs and chickens to understand their biology and improve animal breeding.
Gabriela da Silva Xavier is a Senior Lecturer in cellular metabolism researching type 2 diabetes.
Ellie Spence is a PhD student working with a fungus that kills insects, to try and find an alternative to chemical insecticides.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Electromagnetic Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Electromagnetic Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Electromagnetic Zone was a themed zone funded by STFC. It featured six scientists:

Megan Maunder is an STFC funded Space Weather Scientist, whose work allows scientists to better forecast how the weather in space will impact the earth.
Katherine Graves is a PhD student who turns plastic into useful carbon nanotubes, and uses electromagnetic radiation data from STFC facilities to see whether they have formed correctly.
Jesse Dykes is an Optical Scientist at Qinetiq who uses lasers to see through clouds and fog and communicate with satellites.
Dave Constable, the winner of this zone, studies the aurora on Jupiter and Saturn using computer simulations and is funded by STFC.
Amelia Edwards is a PhD student based at CERN, working on the design and testing of components for future particle accelerators.
Arjuna James is a PhD student funded by STFC studying the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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Energy Zone Report – March 2020

Read the report: Energy Zone Report – March 2020 [PDF]

The Energy Zone was a themed zone supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry. It featured five scientists:

Struan Simpson is a PhD Student making materials that help quantum computers remember things.
Isabel Cooley is a PhD Student who uses computer models to help design energy saving materials.
Douglas Bray, the winner of the Energy Zone, is a PhD student using Water Hyacinth to make protein for animal food and gas so villagers can cook.
David Threlfall is a Lifecycle Engineer at Rolls Royce, ensuring aeroplane engines work safely and reliably.
Charlotte Hoskin is a PhD Student making a biological battery to act as an artificial retina.

Posted on April 16, 2020

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What can you do?

I want to take part with my class ❯

I want to take part as a scientist ❯

I want to find out about funding I’m a Scientist ❯

What is I’m a Scientist?

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online activity where school students get to meet and interact with scientists.

It’s a competition between scientists, where the students are the judges.

Students challenge the scientists over intense, fast-paced, online live Chats. Then they Ask the scientists all the questions they want to, and Vote for their favourite scientist to win a prize of £500 to communicate their work with the public.

Follow @imascientist