Zone Reports

Read the report: Space Zone Report – June 2019 [PDF] The Space Zone was a themed zone for primary schools supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council and NCOP schools. It featured six scientists: Nicolas Bonne studies galaxies and finds ways to allow people with sight problems to learn about space. Laurence Datrier is researching ways to find out when neutron stars collide. Emma Davies studies massive explosions from the Sun that can hit Earth. Declan Jonckers organises the design and manufacture of Multi-Layer Insulations, a ‘space blanket’ which helps to keep a spacecraft’s temperature at the right level. Bella Boulderstone, the winner in the Space Zone, tries to find the size of structures around supermassive black holes using dust as a space radar. Ali Hussain develops instruments to generate light to interact with matter in space and show its properties.

Read the report: Particles Zone Report – June 2019 [PDF] The Particles Zone was a themed zone supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council and NCOP schools. It featured six scientists: Savannah Clawson, the winner of this zone, studies what happens when we smash particles of light together, using the ATLAS detector and LHC at CERN. Philippe Gambron uses computers to work out what happened during the first moments of the Universe. Lucy Budge is researching what happens when particles are smashed into each other at very high speeds. Joanna Huang is a PhD student learning about particles and the fundamental laws of the universe. Harrison Prosper tries to make sense of nature by colliding protons at the Large Hadron Collider. Edoardo Vescovi is a theoretical physicst developing mathmatical models to measure the forces between particles.

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The Seaborgium Zone was a general science zone supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council. In the zone were six scientists:

• Verity Fryer, a clinical scientist who analyses DNA in a hospital.
• Sergio Adan Bermudez, a PhD student who uses lasers to research potential cancer cures.
• Nick Werren, an STFC-funded PhD student and the winner of this zone, is a physicist who specialises in quantum biology.
• Maria Walach, a physicist who studies the Earth’s magnetic field.
• David Whitworth, an STFC-funded PhD student who studies dwarf galaxies.
• Annette Raffan, a research technician who studies soil around plant roots and used Diamond Light Source for research.

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The Rutherfordium Zone was a general science zone for primary schools, supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council. In the zone were six scientists:

• Russell Arnott, the zone winner, who researches how the shape of plankton helps them survive in different environments.
• Kathryn Boast, a Quantum Materials Outreach Officer who finds easy and fun ways to present research on different quantum materials to the public, much of which is done at Diamond Light Source and the ISIS Neutron and Muon source.
• Jose Martinez-Gonzalez, scientist at the ISIS Neutron and Muon source who studies how water ‘dances’ on different surfaces.
• Gabriel Gallardo, who works with the Large Hadron Collider to figure out what the universe is made of.
• Affelia Wibisono, an STFC-funded PhD student investigating Jupiter’s x-ray northern and southern lights.
• Adelie Gorce, an STFC-funded PhD student who uses massive telescopes to look for the birth of the universe and the very first stars.

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The Nuclear Zone was a themed zone supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council. In the zone were six scientists:

• Sophia Pells, the zone winner, is a nuclear physics PhD student, looking at how we can produce radioactive atoms for treating and imaging cancer, using data from CERN.
• Sarah O’Sullivan, a PhD student trying to make new uranium compounds by heating existing ones.
• Meirin Oan Evans, PhD Student funded by STFC who uses data from a detector to find out what happens when high energy particles are smashed together.
• George Fulton, a scientist at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, who tests materials under the extreme conditions in a nuclear fusion reactor.
• Emily Lewis, an STFC computer scientist at Harwell who makes models of different nuclear reactor designs to find out how they behave.
• Andy Buckley who researches particle physics and predicts the outcomes of colliding super-high-energy protons together in the Large Hadron Collider.

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The Imaging Zone was a themed zone supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council. There were six scientists in the zone:

• Sonal Bhadane, a clinical expert in a company that makes radiation therapy machines and that works with STFC.
• Zone winner Rosanna Tilbrook is an STFC-funded PhD student at the University of Leicester and is looking for new planets in the Next Generation Transit Survey.
• Matthew Selwood, who is studying for an STFC-funded PhD making a new camera that can see through walls, detect contraband and see inside nuclear explosions.
• Marleen Wilde, a medical technical assistant and part time PhD student at the University of Reading who does experiments at STFC facilities.
• Dan Porter, who works at Diamond Light Source as a beamline scientist.
• Atreya Acharyya, who uses data from NASA satellites to make predictions for new telescopes funded by STFC in Chile.

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The Dubnium Zone was a general science zone supported by the Science & Technology Facilities Council. In the zone were six scientists:

• Tori Blakeman, who informs the public about the science innovation happening at STFC.
• itus Mutwiri, who teaches at the Kenya Methodist University and does research for the International Livestock Research Institute.
• Stuart Higgins, the zone winner and whose research group uses Diamond Light Source, is trying to understand how stem cells ‘feel’ and how those cells change.
• Hannah Dalgleish, who studies star clusters to gain clues about how the galaxy formed and how stars evolve and whose research institute is funded by STFC.
• Gill Harrison, who teaches obstetrics, abdominal and gynaecology ultrasound.
• Alessandro Novellino, who works at the British Geological Survey.

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