Zone Reports

Read the report: Electromagnetic Zone Report – November 2019 [PDF] The Electromagnetic Zone was a themed zone supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. It featured six scientists: Sameed Muhammed is a research scientist at CERN, studying how matter and antimatter interact with each other. Jose Brandao-Neto works at Diamond Light Source helping researchers discover new medicinal drugs using X-rays. Joanna Barstow, the winner of this zone, uses data from spacecraft cameras to investigate the atmospheres of planets and exoplanets. Heidi Thiemann is an STFC funded PhD student researching how variable stars change over time. Freya Addison is a PhD student at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science using radar data to study clouds and insects. Chris Rink is a masters student whose group uses ISIS and Diamond to study new magnetic compounds.

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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