Category Archives: Uncategorized

11Mar/21

Virtual Observational Astronomy Workshop

Over 60 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers attended the GRADnet online observational astronomy workshop on 10 March 2021.

Thank you to Kathy Romer, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sussex and her wonderful team who provided pre-recorded content as part of the live workshop as well as the following sessions:

  • Observational Astronomy in the future: Plenary seminar with Q&A with Dr Steve Wilkins, Reader in Astronomy in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sussex.
  • Virtual Observatories and introduction: Seminar given by Dr Peter Hurley, Research Fellow in Extra-Galactic Astrophysics (Physics and Astronomy), University of Sussex and Dr Raphael Shirley, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Survey Scientist; postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southampton.

Participants enjoyed “learning about future telescopes and meeting people in Gather Town”. “It’s the first time I’ve been to an event where this networking feature has worked virtually.  This was really well planned.”

The “telescope quiz was fun, the talks were great and the sharing of expertise”.  Delegates welcomed the flexibility of the virtual workshop: “Having the option of watching pre-recorded talks was nice. It made it easy to pick and choose the parts which were relevant to me.”

Post-Covid-19 GRADnet looks forward to being able to run a similar face-to-face event sometime in the future!

18Feb/21

Online GRADnet Winter School a success!

GRADnet in collaboration with Mark Horner, Performance Pathways, successfully ran a three-day online course 15-17 February 2021 via Microsoft Teams for 30 delegates focusing on transferrable skills development.  The workshop looked at the complexities of team working, effective communication and how to best perform in a team, remote team working, with the opportunity to develop leadership qualities and skills.

Participants explored the benefits of, and opportunities for, improved self and social awareness; gaining an understanding of one’s strengths and areas for support; looking at how one’s working style impacts on co-workers; developing the experience, skills and qualities needed for future leadership.

Working in teams, remotely, using some A4 sheets of paper, paper clips and sticky tape, delegates had to construct a paper structure and balance a plastic bottle on top.

Chris Brunskill, Head of UK Space Programme, D-Orbit kindly provided the challenge “Design of a commercial space service” where delegates had to pitch and present their business plan in under 15 minutes! 

Congratulations to Team A who won the challenge:  Adel Aljarid, University of Sussex, Josefine Gårn, University of Hertfordshire, Kai Sun, University of Southampton, Terje Theisen, Royal Holloway University of London and Hannah Wood, University of Sussex.  They chose to start a satellite company for the remote censoring of crop fields to help farmers and insurance companies with crop fields.

This years’ Winter School was due to take place at Cumberland Lodge, Great Park Windsor, but was switched to online delivery due to the current Covid-19 lockdown.  The tech worked and thankfully everything ran very smoothly.

Feedback from participants:

  • “Good organisation of the workshop, communicating schedules and resources etc. and using the technology to make this work remotely”.
  • “The workshop facilitators were great and very effective. They did a great job motivating me to do my best.”
  • Thank you for a great event! I really enjoyed myself and both Mark and Chris were great.”
01Feb/21

Cosmological Clues for Beginners!

Congratulations to Dr Carolyn Devereux FRAS, University of Hertfordshire, on the publication of her new book: “Cosmological Clues:  Evidence for the Big Bang, Dark Matter and Dark Energy”.

Carolyn is a lecturer in astrophysics at the Centre for Astrophysics Research, specialising in galaxy evolution and observational cosmology using Cosmic Microwave Background lensing. After gaining her PhD from University College University (1990), she researched  electro-optical devices using ferroelectric liquid crystals and liquid crystal polymers at the Hirst Research Centre, GEC. After managing large IT projects in industry, followed by a career break, she changed fields to become an astrophysicist focusing on the measurement of dark matter halo mass and the role of dark matter in the evolution of the Large Scale Structure of the Universe.  

This book gives an overview of cosmology showing how the different theories and observations fit together to make the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model. The book is for beginner students (it is written without any equations) and focusses on understanding the concepts that make up the LCDM model of cosmology. It is written in a readable way with stories about how the LCDM model developed and the scientists involved in it’s  development. It covers the early universe, including difficult topics such as structure formation and inflation, and it looks at current research, exploring some of the key questions that we have in cosmology. This is a book that will help students understand cosmology.

To obtain access to the book see here.

Abstract:  Did the Universe have a beginning? Will it have an end? Or has it always been the same, never changing? This is the subject of cosmology; the study of the Universe, and this book provides a perfect introduction to the subject for anyone that is interested in the wonders of our Universe

This book provides an accessible overview of the Standard Model of Cosmology, which is explained in six Cosmological Clues, including evidence for the Big Bang and dark matter and dark energy – the keystones of modern cosmology. 

It takes readers through some of the most exciting questions in cosmology, such as what evidence do we have that the Universe started from the Big Bang? Has dark matter been observed? Will we ever know what dark energy is? Are the multiverses real? And could the Universe be a hologram? 

This book is an ideal guide for anyone interested in finding out more about our Universe. It will be of interest to those studying cosmology for the first time, including readers without a scientific background, who have an interest in looking up at the stars and wondering where they all came from!

Key features: 

  • Contains the latest evidence for the Big Bang, dark matter, and dark energy and explores exciting scientific ideas, such as inflation and multiverses
  • Provides a clear explanation of the main theories of how the Universe evolved based on key observations – the Cosmological Clues
  • Gives the reader a concise introduction to the scientific process, using cosmology as the example, and explores why it has been so successful in creating the technologies we have today

 

21Jan/21

Machine Learning and AI Workshop via Zoom!

Over 50 delegates signed up to the GRADnet Online Machine Learning and AI Workshop on Wednesday, 20 January 2021 via Zoom. Topics covered were Linear Regression; Neural Networks and Convolutional Neural Networks supported. 

mybinder.org set up by the Turing Institute along with other notable organisations was a useful   tool for this workshop and helped students to run scripts or run jupyter notebooks through their browser linked to the tags of the git repository.

This workshop is always very popular in the GRADnet training calendar and the feedback was once again very positive, particularly for an online event:

  • “Doing these things on zoom is excellent! It makes it so much easier to attend. It would be great to keep this option after the pandemic ends.”
  • “Great to have the breakout room discussions with hands on practise with the code. The helpers were also very helpful, and interesting to talk to about the wider topic of ML”
  • “The explanation of the Jupyter notebooks was really great.”

Thank you to Professor Adrian Bevan, Queen Mary University of London for delivering this workshop and postgraduate researchers, Joe Davies and Tong Qui, also from QMUL, who provided excellent hands-on support during the workshop. 

GRADnet looks forward to working with Adrian and his team next year!

11Dec/20

SEPnet Summer Placements 2021 – Do you have a project/work experience for a physics or maths undergraduate or PhD student?

SEPnet organises over 70 summer placements a year for all 2nd and 3rd year physics, and now maths, students and is seeking 8-week plus projects in industry or research in areas such as data analysis, mathematical modelling, product design and testing or science communication.

The scheme is aimed at any organisations interested in recruiting physics or maths graduates, or who can offer valuable business experience, including large companies, SMEs, start-ups, research institutions, charities and NGOs.

Benefits to employers:
• Early access to bright, numerate students with excellent problem-solving and IT skills
• Enables you to carry out projects you would not normally have time for
• Provides a fresh perspective on your business challenges
• All advertising, administration and placement support is handled by the SEPnet team
• Some funding available for SMEs
• Read our short placement case studies here: Placement Case studies – SEPnet.

Register your placement project, or projects, online here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SEPnet_Employer_Registration_2021/ by Friday 12 February. Early projects will be prioritised.

10Dec/20

A fantastic group of panellists and ambassadors joined our recent joint IOP SEPnet Career Panel for Women in Physics

Over 100 students signed up to hear inspiring stories from a diverse range of women who described their varied career journeys and the challenges and triumphs along the way.

These wonderful role models from NPL, Met Office, Nordson, University of Surrey, Micron, Semiconductor, Equiniti, NHS, Venner Shipley, University of Sussex and Reaction Engines shared their tips and advice for how to pursue your career ambitions despite the setbacks and highlighted the importance of supporting each other and building strong networks to sustain you along the way.

Join our SEPnet Careers Forum for Women in Physics to connect with inspiring women in business and research: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12096544/

04Dec/20

Fancy a complimentary surgery with the Product Doctor?!

One of the highlights on my calendar is running the “Turning Science into Business Workshop” for your PhD participants. Now in its 4th year, we all went online and with fast moving content, lots of lively group exercises and a real life case study to work on, I’m pleased to say that maintained our high level of participant satisfaction! 

Here’s a snippet from the feedback: 

“…Short, simple, practical, useful and fun…Excellent opportunity to learn about business models…Very useful in explaining the marketing and customer side of things, which scientist often lack…Well structured, well delivered, good overview with a positive delivery…Teaches a structure to test whether business ideas are worth pursuing…”

The reason I particularly like working with your gang is that the science brain embraces the method of developing a hypothesis, identifying the biggest risks and then running a test to discover missing evidence. And it’s just this approach that I use to help all sorts of people from all walks of life to move their ideas forward. 

This year I launched my new book, The Really Good Idea Test published by Pearson. As I write, I’ve just found out that today it has made it into WHSmiths as their 6th best-selling business book; so it really is a recommended read for anyone who wants to work through a new idea and find out if it has legs. 

To celebrate the launch, I would like to offer up a free hour of my time to anyone who buys the book in 2020. Perhaps you want to talk through how to commercialise your research? Or perhaps something more general – a career in business, product or innovation? 

You can find the book here on Amazon, you can find me at productdoctor.co.uk and email me direct: julia@productdoctor.co.uk

Article written by Julia Shalet, Product Doctor

04Dec/20

How to commercialise your research?

SEPnet postgraduate researchers were given the opportunity to learn how to commercialise their research and get a better understanding of innovation in practice at the Turning Science into Business online workshop 1-2 December 2020. 

The workshop was run by Julia Shalet, Product Doctor, experienced innovator and author. Julia has run very highly rated workshops for SEPnet and has also worked with thousands of innovators across a very broad range of sectors and environments. Julia’s latest book is “The Really Good Idea Test“.

Working in teams, with a real-life case study from , Mason Rowbottom, Chief Executive at Addisol Ltd, delegates created a meaningful value proposition offering solutions to Mason in an interactive session.  They discovered how to reduce their biggest risks before building anything. 

Delegates thought the workshop was an “excellent opportunity to learn about business models and broaden your possibilities on industry” and “very useful in explaining the marketing and customer side of things, which scientist often lack”.

Thank you to Julia and Mason for your contribution to a great workshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03Dec/20

SEPnet Diversity Webinar Nurturing community & belonging – particularly during Covid-19

Academics, EDI champions and PGRs joined SEPnet’s recent annual diversity workshop, hosted by University of Kent, to discuss issues including the effect of online/remote learning on widening participating students; links between attainment differentials and student engagement; early career researcher mental health.

Amy Low and Adam Tweed of AbilityNet described how online learning has offered benefits for many disadvantaged students but has highlighted challenges for others. Researchers Diego Bunge and Dan Hartley showed evidence of how early engagement and attendance are key to improving outcomes for BME students and Zoe Ayres stressed the importance of the need for institutions to take more responsibility for improving the culture in academia to support PGRs’ mental health.

Request to join the discussion at (3) SEPnet Equality & Diversity Champions Network | Groups | LinkedIn

03Dec/20

SEPnet Career Development Webinar – Business awareness for physics and maths students – a crash course, Tuesday 15 December 13.00 – 14.00

Now is a great time to focus on identifying your employability skills and developing your knowledge of how businesses work. This session will help you understand more about working in a business environment and how companies operate.

This webinar for physics and maths undergraduate and postgraduate students will cover:
• the bigger picture – a company’s mission and vision – having sight of the end product
• understanding the customer’s needs
• why perfection can be the enemy of good
• what skills companies are really looking for
• the importance of networking.

Presented by Riham Satti, CEO of MeVitae. Riham is a keynote international speaker, business leader and entrepreneur. She co-founded MeVitae in 2014 – a deep tech company aimed at solving the biggest recruitment challenges – removing algorithmic and unconscious biases from the hiring process. Riham has expertise in the business-technology ecosystem, including natural language processing and artificial intelligence. She is a business mentor including the London Business School entrepreneurship course and holds a Master of Research in Clinical Neuroscience from the University of Oxford and a First-Class Honours Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London.

Places are limited. If you would like to join this Zoom webinar, please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sepnet-webinar-business-awareness-for-physics-maths-students-tickets-128995407737 as soon as possible and we will send you further details and instructions for how to join the meeting.