Outreach and Engagement Dr Elizabeth Cunningham Particle and Nuclear Physics Outreach Officer Elizabeth.Cunningham@stfc.ac.uk Thank you Alex for inviting me here today. I am… I’m going to be talking about some of the work I’ve been doing with the nuclear physics community in outreach and engagement…

Outline STFC Public Engagement (PE) PE Support for Researchers Nuclear Physics Outreach In Development… I’m hoping that you might get some ideas from this talk, or that you may already have ideas that you think I would find useful. I’ve left some time for discussion at the end and you can also come up and talk to me at lunch.

Public Engagement Team Inspire and Involve! Linking STFC science and technology with young people Stimulate and respond to public interest in research Encourage and support researchers outreach projects Based in Swindon.

STFC National Laboratories Three sites Daresbury Laboratory Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Royal Observatory Edinburgh Activities Work experience, apprenticeships, ‘Talking Science’ lecture series, public access days, school visits, careers days, masterclasses, teacher visits and CPD. External events: Stargazing LIVE, Engineering Education Scheme, Young Rewired State, local science festivals, Dark Sky Discovery and the Big Bang. Engaging publics with the work of the national laboratories. These sites along with the Swindon office provide the support network for public engagement that STFC’s offers.

Strategic Plan If anyone would like to know more about our mission and aims, our key audiences and our themes, but it is nicely summarised in our strategy document and I have a few copies with me if anyone wants to take a look

Support for Researchers

Funding STFC, Small Awards. Funds for small, local or 'pilot' projects promoting STFC science and technology. Awards range from £500 to £10,000. Closing dates April and October. STFC, Large Awards. Funds for projects which are expected to have a significant regional or national impact. Awards range from £10,000 to £100,000. Closing date November 2014. Now I’d like to talk about the different types of support STFC offers it’s researchers for their outreach work.

CERN@school Bringing CERN into the classroom Uses pixel detector chips from the Medipix Collaboration at CERN Engage students and teachers with real research equipment and data To develop research based learning as part of students’ experience of physics Bringing CERN into the classroom In schools and on the LUCID spacecraft in orbit around the Earth, to aid with the teaching of nuclear and particle physics. To enthuse them about physics and equip them with the skills needed to go on to a STEM career. http://cernatschool.web.cern.ch

Radiation Around You Research programme developed by high school students Schools gather measurements of background radiation levels in their local area Try to identify spatial and temporal trends. Measurements collated into a dataset available to all

Fellowships Aimed at those with significant research experience who have demonstrated a track record in outreach or communications work The Fellowships purchase a proportion of a researcher’s time to enable them to concentrate more on public engagement activities which will have a significant national or regional impact

Training Support Bursaries for Royal Society media and communications workshops Support for British Science Association media fellowships Royal Society Summer Exhibition Grants. Where scientists spend a few weeks of the summer working for a media organisation.

Working with the Media Press releases Media briefings Publicity Engaging with politicians Training

Knowledge Exchange Workshop Nuclear Physics Technology Showcase Event To develop links between UK nuclear physicists and industry Topics raised: need to maintain and improve nuclear databases Follow up workshop on nuclear data at the National Physical Laboratory

Nuclear Physics Outreach

Monthly Newsletter

Masterclasses Started at University of Liverpool, expanded to University of Surrey… One day events for high school students Lectures Radiation Lab Careers workshops Ice cream!

Teach the Teachers Started by David Jenkins when he was a public engagement fellow One days events for high school physics teachers Lectures Make and take workshop Facility tours

Website

Free Resources

Currently in Development Nuclear Physics resource Broadsheet detailing activities and applications of UK nuclear physics Nuclear physics teaching resources Curriculum linked classroom activities and teacher notes

Summary STFC seeks to inspire and involve the wider public in STFC-supported research through a wide range of PE activities and funding schemes. There is an opportunity to develop and expand programmes of PE activity and resources for nuclear physics. Nuclear physicists do amazing things, we want to tell as many people as we can about them.

Any Questions? elizabeth.cunningham@stfc.ac.uk www.stfc.ac.uk/NuclearPhysicsForYou