So what's been happening then?
Well the most recent of things is that in October time I took part in a competition called the 3 minute wonder, hosted by the IoP (Institute of Physics)....and I only won!
Let me just explain the idea behind 3MW. It's the opportunity for research scientists to explain their work to an interested audience in 3 minutes. This sort of communication skill is incredibly important and useful as it requires us to convey a lot of information in a short time, as let's be honest anything beyond 3 minutes when someone is explaining resonance phonon energies in nano...zzzzzzz..
After winning this, I was invited to the national finals at the Royal Institutions Faraday Lecture theatre.
This lecture hall has had loads of famous scientists discuss their work throughout the years most notably at Christmas for the Christmas lecutres.
These include scientists from Faraday to Carl Sagan, it literally is unbelievable that I was afforded the honour to give a talk about my work in this hall.
On the final I sat waiting for my turn, I was 5th out of 10 incredible young scientists. All of whom gave very interesting talks, with so many unique and inspiring ways of explaining science. My most notable memory was a woman who was talking about hunting for exo-planets and compared finding an exo-planet to finding the shadow cast by a button illuminated by a bike light several miles away!!!
(I can't see the button!!)Elizabeth is next - she's talking about how she photographs planets! #3MWFinal pic.twitter.com/9zBtWQnmST— Meriame Berboucha (@MBerboucha) May 5, 2016
There were also 4 incredible judges. From left to right Fran Scott (CCBC), Marek Kukula (Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich), Helen Thomas (Exec Producer BBC Science) and Maggie Philbin (Bang Goes The Theory).
So I get up, bit nervous about talking infront of 300ish people and as soon as I start the countdown of 3 minutes begins. First of all I dropped my laser pointer, and I thought, well that's about right isn't it, but I quickly recovered, then just started talking about my work, the nanoscale, modern technology, my work on nanotubes and studying Raman and vibrations. Next thing I knew, everyone was clapping and it was all over. I had lots of questions thrown at me about my work, and even more during the break. The judges provided feedback (which was very complimentary) then I sat down listening to the other fantastic talks trying to process what just happened.
At the end of the evening we the scores were counted and before the winner announced there was an audience vote. I was gob-smacked when the graph came up showing that the audience voted for me as people's choice. I got our my seat trying not to fall over and embarrass myself and then shook hands with the President of the IoP who presented me with people's choice award. Then the moment I sat down, next thing I knew I was up again accepting the award and comically sized cheque as the winner of the 3 minute wonder for 2015/16
— Institute of Physics (@PhysicsNews) May 5, 2016I'm sharing this now, as It's such a memorable night for me, I'm so glad to have been given the chance to lecture in this hall. It was truly great to talk about my work and have so many people ask questions and be interested in it. It was awesome to see other talented young scientists talk about their work with their own unique flare and passion for their subject. I fully recommend any scientist that wants to do some form of sci comm event or practice their communication skills to take part in this competition.
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