A team from the Astronomy and Astrophysics group led by Dr Lauren Doyle attended the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham in June and were one of the most popular stands with students returning again and again to engage with their stall.

The Physics department was represented at the Big Bang Fair by the Astronomy and Astrophysics group (Dr Lauren Doyle, Dr Bec Nealon, Dr Conor Byrne, Dr David O'Neill, Faith Hawthorn, Mairi O'Brien, Ginger Frame and Toby Rodel) who had a stand on the show floor showcasing their brand-new Astro Table! The touch table runs the software Stellar Playground allowing users to experience and explore stellar life cycles, gravitational/orbital mechanics, and the advancement of civilizations by dragging and dropping stars and other exotic celestial objects. Through exploration and play, users can visualise the research the team work on but also experience the physics which drives objects in space.

Dr Lauren Doyle says:

“Our stall was one of the most popular on the show floor with students coming back again and again throughout their session. We were able to showcase the research within the Astronomy and Astrophysics group and talk to the students about what it is like to pursue a Physics degree at Warwick. This showed the students what opportunities were available to them to study Physics where we had a lot of questions about the degree programme but also to engage with teachers where they were interested in the Outreach that we do for the department and the events we take part in.“

The Big Bang FairLink opens in a new window held in Birmingham in June, allows students to go on an exciting journey through STEM and inspires the next generation with hands-on activities, experiments, and workshops. It’s the UK’s biggest celebration of STEM for young people and is open to students in schools across the UK in years 6-9, where there are stages where you can meet a scientist and ask questions and watch shows or visit the huge show floor consisting of stands from companies and universities. Over the course of the 3-day event, 15,738 young people attended from 348 school groups along with 2,384 teachers/parents/carers to hear from 50 different companies and universities about career possibilities in STEM.

If you are interested in any of our Astronomy and Astrophysics outreach opportunities, please contact Dr Lauren Doyle.