Physics Department News

On Saturday 15th November, Professor Rachel Edwards (Deputy Head of Department, Inclusion, Outreach and Engagement), was invited to speak at the world-renowned Royal Institution in London.

Rachel was invited by the team at the Royal Institution to give two exciting public lectures, as part of their year-round lecture series. Her first talk was specifically aimed at families and took place during the day where Rachel engaged an audience of all ages about how to survive in a cartoon universe, followed by an evening talk looking at the new ways scientists and engineers are going beyond traditional ultrasound. She was joined by 381 enthusiastic guests who attended the lectures, including 73 who attended through their “tickets for good” scheme. The ‘tickets for good' scheme are free tickets for people who wouldn’t otherwise attend.

The Royal Institution, known as the birthplace of the Christmas Lectures founded by Michael Faraday (and influential in our very own Warwick Christmas Lectures), continues to host the annual BBC Christmas Lectures and is iconic for science outreach and making science accessible to all.

Being invited to speak at the Royal Institution is a prestigious recognition and highlights Rachel’s exciting work in public engagement. Rachel says “Speaking at such an iconic place was amazing, and fun, and exhausting! I may have splashed the desk with oobleck, but hopefully they’ll invite me back again…”

Rachel is the Deputy Head of Department (Physics) for Inclusion, Outreach and Engagement, a newly developed role and will be looking to work with the staff and students soon to develop work in this area.

The evening lecture was recorded and will be available on the Royal Institution Youtube channel.