Warwick is slicing up science for International Women’s Day
Fancy learning about space science, making protein jelly, and lighting up a few LED circuits – all before you enjoy tea and cake?
An event at the University of Warwick this weekend (Sunday 8 March) will allow visitors to do just that. To celebrate British Science Week and mark International Womens’ Day, Warwick’s female researchers and students will be hosting A Slice of Science, offering the public the chance to enjoy a whole range of activities, demonstrations and talks which showcase Warwick’s female-led research in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Professor Sandra Chapman from Warwick’s department of physics said: “We want to inspire a new wave of girls and women to engage with STEM subjects by bringing hands on learning opportunities to all ages.
“A Slice of Science is a free event which will enable children and adults from across the region to engage in some of the real life, fascinating and fun science research programmes that are happening on their doorstep, all led by women who are space scientists, biochemists, programmers, statisticians and more. We are hoping to show girls – and women – a real range of jobs in science that they may never have thought they could do.”
Amanda Bishop, widening participation coordinator for Warwick’s Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, organised the event. She said: “There aren’t many places you can discuss space weather over a slice of Victoria sponge, or programme a computer before you enjoy a scone, so why not bring your mum, aunty, daughter or granddaughter for a full-on science experience and enjoy afternoon tea while you’re here?”
During the day there will be a range of drop-in activities run by scientists and students from departments including computer science, life sciences, engineering, WMG and Warwick Medical School. There will also be three fascinating talks taking place:
- How to Freeze a Human, with Dr Kathryn Murray from Chemistry
- Madam Statistician and the Normal Distribution, with Dr Celia Brown, from Warwick Medical School
- Space Superstorms with Professor Sandra Chapman, from Physics
The event runs from 1pm until 4pm on Sunday 8 March, at the Oculus on the main campus at the University of Warwick. Entry to the talks is on a first come first served basis. For more information or to register for the event visit the Slice of Science website.
In addition to the public event, there will be a schools event the following Wednesday 11 March. Girls from schools around Coventry and Warwickshire have been invited to enjoy a day experiencing topics including humanitarian engineering, coding, software and control programming as well as learning generally about higher education and apprenticeships.
Professor Margaret Low from WMG, University of Warwick, is running a software and programming workshop at the event. She said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming these young people from schools across the region and opening their eyes to opportunities they may not have thought were for them.
“On the day we’ll be running a fun introduction to software and control, using Turtlestitch. It’s quick to pick up and enables the students to create designs by writing programmes. These designs are then automatically stitched by a machine onto fabric. It shows how products go from design through to creation, and gives an understanding of how manufacturing equipment is controlled.”
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Notes to editors:
British Science Week runs from 6 -15 March. It is a 10-day programme of thousands of events running throughout the whole of the UK with the aim of celebrating science, engineering, technology and maths.
2 March 2020
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