By Nicole Richardson

From the 21-25th January 2020, UNSW Science will be hosting SciX – an outreach program which allows Year 12 NSW students to come and learn about research from one of sixteen amazing PhD student mentors. Almost 100 eager students looking to study Science Extension in their HSC will have the chance to experience science at a research level, using cutting-edge techniques to investigate their own scientific hypotheses in a wide variety of fields including quantum computing, astrobiology, cognitive science and aeronautical engineering. Here is a day in the life of two of our 2020 SciX mentors. 

Georgina Carson

3rd year PhD student in quantum computing

6am – Wake up, stretch, meditate. Head to the gym or out for a run or walk around Centennial Park. Exercise and mindfulness are important to keep my mental health in check. If I have time, I’ll sit and read a chapter of my book over a large cup of tea. Get ready for work, say goodbye to my partner and walk to campus.

 8am – Sit at my desk and work out what I need to do today. This can range from lab work, to writing up my results, to reading academic papers. I also quickly go through my emails and get any admin stuff out of the way. 

 9am – Time for some lab work! I spent last week in the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) lab fabricating a quantum device. Today I need to do some post-processing of this device using the nanofabrication equipment in our cleanroom lab. This involves getting dressed in a full-body suit, complete with face mask and gloves – we can’t let any dust into the clean room. I spend a few hours working in the lab, chatting to a few of my colleagues working on their own things.

 12:30pm – Lunch with some of the other PhD students in my group. There are 12 of us, so someone is always around to grab lunch with me.

 1:30pm – Back to my desk to do some writing. Headphones on with some good music to keep me focused. I’m writing up the results from the measurements I took over the last few weeks. I’m not a big fan of writing, but I know if I do it now I’ll have less to do later when writing my thesis! Putting everything down on paper also helps me understand my results better, and work out what needs to be done next. If I start getting distracted or losing motivation, I’ll get up and go for a 10 minute walk to grab a coffee and get some fresh air.

 5pm – Finish up for the day. Tidy my desk, which is usually covered in scraps of paper by now. Head home and make dinner (usually leftovers on a weeknight). Some evenings I have footy training (AFL, my favourite sport), so I’ll get home around 8pm and eat then. Otherwise I relax with a book or in front of the TV with my partner, or do any marking I need to do.

 9:30pm – I like to go to bed reasonably early, and be asleep by 10pm. 

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Sylvia Ganda

3rd year PhD student in chemistry

7am – Get up and start getting ready for work. I usually start by aligning myself with the three most important things that need to get done that day. I also have a good nutritious breakfast to make sure I start the day right!

8.20am – Start walking to campus as I live within walking distance. Once I get there, I swing by my favourite coffee shop to get my much needed coffee and engage in a good, light-hearted conversation with the barista.

9am – Head to my desk. While getting caffeinated, I scroll through relevant scientific journals in my research field to check out recently published articles. It’s important to stay up to date with the latest science.

10am – Go through my calendar and create a to-do-list for the day. I also plan and revise the experiments I need to do during the day.

11am – Now we begin to have some fun in the lab! This generally includes setting up reactions, proceed with the ones that need working up or do some microscopy imaging. Some days I have meetings with my thesis supervisor and discuss how my projects are going.

12pm – Lunch time! I generally grab a quick bite by myself, but sometimes I go to lunch with my fellow PhD friends and catch up with them.

12.45 – Time for some quick tea or refuel with some coffee!

1.15pm – Get back to the lab and do some more experiments.

2.30-3pm – I usually use this pocket of time to answer emails and do admin things for the lab.

3pm –. Hooray, gym time! This is my favourite time of day where I take care of myself, shut off from the world and focus on my training. I don’t think about work or answer emails during this period. I find that by breaking up my day with something like this really increases my productivity whilst preserving my health.

4.15pm – Come back from the gym all refreshed and ready to take on more challenges!

4.30-7pm – Data analysis, read some articles and do some more planning for the next day.

7.30 pm – Get ready to head home for the day. Yay! The walk home is usually refreshing as I just let my mind wander about. Sometimes I grab a bite with the other lab members (which often ends in much food and laughter) or I cook for myself in my kitchen with Jazz music playing in the background.

9pm-11pm – Call my parents and chat about the day. This is another highlight of my day as my mum is hilarious! After that I read some books or watch something on Netflix, and then get ready for bed.

 

Are you a NSW Year 12 students looking to  studying Science Extension in their HSC and interested in SciX?

Apply for the program here.  

And follow Laura McKemmish and Shannan Maisey of the SciX executive team on Twitter

By Poppy Watson

We know through surveys that many people believe that scientists should spend more time discussing their work with the public. We also know that representation of females in science is not great. But is there a way we can tackle both these issues?

Introducing Soapbox Science – a unique science-themed event where high-profile, female scientists discuss their work with anyone who will listen. The idea is simple – four ‘soapboxes’ are set up in a small central space and twelve female scientists have one hour each on one of the podiums. Members of the public can come and listen to each scientist talk about their work and ask questions or start discussions. People do not have to sign up and plan to go, they can spontaneously listen to and engage as they wander through town.

Founded in London in 2011, Soapbox Science has now spread to over 20 cities across the world. This year, it finally made its way to Sydney, taking part outside of the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay and featuring twelve scientists from local universities discussing subject matter ranging from volcanoes to quantum mechanics to the brain.

 

I worked as a volunteer at the event, performing a range of tasks including directing people to the event, observing how long people stayed at the event, and organizing exit questionnaires. As the first four speakers took to their podiums, I was nervous. Would anyone would come and listen? Would they stay? Would they understand?

I needn’t have worried – as soon as people saw what was happening or heard the word ‘science’ they headed over to check it out. Once there, most scientists only spoke for ten minutes about their research before having the rest of the hour flow organically as new people arrived and new discussions started up.

Whilst observing with the crowd – I also learnt a lot. Not only facts about science but also about how to communicate science effectively. For the first hour I observed people near the podium of Dr. Gal Winter who talked about: “The gut microbiome: Ask not what you can do for your microbes but what they can do for YOU”. Gal used some clever tricks to make her talk fun and engage people. As people approached, she said “catch” and chucked them a bag of sand weighing 1.5 kg to illustrate how much of our body weight (approx. ~2%) is made up of microbes. This trick meant that people moved closer to catch the bag and were then hooked into the topic. Lots of people wanted to talk about probiotics (whether they are worth it), links between gut microbes and depression, and fecal transplants. At one stage Dr Winter donned a Tina Turner wig and got the crowd to sing “What’s the gut got to do, got to do with it, what’s the gut but a host for a million microbes”…amazing.

I also learned a lot from my colleague Dr Lisa Williams from UNSW who talked about “Is the pursuit of happiness shortsighted?”. It turns out that pursuit of what makes us feel ‘happy’ is not a good strategy to wellbeing because happiness is a single, short-lived positive emotion. Instead, we should focus on a wider range of positive emotions by doing things that make us feel, for example, grateful or proud. This fascinating topic generated lots of discussions from the public on cultural differences in happiness expectations, vocabulary around emotions and whether tips given in women’s magazines are based in scientific evidence.

The people I interviewed at the end (ranging from 6 – 80 years old) said they thoroughly enjoyed the event – with all of them saying that they never or rarely attended science events and were just walking past but ended up staying to listen to all of the scientists.

So can Soapbox Science help scientists spend more time discussing their work with the public? Yes

Can Soapbox Science help improve representation of females in science? Definitely!

Will you see me on a soapbox next year? Watch this space!

 

Note: Soapbox Science Sydney was generously supported by UTS Faculty of Science, UTS Women in Engineering & IT, ACEMS, EQUS, FLEET, POCD Scientific, Franklin Women, Australian Science Communicators, National Science Week & Sydney Science Festival

 

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