Science Week 2023

FST Science Week 2023 took place on week commencing Monday 27th March 2023. The schedule included two keynote speakers, presentations from our colleagues across the Faculty, PhD speed talks and poster sessions.

Welcome to Science Week!

Our third annual Science Week celebration included a range of fascinating talks from both internal and external speakers.

We kicked off the week with our fantastic keynote speakers, Professor Steve Ormerod of Cardiff University's School of Biosciences on Monday, followed by Dr Kate Rawles, environmentalist and author of 'The Life Cycle' on Tuesday.

The departmental talks, hosted by colleagues from across our departments, showcased the interesting research taking place in the Faculty, from how we can restore coral reefs to listening difficulties in primary school-aged children.

Monday 27th March

10.30am - PhD student posters and refreshments

Kicking off the event, our PhD students presented their research posters in LUMS Hub.

11am - Keynote speaker: Professor Steve Ormerod

After a short introduction by the Executive Dean of Science and Technology, Professor Peter Atkinson, our keynote speech was delivered by Professor Steve Ormerod of Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

Talk: "Sustaining Rivers: the challenges of protecting and restoring running-water ecosystems"

Rivers are among the world's most threatened ecosystems reflecting the effects of a wide range of pressures on their disproportionately rich biological diversity. The consequences are intrinsically important for river organisms and for the goods and services on which we depend for life support. Against this background and in the context of growing public interest, I will discuss the changing quality of British rivers, illustrating instances where action has brought major gains but also issues of growing concern.

Biography

Steve Ormerod has a long-standing research interest in the effects of global change on rivers. Outside his University role, he is Deputy Chairman of Natural Resources Wales, a member of the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Vice-President of the RSPB - Europe's largest wildlife charity.

1pm - PhD speed talks

Our PhD students had just 3 minutes to impress the audience with their research. This fast-paced session is always good fun and very informative.

2pm - Departmental talks: Session 1

The Departments of Mathematics and Statistics and Physics provided talks on solving pivotal problems within their disciplines.

Professor Chris Jewell (Mathematics and Statistics): Maths, stats, and pandemics: how mathematical models and statistics contributed to controlling Covid19 in the UK. Why was it so hard?

Dr Maria Walach (Physics): Decoding the Northern Lights

A magnifying glass positioned over the words

2.45pm - Prizes and close

Our first day ended with prize givings to our best PhD posters and speed talks, as well as the announcement of the PhD Dean's Award winners.

Tuesday 28th March

2pm - Keynote speaker: Dr Kate Rawles

Writer and environmentalist Dr Kate Rawles, author of 'The Carbon Cycle' kicked off our second day of the event with her talk on her bike ride through the Andes.

Talk: 'Adventure in the Andes: The Life Cycle biodiversity bike ride'

In 2017, Kate Rawles cycled the length of South America on a bamboo bike she built herself, exploring biodiversity: what it is, why it matters and whether losing it is as great a threat as climate change. Her largely solo journey took her through an astonishing diversity of ecosystems and landscapes, from the Caribbean coastline to the Atacama desert; from cloud and rainforests to the Bolivian salt flats and the high mountains of the Peruvian Andes. En route she met with activists of all kinds, working to protect biodiversity, land and community, often at significant risk. Join us to hear what Kate learned from them about the most important question of all – how biodiversity loss can be arrested and reversed, and what we can all do to contribute to our current suite of urgent and interconnected environmental challenges.

Biography

Kate is passionate about using adventurous journeys to help raise awareness and inspire action on our most urgent environmental challenges. Her most recent ‘adventure plus’ journey, The Life Cycle, involved cycling the length of South America on a bamboo bike she built herself, exploring biodiversity – and why losing it is as great a threat as climate change.

Kate Rawles with her bike packed with many bags

3pm - Departmental talks: Session 2

Lancaster Environment Centre and the School of Engineering provided talks on the topic of sustainability.

Professor Mike Berners-Lee (LEC): The Anthropocene Challenge

Dr Tim Lamont (LEC): Rebuilding reefs: evaluating the functional outcomes of coral restoration

John Stead (Facilities): Solar Power for Lancaster University

Dr Nan Zhao (Engineering): Energy storage systems to support renewable energy integration

Wednesday 29th March

12pm - Departmental talks: Session 3

These talks were delivered by a number of our departments on the topics of clean energy and modern life and technology.

Dr Paz Munoz-Herranz (Chemistry): Unravelling the secrets of metal-allene chemistry and beyond: chemistry in action for sustainable development

Dr Sophie Nightingale (Psychology): AI-synthesised faces: how perceptually convincing are they?

Dr Hannah Stewart (Psychology): Listening difficulties in primary school-aged children

Dr Basu Saha (Engineering): Greener and sustainable processes

Professor Elizabete Carmo Silva (LEC): Understanding the imperfections of carbon assimilation to improve crop yields

1.45pm - Chemistry Tours

The Chemistry Department provided a tour of their facilities (including their NMR and Mass Spectrometry equipment), followed by a short talk from the experimental officers.

Thursday 30th March

3pm - Departmental talks: Session 4

A number of our departments presented talks on industry, innovation, and infrastructure.

Professor Tracy Hall (SCC): Automatically Repairing Software: the human and technical dimensions

Dr Matt Booth (Mathematics and Statistics): Algebraic Geometry and Singularities: How to fold up space

Dr Chris Arridge (Physics): Between the Soul and the Stars