Professor Jamshed Anwar and Dr. Alan Collins started proceedings for the morning lectures, which featured presentations from Physics’ Professor Oleg Kolosov, Mathematics and Statistics’ Dr Amanda Collins and Dr Lorna Ashton from Chemistry. Attendees were treated to a wide range of topics, as Professor Kolosov detailed the evolution of telescopy and explored the nanoscale world, Dr Turner discussed the modelling and visualisation of random growth, and Dr Ashton presented research on live cell random imaging.
The morning session was followed by a short break, which allowed attendees to take the opportunity to appreciate and vote among the impressive posters on display. Despite the local area’s recent flooding and loss of power which unfortunately caused many students to leave the campus early for Christmas, there was still a high level of quality on display, with students overcoming the weather problems to share their talents with the crowd whilst competing for the coveted poster prize.
Attendees were welcomed back with a variety of talks from PhD students, who represented each of Science and Technology’s departments and shared some fascinating research. After some careful judging due to the great standard of talent throughout the session, two of the speakers were honoured with awards by the Faculty Dean, Professor Peter Atkinson. The first prize was presented to Yasir Noori for his talk ‘Photonic circuits for quantum secure communications’, whilst the second award was given to Samuel Harrison for his discourse on ‘Solar-powered hydrogen production by photoelectrolysis’.
The Hub was bustling with attendees and the crowd gathered to watch the Dean’s award ceremony. The first awards were the coveted certificates of excellence. Year One’s award was presented to Jared White from Mathematics and Statistics, Year Two to Claire Kelly in Psychology, and Year Three to Engineering student Mathew Balmer, with another third year award for excellence being reserved for Holly Butler of LEC, who unfortunately was unable to attend.
Afternoon lectures began with Dr Francesca Citron from Psychology, who presented a lecture on neuroimaging, during which she looked to support the effect of figurative expressions in conveying emotion. Engineering’s Dr Farid Aiouache followed with his talk ‘Integrated approach for multiscale design strategy of reactor systems’, whilst Dr Mike James from the Lancaster Environment Centre presented the 4D imaging of active volcanoes. Closing this section of the event was School of Computing and Communication’s Dr Anastasios Noulas, who discussed digital mapping in his lecture ‘Computational cartography and the digital heartbeat of our cities’.
In addition to the Dean’s awards and PhD talks, the winner and runners up for the poster competition were announced. Physics student Jonathan Roberts received the first place prize for his poster entitled ‘Nano-identification: Fingerprints of the Future’, whilst runners up prizes were presented to Christopher Woodhead and Ofogh Tizno, both of Physics.
As a fitting finale to the Christmas Conference, the Faculty of Science and Technology welcomed their guest, Professor Tim O’Brien, to the stage to share his knowledge and experience in astrophysics, as well as an intriguing and detailed history lesson on his famous workplace, Jodrell Bank. Professor O’Brien entertained the audience with his knowledge, enthusiasm and wit, and shared some fascinating stories and personal anecdotes.
After the lecture, the Dean commended Professor O’Brien for his commitment in presenting at the Conference (his second educational visit in the same day) and praised Professor O’Brien’s ability to 'engage with public understanding' of the subject, as well as the fine document he gave of Jodrell Bank's 'powerful history'.