2nd-3rd April 2025
Celebration of Science 2025 took place on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd of April in the George Fox Building. We had an exciting agenda planned for this year, which included the return of the ever-popular PhD speed talks and keynote speakers, as well as some new elements such as interactive exhibits delivered by each of our departments, exciting panel talks from academic experts, and a PhD alumni session!
Winner of "The World's Most Interesting Mathematician 2019", founder of Bay's Consulting, and Vice President of the Royal Statistical Society for Education and Statistical Literacy, Dr Sophie Carr has had an illustrious career which saw her first train and work as an aeronautical engineer before turning her hand to mathematics. She has used her mathematical and engineering training to solve countless complex data science projects, including developing predictive algorithms to forecast food sales, predicting the need for foodbank usage, and the risk of cold, mould and damp in homes without the need for sensors.
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Head of Local Net Zero Demonstration and delivery at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Patrick Allcorn has a remit for supporting local energy and climate change projects at community and local government level. The team run 4 programmes supporting the 2 sectors, including a net-zero accelerator programme which looks at place based approaches to net zero. He leads the work UKRI and EU are doing on place-based approaches and looks at how innovation can drive more effective blended finance and better solutions.
Prior to that, he led the development and delivery of the Domestic RHI and before being a civil servant worked as a journalist, teacher, and consultant and led TfL work on behaviour change in transport.
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| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| From 10am (all day) | PhD Posters | George Fox Foyer and surrounding rooms |
| 10am | Welcome from Professor Pete Atkinson, Executive Dean, followed by keynote: Dr Sophie Carr | George Fox LT1 |
| 11am | Coffee Break | George Fox Foyer |
| 11.30am | Panel 1: AI and Society Chair - Chris Lowerson Members - Dr Elisa Rubegni (SCC), Professor Bill Oxbury (SMS), Professor Mark Levine (Psychology), Professor Pascal Welke (Leipzig), Professor Neil Reeves (FHM) |
George Fox LT1 |
| 12.30pm | Lunch | George Fox Foyer/LT5 |
| 1.30pm | Dedicated time for posters, departmental exhibits and departmental tours | George Fox Foyer and surrounding rooms/ departments |
| 3.30pm | PhD Careers Session with Alumni Panel Chair - Pam Pickles Members - Dr Joshua Chawner (Physics), Dr Sophie Rawnsley-Lau (Chemistry), Dr Stephen Quayle (Engineering), Dr Helena Ripley (LEC) |
George Fox LT1 |
| 4.15pm | Close |
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| From 10am | PhD posters | George Fox Foyer and surrounding rooms |
| 10am | Welcome from Professor Pete Atkinson followed by keynote: Patrick Allcorn | George Fox LT1 |
| 11am | Coffee break | George Fox Foyer |
| 11.30am | PhD speed talks | George Fox LT1 |
| 12.30pm | Lunch | George Fox Foyer/LT5 |
| 1.30pm | Voting closes for poster nominations | |
| 1.30pm | Panel 2: Powering Tomorrow Chair - Professor Alona Armstrong Members - Professor Kathryn Toghill (Chemistry), Dr Ally Gormally-Sutton (LEC), Dr Nan Zhao (Engineering), Professor Colin Lambert (Physics), Patrick Allcorn |
George Fox LT1 |
| 2.30pm | Dedicated time for posters and departmental exhibits | George Fox Foyer and surrounding rooms/ departments |
| 3.45pm | PhD Awards and closing remarks | George Fox LT1 |
| 4.15pm | Close |
Each of our departments opresented at our interactive exhibition, showcasing some of the fantastic research that takes place within the Faculty.
Fresh from the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition, Lancaster's Low-Temperature Physics group demonstrate (with their fun, interactive display) how dark matter detectors at ultra-cold temperatures could bring us one step closer to solving one of the greatest mysteries of science.
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Join Chemistry's Electrochemistry and Surfaces group as they explain and demonstrate the chemistry behind batteries.
LEC and Engineering duo Dr Phil Donkersley and Jenny Roberts present their innovative new "home for bees", exploring the plight of the bumblebee and how their design can help protect these precious pollinators - featuring live bees!
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Explore the nature of changepoints and anomaly detection with this interactive demo from Lancaster's School of Mathematical Sciences!
Materials Science Lancaster presents the Art of Isolation, showcasing ways that they are able to further the field of quantum physics in one of the quietest places in the world - right here at Lancaster!
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Want to get a peak inside our Engineering labs? Take a guided tour around them with one of our Engineering technicians.
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Professor Steve Hodges of SCC presents the BBC Micro:bit, a pocket-sized computing device used to engage people from all walks of life in digital creativity and coding!
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