Panels

Celebration of Science 2025

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About
Panels

PhD Alumni and Careers Panel

This year, we welcomed back some of our former PhD students from a range of departments to talk about their careers and answer your questions about where a PhD can take you.

  • Chair: Pam Pickles

    Pam is the Student Engagement Manager in the Faculty of Science and Technology. She works alongside colleagues to secure internships and other career opportunities for students across the Faculty, from undergraduate to postgraduate.

  • Dr Joshua Chawner

    Physicist and Filmmaker Joshua graduated with a PhD in low temperature physics from Lancaster University and worked as an active researcher for several years. Following his passion for LEGO stop-start animation, he is now a full-time animator, with over 160 million YouTube views across his filmography. Alongside his animation work, he also creates science documentaries in partnership with science institutions.

  • Dr Sophie Rawnsley-Lau

    After completing her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences and subsequently a PhD in Chemistry at Lancaster University, Sophie is now employed in the Chemistry Department as a postdoctoral researcher examining how proteins are involved in disease progression and treatment, including cardiovascular and amyloid-associated diseases.

  • Dr Stephen Quayle

    Originally from the Isle of Man, Stephen came to Lancaster to study the MEng in Mechatronics. After graduation he moved to Cambridge for the Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management, before returning to Lancaster to start his research career, graduating in 2012 with a PhD focusing on tidal energy devices. Since then, he has become the Director of Undergraduate Admissions within the School of Engineering and a Teaching Fellow.

  • Dr Helena Ripley

    Helena completed her PhD in soil erosion and plant traits in 2022, as a graduate from the Waitrose CTP in LEC. Since then, she has worked for several consultancies and charities, before beginning her current position at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology as a Greenhouse Gas and Soil Carbon Scientist last year.

AI and Society

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly becoming a pervasive part of everyday life. From writing our emails and recommending shows on TV, to real-time fraud detection and predicting the spread of dangerous diseases, AI's input into our lives and livelihoods has surged exponentially in the past decade. In this panel, our experts tackled some of the biggest questions of AI's impact on society, and whether it may be a force for good, or for ill.

  • Chair: Chris Lowerson

    Chris Lowerson is currently Partnerships Development Manager for the School of Computing and Communications. Previously, he was the project manager for Lancaster in the Greater Manchester and Lancashire Cyber Foundry and has developed Higher Education student start-up programmes for the University, including a dedicated extra-curricular cyber entrepreneurship programme for students on the MSc in Cyber Security.

  • Dr Elisa Rubegni

    Dr Elisa Rubegni is a senior lecturer in the School of Computing and Communications specialising in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. She explores the socio-technical issues emerging from the use of interactive technology with the aim of understanding the complex interplay of artefacts, human mind, body, and environment.

  • Professor Mark Levine

    Professor Mark Levine is a Professor of Social Psychology. His current research is in the intersection of psychology and technology – leading large multi-site projects which include computer scientists, software engineers, roboticists and HCI researchers, with a theoretical focus on how social identity is shaped in the digital age.

  • Professor Pascal Welke

    Professor Pascal Welke is a Professor of Data Science at Lancaster University Leipzig, with research interests in data mining, applied graph theory, and Human-Computer Interactions.

  • Professor Neil Reeves

    Professor Neil Reeves is a Professor of Secure Health Technologies based in the Medical School at Lancaster University. His research is focused on digital health technologies and cyber security.

  • Professor Bill Oxbury

    Professor Bill Oxbury is a Professor in Practice at the School of Mathematical Sciences. His research interests are in the mathematics and security of Artificial Intelligence and in AI applications to cybersecurity, as well as the challenges surrounding AI and the environment.

Powering Tomorrow

Creating sustainable energy for the future is a preeminent concern for a plethora of industry leaders and academics alike. From nuclear energy to renewables and the next generation of battery technologies, our experts explored the ways we can ensure that we meet the energy needs of the future without compromising the health of our planet and its inhabitants.

  • Chair - Professor Alona Armstrong

    Professor Alona Armstrong is the Director of Energy Lancaster, and a leader in energy research. Her research focuses on the implications of the low carbon energy transition on the local environment, including ecosystem function, properties and service provision. Within Energy Lancaster, she is lead on the Agrovoltaics and Energy Decarbonisation themes, and was instrumental in setting up the Solar PV farm and Energy Centre 2.

  • Professor Kathryn Toghill

    Professor Kathryn Toghill is a Professor in Sustainable Electrochemistry and Energy Materials in Lancaster's Chemistry Department. Her research aims to further harness intermittent wind and solar generation by developing flexible, low-cost electrochemical energy storage systems (i.e. redox flow batteries) and explore electrochemically generated "green" fuels (hydrogen, CO2 reduction).

  • Dr Alexandra Gormally-Sutton

    Dr Alexandra Gormally-Sutton is a Senior Lecturer in LEC. She has undertaken research across the energy sphere and currently works on projects including Net0i looking at contextualising the data in relation to energy in a commercial setting, on the Management Board of Supergen Energy Storage Network + , and part of a new ESRC Research Centre on Joined Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST).

  • Dr Nan Zhao

    Dr Nan Zhao is a Senior Lecturer in Electrical Engineering. His research interests embrace most facets of electrical power engineering, including electrical machines, energy storage systems and associated power electronics for solar, wind and wave power generation, conversion and integration. He also focuses on the analysis of power systems incorporating renewables and electric vehicles.

  • Professor Colin Lambert

    Professor Colin Lambert is a research professor in the Department of Physics at Lancaster University, and a world leader in the field of single-molecule electronics. He is lead in the Quantum engineering of energy-efficient molecular materials (QMol) project, which aims to develop radically new organic materials for everything from smart textiles to self-powered patches for healthcare.

  • Patrick Allcorn

    Head of Local Net Zero at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Patrick Allcorn has a remit for supporting local energy and climate change projects. Since the Clean Growth strategy was announced in 2017, his team has set up the Local Energy Programme for England which has created local energy hubs, and energy strategies for every LEP and re-opened and devolved the Rural Community Energy Fund.