Physics Department News
Reflections on the National Astronomy Meeting, 2022
After a successful week at the National Astronomy Meeting hosting over 800 astronomers and more than a thousand members of the public, we speak to some of our Local Organising Committee (LOC) who reflect on the past week.
Hear from Dr David Brown, Chair of LOCLink opens in a new window
Hear from Catriona McDonald, PhD studentLink opens in a new window
Hear from Tom Killestein, PhD studentLink opens in a new window
Physics staff led by Oksana Trushkevych present "Resonate: a string, a concert, a hall, a universe" for the on-campus Resonate festival
In outreach & engagement news, a team of Physics staff led by Oksana Trushkevych (including Gavin Bell, Rachel Edwards, Tim Cunningham and Sue Burrows) presented 鈥淩esonate: a string, a concert hall, a universe鈥� for the on-campus Resonate festival, the culmination of the University's celebrations for Coventry City of Culture.
The word resonate was on everyone鈥檚 lips, but people did not really talk about resonance in the physics sense of the word (there are some pretty iffy technical definitions even in the most reputable online dictionaries!). So the team set out to correct this and prepared an interactive lecture-performance, drawing on their current research as well as their teaching on The Science of Music module for IATL. PhD students from the Ultrasound group helped to move equipment and instruments, such as theremin and laser harp, to the Arts Centre鈥檚 Studio Theatre, and Gentian Mouron-Adams (a Physics undergraduate) demonstrated the Rubens tube. We talked about bridges, earthquakes, musical instruments, concert halls, MRI, seeing resonance, seeing with resonance, using resonance to hear... Activities included 鈥渟inging鈥� with balloons, 鈥渇eeling鈥� a piece of original music by Gavin through balloons and a 鈥渄ecipher the message鈥� challenge relying on the natural reverberation of our teaching labs. We celebrated Delia Derbyshire, the electronic music pioneer from Coventry, who created the original Dr Who theme. We also talked about stars singing (actual stars, not celebs, and why we can鈥檛 hear them) and the universe being a set of resonances (well, if you are a string theorist). The event was aimed at children 8+ and received very positive feedback from attendees, young and grown up, who all made a lot of noise during and after the show.
Two European Research Council funding grants secured
Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Milot and Dr Matt Kenzie who have both secured European Research Council Starting Grants, following the first call for proposals under the EU's new R&I programme, Horizon Europe.
Dr Rebecca Milot has been awarded 鈧�2,473,363 to investigate one of the most promising new materials for solar energy conversion, metal halide perovskites.
Dr Matt Kenzie's award of 鈧�1,490,202 will aim to enhance our understanding of the physics underpinning the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, which is fundamental in explaining how our universe arrived at its present state.
Calling all UK Year 12 female students!
A nationwide competition open to all UK Year 12 female physics students to win an all expenses paid, 4 day trip to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) world leading science research facility in Grenoble, France.
The group will tour the facilities, conduct experiments, meet the amazing scientists who work there and have the opportunity to tour the beautiful French city of Grenoble.